City staff were called to account for a communication failure that led to the removal of mature fruit trees at George Washington Carver Edible Park last month. City Council approved a land use incentive grant for affordable housing on Simpson Street, amended the process for requesting a variance from the city’s signage ordinance and approved modest changes to the rules that govern downtown street performances.
“It is completely possible to design a security lighting system that does not destroy the integrity of this space and that would not require the removal of trees.”
“The city is not only failing to ‘prioritize’ edibles but is actively undoing the selfless work undertaken by thoughtful citizens.”
Although Asheville City Council approved a 14-point Food Action Plan three years ago that included a goal of implementing underutilized city-owned land for agricultural purposes, to date little headway has been made in that area.
Can new ways of structuring the rules that govern how organizations gather information and make decisions help our community move beyond entrenched positions and polarizing rhetoric? Some local consultants say yes, and point to local organizations that are already using new tools to increase participation in developing and implementing solutions to challenging issues.
From improving food access to supporting urban agriculture, the six Asheville City Council candidates shared their views on local food issues at a recent forum hosted by the Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council.
With an upcoming forum for Asheville City Council candidates, the Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council hopes to make food insecurity one of the front-and-center campaign issues.
The addition of fluoride to municipal drinking water supplies has been a controversial topic for many years, with opponents asserting that fluoridation carries health risks that outweigh any benefits. The Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council has taken a stand on the issue.
Advocates, activists and concerned citizens gathered at the Stephens-Lee Recreation Center on Friday, July 31, for the Asheville-Buncombe County Food Policy Council’s Meeting of the Whole.
A new initiative of the Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council enlists the help of UNC Asheville students to track regional data and lay the groundwork for developing appropriate food policy for Asheville and surrounding communities.
The Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council, a volunteer-driven organization since it began in 2011, recently hired Mary Ellen Lough as its first paid employee. In her new position as coordinator of the council’s various clusters, Lough hopes to increase the organization’s effectiveness at easing Buncombe County’s food-security issues.
As we celebrate Earth Day 2015, we take a look at the status of the sustainability movement in WNC. How far have we come, and how far do we have to go? We asked local nonprofits and regulatory agencies to take us to school by examining our environmental efforts — from our air to our water, from our successes to our failures — and giving us an honest assessment of how we’re doing.
