Asheville City Council preview: turning down the lights

Initially, next week’s upcoming Asheville City Council meeting, on Jan. 28, promised a showdown over a controversial development near downtown. With that matter withdrawn, however, the remaining items on the agenda are changes to the city’s rules to encourage less light pollution and modifications to development guidelines to bring them in line with new state laws.

Group to rally for ‘transport­ation with representa­tion,’ unveil plan on Jan. 14

This coming Tuesday, Jan. 14, a group of transit riders and citizens will assemble in Pack Square to call for an overhaul of the city’s system that “prioritizes the needs of the people who use public transit out of necessity.” The group has a 19-point plan to improve transit services and make the management of the system more representative of its ridership.

Asheville City Council preview: swearing-in, a vice mayor and apartments

The new Asheville City Council and mayor take office next Tuesday, Dec. 10, at a swearing-in before the regular meeting. Council was facing a vote on a controversial development, but it’s likely that will be delayed, though there’s still decisions on a new vice mayor, an apartment project and an overhaul of oversight in the River Arts District.

Election results: Manheimer Asheville’­s next mayor; Wisler, Smith, Bothwell win Council seats

With all precincts reporting, turnout in the Nov. 5 city of Asheville elections was low, but the results were decisive. Vice Mayor Esther Manheimer defeated former city risk manager John Miall by a considerable margin to become the next mayor. Former Coleman CEO Gwen Wisler, along with incumbents Gordon Smith and Cecil Bothwell, also won Asheville City Council seats by a large number of votes. Photo by Nick King.

The Halloween Voter Guide to Asheville City Elections

With Halloween and the Asheville city elections so closely aligned, we offer both some scary art (by cartoonists Brent Brown and Randy Molton) and the candidates’ replies to five key questions.
Come midevening on Nov. 5, Asheville voters will have picked their new mayor and three City Council members. There are two mayoral candidates and five Council contenders (of whom two are incumbents). In a series of forums, what positions have the candidates taken? How have they responded to voter questions? Look for recent stories at mountainx.com/election, and check these excerpts from the candidates answers.

Candidates question each other, developmen­t at CIBO forum

The five Asheville City Council candidates squared off at the Council of Independent Business Owners’ forum yesterday afternoon as this year’s campaign entered its final stretch. Many of the topics discussed had been dealt with at previous forums, with some exceptions. In this case, the candidates questioned each other, and spoke frankly about their thoughts on development and NIMBYism.