Letter: Downtown salon break-in shatters sense of security

Graphic by Lori Deaton

A committed customer at Salon Dragonfly on Patton Avenue, I arrived at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, for a routine haircut only to discover a broken front door indicating someone robbed Dragonfly.

I carefully navigated through the fractured glass, careful not to slip on the shattered glass or agitate a fragile front door that was about to crumble to pieces at any second. Inside Dragonfly, the front desk was overturned, along with the computer, cash register and personal business belongings.

Janice Jones and Jen Dragon, co-owners, moved quickly to restore the chaotic scene. A kind and professional policeman made a report. His response was timely. A typical workday quickly turned into necessary phone calls, insurance reports, police reports and an urgency to replace the front door. Their goal was before sundown.

I have been frequenting Dragonfly long enough to observe the negative effects this local business has suffered, thanks to the influx of homelessness, violence and drug addiction in downtown Asheville.

There was a time several years ago when the front door remained unlocked throughout the day. Clients like myself came and went without looking over our shoulders or watching where we stepped. But that is a memory.

We can read about these unpleasant and distressing violations from the safety of our own homes. Still, when we experience a violation firsthand, it registers deeper. It shook me and heightened my concern for the security not just of these women working hard at this long-standing hair salon but also myself.

Like many who depend on Asheville and business owners to keep their doors open, I want to continue to support local businesses. At the same time, who wants to risk danger to meet basic needs? Asheville, what gets in the way of your beautiful mountain town changing for the positive? What’s missing is A Currency for Caring.

— Tricia Collins
Burnsville

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5 thoughts on “Letter: Downtown salon break-in shatters sense of security

  1. Enlightened Enigma

    Sadly, Tricia Asheville’s condition is due to decades of democrat NON leadership … decades, and now the democrat mission is to keep US cities destroyed and you will like it.

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  2. Lou

    What’s missing is leadership that cares about community, not cash. I am a progressive, proudly so, but the so called liberal leadership seems to be in it for their own best interests.

  3. Robert

    The homeless population directly correlates to our housed population. Just as not all taxpayers are not the same, neither are all homeless. Some of the latter may benefit from a hand up and become contributing citizens; others never will. It’s time to acknowledge that growth, rampant overdevelopment, and constant pandering for more tourism dollars has brought (and continues to bring) the good as well as the bad. I am not economically naive, but I am weary of those who lack a comprehensive world view to say that we the people who want to apply some brakes to tourism and development to keep this town from lurching off the bluffs and into the river are small-minded folks standing in the way of progress.

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  4. Taxpayer

    When will downtown business owners pack up and move out of downtown or even to another town?

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