On the morning of Dec. 1, 2006, my wife and I closed on a lovely home at 2949 Riverside Dr., Asheville 28804. Concurrently, the [county commissioners] made public two years of informal, private negotiations that [have now] resulted in the leasing of the property across the street from our new home. If we had known the property was available, we would not have paid $365,000 for our house on 1.5 acres. That is not meant to imply we do not love our new home. Still, we would have bid on the lovely 78-acre parcel across the road from us. It is truly riverside with lovely all-season mountain views. And the price was right.
Having now retired and moved to Asheville from New York City, I look forward to all this beautiful county has to offer. I am especially eager to work with new friends and neighbors in concerted efforts to oppose the commissioners jointly and severally in all of [their] endeavors.
Now that I have presented senior feelings, let’s talk reality. Are the commissioners happy that their constituents’ sons and daughters are dying despite wishes and input to elected officials? Are they comfortable with a tax code that spares the wealthy and overburdens the middle class? Do they ever wonder why direct taxes pressure below-average wage earners more than residents of states with higher wages? Do they expect elected officials to be responsive to [their] mandate?
My point is, citizens have concerns that they want to be addressed by their elected officials [and they] expect those officials to listen before making up their minds.
Perhaps the commissioners should watch the televised session of the public hearing and the vote on the proposed Woodfin generating facility. Obviously they were not there, or they would have heard their employers’ opposition to the proposal. Let’s go to the replay. Two years of negotiations between various commissioners and Progress Energy (a choice of names to make you gag) could not withstand a delay of vote for a week or two or a month to allow for public comment? What do they say? “Do it fast before they ([the] people) can get organized.”
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