There was really no doubt in my mind that The Ellington would be approved. I mean, really, has the City Council or the Board of Commissioners ever vetoed a development project, no matter how heinous? The Council members and the commissioners are in thrall to the various planning boards, CIBO and the Chamber of Commerce, anyway. After all, these entities in pursuit of the almighty dollar are more than willing to sacrifice the unique nature of Asheville and destroy the natural beauty of our mountains, if only to fill their gluttonous coffers.
Evidently, we, the citizens of this once-beautiful part of the Southern Appalachians, are also more than willing to become monetary slaves in pathetic service-oriented industries in this fiefdom that Asheville is becoming. Our lords and masters are the out-of-town developers and the arrogant wealthy consumers looking for new mansions of second homes. They are fleeing the cityscapes they have ravaged with overdevelopment, traffic, crime and fractured environments. And they will chew up and decimate this area as well.
Those of us who have ignored or profited from the desecration of this region affront God by destroying His creation. Our locally elected leaders live and work in the same moral vacuum inculcated by the hypocritical national officials of church and state. For ours is a spiritually and ethically bankrupt society. We worship Mammon through our overconsumption. We have sacrificed our traditional mountain heritage, our clean air, our green, wild mountain habitats, our pristine water and our very souls in pursuit of transient worldly riches.
— Jay S. Gertz
Alexander
A fine letter, Mr. Gertz. I have a feeling that the Ellington will be Asheville’s albatross, another failed monument to “shock and awe” development gone much too far.
Mr. Gertz, would share with me what green wild mountain habitats the Ellington is going to displace?
What traditional mountain heritage would that be that we have sacrificed, Mr. Gertz? The one maintained by the people living here previous to say, 1491? Or the heritage of the poor dirt farmers who slowly replaced them? Or the one of ex-slaves hiding out? Or is it the one of old men from Sylva cruising for hookers on Lexington in the 80’s? Perhaps you mean the crack houses of Montford in the early 90’s? Or the hippies who found a beautiful, affordable place to live in the mid to late 90’s?
Please clarify.
Thank you.
Jay Gertz, thank you. You have said it so well. Of course we are not surprised by the greediness and lack of community-mindedness in the real estate-developer corner, but what a disappointment that our politicians are such useful idiots in this abomination. Those who move here and want to change this area into the excrement-hole they have moved from are reprehensible. No wonder we locals have a bad taste in our mouths when discussing the invasion of Yankees and Floridiots. And the home-grown politicians who sell out their own heritage are the worst. Geez. Can we roll the clock back 30 years please?