“I was thrilled to see that nurses at Mission Hospital were finally given a raise and disheartened at the same time to see they had to bargain for ‘guaranteed’ breaks.”
Letter: Tourism dollars should help with infrastructure
“Tourism dollars should be helping with the infrastructure of the city. To continue to put the burden on taxpayers living here is unfair and unsustainable.”
Letter: Spend occupancy taxes on healing tourism’s impacts
“The tourism fund could be used to provide paying jobs for locals to be out in the parks and forests making sure visitors practice “leave no trace”; park only where they are supposed to; do trail work; and prevent mapless tourists from getting lost in the woods.”
Letter: Council should deny rezoning for Charlotte Street development
“City Council, we demand that you comply with the Unified Development Ordinance and deny the Killians’ request for a conditional zoning permit.”
Letter: Business owners, nonprofit leaders support alternatives to policing
“From housing shortages to drug overdoses, Asheville’s crises stem from deep dysfunctions and injustices. For too long, our city has overinvested in punishment and underinvested in equity — reliance on policing is not the solution, it is the problem.”
Letter: Support citizen safety efforts first
“Should not the county/city focus on supporting citizen safety efforts before looking at marketing programs targeted at tourism?”
Letter: Keep noise ordinance as is
“I believe that we should leave it as is — that’s part of the charm of downtown Asheville.”
Letter: Timeout needed on occupancy tax collection
“The state law requiring 75% of the tax to be used for advertising is absurd.”
Letter: Where are environmental groups on Charlotte Street development?
“I call upon locally important environmental groups to take a stand on this issue in this time of emergency climate crisis.”
Letter: Thanks for River Arts District greenway and more
“I am so grateful to all the DOT and city of Asheville employees who worked day after day through a pandemic on this project to beautify our town.”
Letter: Reroute half of occupancy taxes to infrastructure
“I think and truly believe it is a travesty that so much of the funds from the occupancy tax are rerouted to advertising for more tourism!”
Letter: Beasley is a sincere and discerning leader
“She has been a public defender, a District Court judge, the first African American woman to lead the N.C. Supreme Court and the only candidate who has won statewide in North Carolina — twice.”
Letter: Thumbs-up for attention to local issues
“Substantial opinion letters such as those in your June 23 issue are why I’ll turn first to the Xpress in Asheville or Bill Moss’ Lightning in Hendersonville for thoughtful attention to local issues.”
Letter: Are activist welcome wagons the solution?
“What activists need to organize is partisan welcome wagons and moving vans to welcome allies to vote for mayors to fund abortions to reduce school tax and housing demand. …”
Letter: Clamp down on noisy vehicles
“I’d love to see the police stop some of these drivers and issue tickets for violating the noise ordinance.”
Letter: The reality of the Asheville job market
“They always tell you what you want to hear to get their foot in the door.”
Letter: Missing the old Asheville
“Downtown did need help, but it didn’t need to be turned into the tourist-oriented, overbuilt, overdeveloped mess that it has become.”
Letter: Cawthorn’s inspiring story could encourage others
“This inspiring story could encourage people to achieve great things and to rise and overcome your limitations for success.”
Letter: We need creative responses to transform our institutions
“I believe preschool and primary grades of schooling are more attuned to children’s needs, but after that, the schools are geared more to fitting children into our dysfunctional and polarized society.”
Letter: Homelessness is not a ‘lifestyle’
“Just as mental, physical and socioeconomic conditions are not lifestyles, neither is homelessness; it is an outcome of those conditions.”
Letter: Stop with the insular local mentality
“I’m tired of people here complaining about growth. Frankly, this small-mindedness reminds me of people in Maine who want to keep out ‘outsiders from away.’”