Malignant or benign?
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Wow, this is so spot on.
And yet you have the same people in government positions with multiple years of service and electoral wins. So why complain? Oh the irony but don’t let that stop the same old same old.
Agreed, Sasha. I was going to call it the elephant in the room but that looks more like a mean snaggletoothed blob pretending to be a Blue Ridge Mountain.
Amazing how much people complain about growth when the city is still tiny. Right now Asheville has the population of Sioux City, Iowa. I wonder if they’re crying about growth the way some people are here. Sometimes I think people would be happier if this was still a forgotten Appalachian mountain town. There still are plenty of those around to move to for the complainers.
I doubt the people in Sioux City, Iowa are complaining about growth because they don’t have it.
From 2000 to 2010 Asheville saw a 21.1% growth rater. Sioux City actually LOST population by a rate of -2.7%. Between 2010 and 2015 Sioux City saw an increase of only 0.2% while Ashevill saw an increase of 6.1%. Apples and oranges.
The irony, of course, is that so much of the anti-growth complaining that goes on in Asheville comes from people who contributed to that growth by moving here as if somehow their arrival made Asheville complete and whole.
Exactly my point. Cities like that would kill for the type of growth and upward trajectory that Asheville has. In fact, there was just an article that came out that said there were more job openings than available people in the job pool. But of course people will always find something to complain about, even it means that their city is on a major upswing. Maybe they should spend some time in the rest of Appalachia and see what could have been.
Well that would be fine if that growth wasn’t subsidized by the residents while those that made and continue to make money are allowed to get away with not paying their fair share.
I’m reminded of the quote that goes “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” Ah yes, the upward trajectory of having to move every year because your rent gets too expensive. The trajectory of having large parts of town that locals don’t go to because they’re too crowded with tourists. The trajectory of loving this region because of the natural beauty while that same beauty is destroyed by developers. But hey, think of all the cool breweries and start-ups!
Ya Sue, I think you perceive it accurately. The people making things happen in their lives aren’t the ones complaining. There are truckloads of inventive, talented, hard-working folks in this area and they understand that success comes from personal drive and that there is no utopia.
Just like everywhere else in the world, anyone who doesn’t like their surrounding should look for a destination they like better.
Fwiw, I understand there is a significant shortage of nurses at Mission. Yup, it’s going to take a couple years to get educated but both pay and job security are quite good in that career.
No, anyone who does not like their surrounding should stay and fight tooth and nail to improve it.
Really? That from a poster who has admitted to living here a whole 3 years? Uh huh.
Dissent does not equal- ‘leave town’.
Our country was founded upon the ideal of dissent for improvements’ sake.
Really? Surely you can see the ridiculousness of the Chamber of Commerce pushing the bond. You know, a non profit and TAXPAYER subsidized entity pushing for MORE taxes to end up benefiting THEIR members LOL, LOL, LOL. Like I said, the growth here is nothing to be bragging about. It’s built mostly on the backs of those who don’t benefit from it yet are expected to pay for it. Too bad that narrative is swept under the rug while everyone involved pats themselves on the back. Asheville is the definition of crony capitalism,. Oh the irony lulz.
Duhhhh, boatrocker – it’s implicit that staying is an option. Attempting to influence your surroundings, or not — also both choices. What does not appear obvious to some is that they don’t have to stay.
When people purely whine and complain rather than do something (i.e. stay and work to improve or leave for a place more preferred) they are behaving like victims. Somehow they seem to believe the world shouldn’t move on in a way they don’t want it to. Hello! — self-absorbed much, victims?
Oh and, yawn, another local who thinks they have tenure. How provincial. Time to leave and go learn how the larger world operates.
Growth has come with a price – and most normal folks agree that it has come too fast. I am a native of Haywood County, but worked in Asheville for many years – and have seen the mountains become crowded up with houses, woods and pastures become housing and strip malls, and the traffic get worse every year. I am glad to see that some of downtown has been preserved and that stores are no longer boarded up, and mighty glad it no longer becomes the domain of winos and prostitutes after 6pm – but it is becoming geared more towards tourists than locals now.
Many would say “So what-move if you don’t like it”. Not me and not many folks who strive for Asheville not to become a hungry cancer cell.
But cancer is what free market capitalism is at the end of the day- it kills its hosts, aka those commie non Mammonites.
There are positive and negative aspects to just about every place there is – an abundance of natural splendor might mean no jobs or good roads or convenient healthcare facilities whereas an abundance of jobs, roads, 7-11’s and doctors might mean overcrowding and pollution. And I agree that unbridled, unregulated capitalism driven by money-mad people is not a good thing. A lot of irony in how globalism, free trade, etc. in so many cases just opens the door for big businesses to pack up and leave the US so they can take full advantage of poor nations with no environmental or labor regulations, and pollute to their hearts content while paying slave wages to a pretty much captive workforce. All in the name of “too much is not enough” or “greed is good”.
By “normal” folks I meant local people of average means, who are not builders, investors, etc.
LOL, vilified CIBO is pushing for district elections that benefits everyone while the Chamber of Commerce is pushing for a bond and higher taxes that benefits ONLY a small minority lulz. That’s the corruption present here in Asheville and the county yet where oh where is the media to like bring these issues to the forefront OBJECTIVELY. No where. Somewhere there are a ton of kickbacks going to individuals in the Chamber and government and a select few who own property in the downtown and RAD. I can guarantee you that.
Maybe you dolts at the Xpress could like investigate who owns property or businesses where all this PUBLIC money is being funneled to. Naw who am I kidding. You morons are too scared to rock that boat.
“yet where oh where is the media to like bring these issues to the forefront OBJECTIVELY. No where.”
Does the Tribune not satisfy your vaguely-sourced nefarious conspiracy needs? I hear that it provides a strong defense of the free market, and it doesn’t cost a penny.