A city initiative is sending 100 percent of its members to college, including many first generation college students. The City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy’s goal is to provide real world experience and a professional network in order to facilitate entry to the city’s workforce.
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.
Because beauty products may contain toxic chemicals linked to health problems, many WNC salons are switching to all organic products to keep customers and workers safe.
“This is a crisis of epic sadness that a city that supports tourism is not willing to support its residents!”
“There are no one-size-fits-all solutions in planning: Each place is very different,” says Todd Okolichany, who began work as Asheville’s new planning director Sept. 8. “That’s a key value for me as a planner: recognizing the differences and uniqueness of each place.” Okolichany, 36, comes to Asheville from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he was principal […]
I’m curious about these local “experts” [“Collision Course,” July 29, part of Xpress’ affordable housing essay series]. Has anyone been interviewed who has been royally screwed by City Council’s collectivist legislation responsible for driving rental rates sky high? Years ago, Xpress covered the onset of my saga, regarding how the city initially forced me to […]
“City Council recently adopted a goal of assisting in the production of 2,800 new affordable housing units in the next seven years. That, however, is only about half of the city’s projected need over the next five years.”
Surrounded by mountains and crammed into a 45-square-mile valley, the city of Asheville is bursting at the seams, suffering from a severe housing shortage, skyrocketing rents and home prices, overcrowded streets with no place to park, and an abundance of lower-paying, tourism-based jobs.
“Even if our city refuses to believe studies from Harvard or the Environmental Protection Agency or the 97 percent of countries in western Europe that refuse to fluoridate their water, why would we ‘medicate’ our water supply to prevent tooth decay?”
“Through a partnership with Homeward Bound, the city of Asheville provides support to implement the federal Supportive Services for Veteran Families grant. Homeward Bound was awarded $2.7 million in federal funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs to implement its Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) over the next three years.”
From the Get It! Guide: Asheville is faced with a rising interest in transportation alternatives, but the path to greater advances seems to be lined with historic neglect and budgetary hurdles. The city still has a long walk ahead to fulfill its 2004 goal of building 108 miles of sidewalks. In the last decade, Asheville has constructed only about 18 miles worth.
Whereas cloud computing is more commonly used to back up data for companies or individuals, Next City, a nonprofit and quarterly magazine based in Philadelphia, credits Asheville as being one of the first cities to use a cloud-based data recovery system — and this kind of forward-thinking is winning our city (and our CIO) awards for its use of this innovation.
As Asheville City Council heads into an important election year, a variety of new local projects are in the works that aim to increase civic engagement.
On Jan. 27 Asheville City Council will consider several economic incentive deals, apartment development requests and a housing study that will help shape policies for years to come.
Beyond medicine Living the healthy life Part II of Xpress‘ two part special wellness feature (see Wellness Issues stories sidebar for articles from both special wellness issues). by Susan Foster, Wellness editor Increasingly, researchers, care providers, government agencies and even insurance companies are recognizing that social factors play a much larger role in determining health outcomes […]
Patrick Bowen has evaluated housing issues in hundreds of cities across the country. But he’s never seen the mix of extremely low apartment availability and high population growth that confronts Asheville.
“Putting artists to work” may sound like a WPA-era poster slogan. But it’s also the fundamental basis of a new series of public art contracting courses hosted by RiverLink and organized by Brenda Mills, the city of Asheville’s economic development specialist. The classes offer an introduction and general overview of being a contractor with the city — […]
The billowing local debates over affordable housing and pedestrian safety are pivoting toward a long overlooked section of West Asheville. A proposal for a major new apartment complex at the corner of Hazel Mill Road and Clayton Avenue just north of Patton Avenue is steering the discussion.
Amid a range of escalating controversies, an independent audit, and a restructuring of the department, Asheville Police Chief William Anderson announced Nov. 14 that he will retire.
Mayors from a variety of cities across North Carolina gathered in Asheville Oct. 23 for a luncheon that included an update from N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca and a panel discussion on economic development. “I’d like to welcome you to Asheville, we hope you spend a lot of money. We need it,” said Apodaca at the […]
If all goes according to plan, a zoning change being considered by Asheville City Council Sept. 9 could eventually help lead to a more walkable and densely developed West Asheville – all while maintaining its historical feel.
