Lots of vacation time?

The BID program proposes a staff of 14 employees to cover the downtown business district. What will these 14 employees be doing the three to four winter months when there are few visitors to Asheville downtown? In addition to the slack time in winter, during the rest of the year downtown is busy from Wednesday […]

BID bumped until Fall, Council agrees on budget

After a lengthy public hearing, Asheville City Council voted 6-0 to delay a vote on the controversial Business Improvement District proposal until Sept. 25 due to concerns about the governing structure, finances and details of its services. Council also broke a deadlock over the issue of staff salaries, approving an annual budget for the city that includes a 2 percent raise for city staff — but shy of the 3 percent Mayor Terry Bellamy advocated for.

Who’s improving whom?

About 40 people gathered in Pack Memorial Library’s Lord Auditorium for a June 5 forum on the proposed business improvement district for downtown Asheville. The event was organized by StopAVLBID, and many in attendance opposed the idea. The group describes itself as a coalition that “includes activists working within the Occupy movement, local cooperatives, community […]

Taxpayers foot the bill for the BID program

The city administrators are striving to create a business improvement district, or BID program. The defined area will include all the businesses and every property owner in that district. Instead of having everyone included in the defined area having a vote, they will subdivide into smaller districts. Therefore, many residents in a subdistrict will be […]

Place your BIDs: Property owners propose downtown business improvemen­t district

Amid talk of higher taxes and better services, City Council may soon decide whether downtown Asheville gets a business improvement district. Many city residents first encountered the term in 2009, when Boston-based consultants Goody Clancy recommended the idea in their draft of what became Asheville’s Downtown Master Plan. Council adopted the plan later that year, […]