In response to Anna Rector’s letter, “Tearing Away Childhood, and Much More” [Aug. 8], I have total empathy. I left Greensboro, N.C., in 1995 to move here because developers were not tearing up this land like they did there. My new husband and I eventually bought an old home in West Asheville, surrounded by trees. We had seven wonderful years here, and then the bulldozers came to destroy the wooded hill across our street. This developer clear-cut all of it for row homes. When an arsonist burned one down, it was even more traumatic.
Having lived my childhood there, West Virginia is just as hard to bear. That was a beautiful state, and the mountaintops are now being blown up for coal. It breaks my heart every time we visit. They left a strand of trees on the interstate so no one can see the truth. We are grateful for the downtown [Asheville] protesters against Bank of America, which supported the largest coal company in that state.
Our entire country is controlled by greed, and the destruction is going on everywhere. The average person loves to shop and live in new, fancy homes. Enough is enough! As long as this growing population depends on materialism and comfort for happiness, our land will be compromised to fulfill their pleasures. Meanwhile, the retired baby boomers moving here have money. They would rather live in new homes—with a view—than donate to help preserve these mountains. Forget living in an older home, [which could be found] for sale all over the place. We cannot blame developers for supplying what the people moving here want.
I don’t understand why retired people support destruction, when many have grandkids. I suppose they don’t care what the next generation will endure.
— Susan Hamilton
Asheville
makes me thing dr. seuss was right on when he wrote the book “The Lorax” its seems that that is where alot of beautiful places are heading
As one of those “baby boomers”(I hope that term doesn’t become a bad word the way words like liberal and yankee and hippie have in some places because I’m all of those too) I’d have to take issue with Susan Hamilton’s generalization that retired people heading to Asheville are somehow bent on desruction of the environment based on greed. Not ALL baby boomers are alike. Please evaluate us as individuals rather than some vague group defined by age and income. If Susan Hamilton knows of an older house for sale in West Asheville
that may be had for considerably less than the quarter of a million dollar price tag that most are sporting, please send the mls number my way so I don’t have to look at building a new house for less.
Protecting the environment and managing development growth is a complex and ongoing job.