Letter: Support citizen safety efforts first

Graphic by Lori Deaton

With such a clear gap in municipal responsibility to provide a safe, secure environment through effective law enforcement, should not the county/city focus on supporting citizen safety efforts before looking at marketing programs targeted at tourism?

— Dick Domann
Asheville

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Letters
We want to hear from you! Send your letters and commentary to letters@mountainx.com

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

7 thoughts on “Letter: Support citizen safety efforts first

  1. MV

    Safety, security, and quality of life of citizens should be placed before everything else: tourism dollars, unwise development, and even the right to drink beer. But it seems we’re going to need a heat dome and a severe uptick in violent crime to wake local officials.

  2. Taxpayer

    Asheville isn’t safe. Please hurry up and reimagine policing and enact the reimagined because Asheville is NOT safe and it’s getting worse every day. West Asheville is going backwards to Worst Asheville very quickly.

  3. MG Massey

    Well they should care cause taxes pay them, but addicted to the tourist dollar
    We’re all forgotten
    Lived in twenty states and two other countries, never have I seen such an oblivious bunch of pretentious phony people.
    Unkind and uncaring

  4. kw

    A looming problem for the city is that residents now have contempt for tourists. When this contempt boils over into actual rage against visitors, what will Asheville’s reputation become? It’s simmering now…and now is the time for local politicians to be proactive to invest in our community and listen to residents who continue to raise the same issues over and over. How many warnings do they need?

    • luther blissett

      The fallacy here is thinking that the city and county spend any money on tourism marketing. Of course, the TDA likes it that way.

      Individual tourists don’t know that they symbolize the growing discontent. Nobody tells them where their room taxes are going when they make a booking. The political process is at an impasse, and the proposed changes to the distribution of funds are entirely inadequate. This is one reason why polite-but-firm direct action ought to be the way to fight the TDA from now on. It is better to make life uncomfortable for the hoteliers in the months to come than for things to boil over.

Leave a Reply to MV ×

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.