Transparent enough for you?

If you look up the word transparency—that word that so many politicians throw around during election time—you’ll find the definition: “easily seen through, recognized or detected.”

Perhaps Nathan Ramsey and the Gang of Five should have looked up the definition before their devious attempt (with the aid of County Manager Wanda Green and [former city Planning Director] Scott Shuford) to circumvent the legality and the spirit of the bequest George Pack made to the [county]. The irony is, this shameful, backdoor political-insider attempt to slip one past the public was “transparent” enough for Ray Charles to see through. This is the type of politics that frustrates so many with the political system, and it reeks with cronyism, greed and old Chicago-style politics, where everything and everyone had a price.

One would also have to question the ethics of developers like Stewart Coleman who would take advantage of said system for their own benefit at the expense of the city they claim to care so much about. Thanks to our compliant elected officials and Downtown Commission, developers like Mr. Coleman have Asheville right in their cross hairs and won’t be satisfied until they’ve drained it of its essence [and] turned it into some grotesque playground for the rich and infamous. And when it’s destroyed, they will of course be rich enough to move on and leave us with the residue of their avarice: crime, overcrowded streets and a paved-over paradise. Is there no one who can stop the madness? Where’s our super hero when you need him/her?

Greed is not good, and he who dies with the most toys does not win—he just dies; you take nothing with you except maybe honor, honesty and integrity. Let’s see if the commissioners have the political backbone, honesty and integrity to correct one of their more egregious insults to the community. Anyone taking bets?

— Jesse Junior
Arden