Three candidates for Buncombe County Board of Commissioners gathered at the May 10 Council of Independent Business Owners meeting to lay out their vision for the county’s future direction.

Three candidates for Buncombe County Board of Commissioners gathered at the May 10 Council of Independent Business Owners meeting to lay out their vision for the county’s future direction.
“It’s not going to be fun to point out how historically some things haven’t worked out so great and they have bad impact on business and the residents,” Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods president Rick Freeman told the audience at the Coalition of Independent Business Owners meeting April 5.
“COVID was the most disruptive thing that cities in America have ever experienced. It had a devastating effect on cities and to right that shift has really been a tremendous struggle,” Mayor Esther Manheimer told members of CIBO.
The majority of the June 2 CIBO meeting focused on plans for the Sweeten Creek Mental Health and Wellness Center, a 120-bed hospital that will provide behavioral health services.
Security, crime and justice took center stage during a Council of Independent Business Owners breakfast April 1. The Asheville-based trade group’s meeting served as a forum for the three Democratic Buncombe County district attorney candidates: current DA Todd Williams, prosecutor and former Assistant DA Doug Edwards and assistant public defender Courtney Booth. (Attorney Joe Bowman […]
As Asheville takes steps to reckon with its long history of systemic racism and economic inequity, local business owners are wondering what impacts the city’s ambitious initiatives will have on them.
Enjoy a glimpse of life on the open road at the Asheville Van Life Rally Friday, Sept. 21-Sunday, Sept. 23, or take in one of the many campaign forums showcasing local candidates for local, state and national offices in this year’s general election.
Meadows noted that Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long’s letter on Aug. 20 denying Gov. Roy Cooper’s request for a federal disaster declaration was likely the final word on the matter. “I think that decision has been made,” he said. “Obviously, that’s a decision that they didn’t feel met the threshold [for supplemental federal assistance].”
ASHEVILLE, NC
“When local workers can’t find housing they can afford and our less fortunate population — including families with children — is one rent check away from living on the street, this predicament has reached critical mass.”
Mission Health President and CEO Dr. Ron Paulus sees system expansion through mergers as a nearly inevitable survival tactic in the current healthcare environment. “There are many leaders — not me, but Mayo Clinic and others — that believe within 25 years, there will be maybe four or five health systems in the U.S.,” he said.
Candidates for Asheville City Council and mayor got up early for one last candidate forum before Nov. 7’s general election. Presented by the Council of Independent Business Owners, the Nov. 3 forum focused on business and economic issues.
Asheville
Dr. Joe Dunn, a retired dentist who lives in South Asheville, today told members of the Council of Independent Business Owners he’s launching a push for district elections for seats on Asheville City Council — and he’s planning to take his case directly to North Carolina legislators.
The final six candidates in the race for Asheville’s city council are by now veterans of many forums and panel discussions. Wednesday’s Council of Independent Business Owners (CIBO) forum emphasized issues of particular interest and importance to Asheville’s business community, yielding some answers frequently heard on the campaign trail and some that moved into more wonkish territory.
After months of sparring through media interviews and attack ads, Republican N.C. House Rep. Tim Moffitt met face to face with Democratic challenger Brian Turner Aug. 29 at their first forum of the year.
This Friday, Aug. 29, promises to be an intense day in local politics, as all four Buncombe County Statehouse candidates debate and U.S. Senate candidate Thoms Tillis speaks at a breakfast event.
Local business owners raised their voices and things got, by the moderator’s own admission, “a little out of hand” at Friday morning’s Council of Independent Business Owners meeting when it came to the issue of graffiti. With the district attorney, city leaders and a state representative on hand, opinions differed — sometimes sharply — on possible solutions and who should foot the bill.
The Council of Independent Business Owners has been called a lot of things over the years.
Few could argue that the nonprofit — whose members serve on such powerful public bodies as Asheville’s City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission, the Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency’s board and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners — lacks influence. But how far does it reach? And does the group still have the kind of impact that it did in the past?
Kelly Martin of the Western North Carolina Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal initiative spoke at the Council of Independent Business Owners’ Friday, Feb. 7, meeting to address future goals and investments that could help wean the region off coal energy dependency.