BeLoved Asheville co-director Amy Cantrell speaks with Xpress about the health impacts of housing insecurity, combatting isolation and her role as the architect of an intentional community.
Tag: Amy Cantrell
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Outreach team seeks to address complex emergency calls
On any day of the week, first responders in Buncombe County might be dispatched to this common scenario: A business owner or a bystander sees a woman on the sidewalk who is agitated, yelling, screaming, and pacing back and forth. Concerned, a bystander calls 911 to get this person help; it’s unclear whether she’s injured, […]
WNC explores tiny homes as housing solution
Western North Carolina leaders have been thinking big when it comes to the region’s affordable housing crisis, with Buncombe County alone aiming to create or preserve up to 3,150 affordable units by 2030. But when it comes to actually building those spaces, some in the area are also thinking small.
Help for local homeless people’s pets
Randy Tucker has a shadow, and her name is Star. With oversized ears and big paws that bear witness to her youth, the 3-year-old German shepherd mix was adopted three months ago from the Asheville Humane Society, which found her in mid-September, roaming as a stray in the Lees Creek area. Star now accompanies Tucker […]
Haywood Street restrooms face permanent closure
Of the various downtown bathroom options available prior to the pandemic, only the city-owned facility at 29 Haywood St. was available 24/7. Since it closed, unsheltered residents have very few options.
COVID-19 compounds housing crisis
With Asheville’s only day shelter for people who are homeless undergoing renovations, and overnight options unable to admit those in need of short-term shelter due to the pandemic, “For people experiencing homelessness, this is going to be a brutal winter,” says Eleanor Ashton of nonprofit Homeward Bound.
Things to be hopeful about in 2019
Amy Cantrell, co-director of BeLoved Asheville, reflects on things that made her hopeful in 2019. Proud to Be Brown at BeLoved Asheville, MANOS of Buncombe County Schools and De Mujer a Mujer co-wrote and received a city proclamation for Latinx History Month. It was powerful witnessing over 60 Latinx youths and adults fill the City […]
Asheville residents criticize proposed budget
Transit, tree protection and city employee wages were among the issues that brought more than 100 people to the May 28 City Council meeting.
BeLoved Asheville’s new gallery offers visibility to underserved artists
The event includes music by DJ Malinalli and light hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 p.m. followed the unveiling of the work “Rising of the Ancestors” by Harry Rivera, an artist talk by Ponkho Bermejo, a documentary film screening and a panel discussion featuring Rivera, Bermejo and Carmen Ramos-Kennedy.
Year in review: Local activism makes a mark on WNC
Asheville is an activist’s town, and 2018 controversies in local government, including the ongoing fallout from the investigation into former County Manager Wanda Greene and the police beating of Asheville resident Johnnie Rush, gave local residents plenty of reasons to seek change.
Budget and policing disagreements at forefront of Council meeting
No additional changes made their way into this year’s budget as Council decided to adopt the ordinance in a 4-3 vote. Mayor Esther Manheimer, Vice-Mayor Gwen Wisler, and Council members Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield all voted in support of the budget. Members Brian Haynes, Sheneika Smith and Keith Young voted against the plan; all three had shown hesitation about a police funding increase during previous work sessions.
“Fireworks” in store for June 19 Council meeting
Two weeks before the Fourth of July, the meeting’s agenda promises a grand finale of rhetorical explosions over two matters of unfinished business. The first is the Asheville city budget, which Council member Brian Haynes has said he will not support as long as it contains funding for additional officers to staff the Asheville Police Department’s downtown district. The second is a series of resolutions to rescind and replace the three motions on police policy previously proposed by Young and passed by Council on May 22.
Police accountability and transparency focus of City Council meeting
Amid calls for increased public access to policing data, Asheville City Council left the city’s volunteer board dedicated to hearing residents’ concerns about law enforcement in place for now. At the same time, the elected officials noted many vacancies on the Citizens Police Advisory Committee and signaled their longterm intent to dissolve the body once the newly forming Human Relations Commission has gotten up and running.
Low-income defendants jailed for months awaiting trial for misdemeanors
Across the nation and in Western North Carolina, people are being held in jail for days, weeks, even months awaiting trial on misdemeanor charges, because they can’t raise the cash to get out. That, in turn, can lead to job loss and homelessness. Some attorneys now argue that this is tantamount to debtors prison, which is unconstitutional.
Letter: Making Peace Day every day
“Peace = justice = sharing. … But as Amy Cantrell asked me, ‘If we truly believe in peace and not war … what are we willing to risk to bring that about in the world?'”
Space race: Deconstructing Asheville’s affordable housing problem
While 2016 statistics show increasing availability in the area’s rental housing market, Asheville renters say their choices remain limited and prices steep. Several city initiatives — including a $25 million affordable housing bond referendum approved by voters in November — aim to bolster the supply of affordable housing, while some private-sector players are pursuing similar goals.
Letter writer: Dignity and safety should be human rights, regardless of circumstance
“I also believe it’s important to stress compassion regardless of the circumstances that lead someone to periods of homelessness.”
Homeless, nonprofits, APD vie over downtown policing
At a meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 18, city of Asheville staff and police officers met with homeless activists and local nonprofit representatives to discuss a new law enforcement approach that focuses on more arrests in the city’s downtown. Responses varied, ranging from concerns about the impacts of a failing system to criticisms of the Asheville Police Department’s new strategy.
Homeless, advocates rally against Mumpower’s call for photos
This afternoon about a dozen homeless persons and their advocates staged a brief but impassioned rally in Asheville’s Pritchard Park to denounce a City Council member’s call for photos of “vagrant/addict misbehavior.”