Today Asheville City Council appointed Robin Currin as the new city attorney, formally swearing her in at a special meeting. Currin, a Raleigh-based attorney with experience in local government, land and zoning law, will take office on May 1. Photo by Alicia Funderburk.
About 100 people gathered tonight for a forum updating locals on the dispute over the fate of the city’s water system from local government and activists. Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said the public has given city leaders a clear mandate to continue its lawsuit and fight to preserve local control of the water system against state legislation seeking to seize it and turn it over to a regional authority.
Today, the city of Asheville began demolishing an abandoned parking garage and retail building on Haywood Street. Photos by Carrie Eidson.
Buncombe County commissioners will meet March 18 to consider a measure that calls on the NC Department of Transportation to construct a new $230 million I-26 connector.
After a back-and-forth on the usefulness of the city’s housing policies, Asheville City Council signed off on the 192-unit Avalon development tonight, though not without some dissenters. Council was more unified in endorsing a plan to improve the Haywood Road corridor.
From grand plans for the future of the Haywood Road Corridor to the Avalon housing development, Asheville City Council will face both still-forming designs and more concrete building efforts at its meeting tomorrow, Feb. 25.
After months of development, a new plan for the future of West Asheville’s major corridor comes to Asheville City Council at its next meeting, Feb. 25. The plan calls for a new form of zoning, improved pedestrian infrastructure and keeping the area’s historic feel to make “a neighborhood leader for sustainability in the city.” If successful, other neighborhoods might get similar development overhauls.
A special Asheville City Schools advisory council has drafted recommendations on how to implement a contentious new state law allowing school systems to offer one-time, four-year contracts and salary bonuses to top-25 percent performers.
When Asheville City Council voted 5-1 this week to give $90,000 to Moogfest (including $40,000 in cash), it marked the latest chapter in a long Asheville debate: Whether it’s business or festivals, who should get money from the city?
As snow falls over the Asheville area and locals deal with the impact, here’s a compilation of closings, advisories and other local news.
Asheville City Council passed $90,000 in incentives for Moogfest this evening, both in cash and services, with the possibility of a partnership continuing for years. However, while its proponents touted it as an important investment in the city’s future growth, one Council member asserted that it’s an unreasonable amount of taxpayer dollars to go to an event not entirely open to the public.
At a rare joint meeting yesterday evening, Asheville City Council and the Asheville City School Board conferred on the achievement gap, mutual priorities and the thornier social issues that complicate both their jobs.
While Friday’s part of Asheville City Council’s annual retreat focused on broad policy matters, Saturday morning’s session focused on perceptions (including “very bad” ones) and relationships (sometimes not very happy ones) with the legislature in Raleigh and the local public.
Schools are closed and buses are delayed as Asheville and the surrounding area still grapple with ice and snow today. The National Weather Service cautions the public to be careful of severe wind chill and icy roads through at least midday — but that didn’t stop this canine resident from enjoying the winter wonderland (photo by Alicia Funderburk).
Despite the snow, Asheville City Council met Jan. 28, wrapping up its business in an extraordinarily short 19-minute session. With a small agenda, Council passed new lighting and zoning records rules.
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.
On Jan. 1, just to be dramatic about it, my car died. Since then I’ve relied on Asheville’s transit system.
With prospects of a special tax to fund a downtown Business Improvement District unlikely, the board for Asheville’s Downtown Improvement District is officially going dormant. According to a board representative, the members continue to work to accomplish the BID’s goals through other organizations and methods.
Asheville Police Department Lt. Mark Byrd, claiming the city of Asheville’s management and the APD’s leadership retaliated and discriminated against him on a number of occasions, including when his wife filed a sexual harassment suit, filed a lawsuit in federal court Jan. 21.
After nearly a year of debate, Buncombe County commissioners unanimously voted Jan. 14 to spend $40.5 million to build a new Asheville Middle School.
A group, People’s Voice for Transportation Equality, presented an agenda for an overhaul of the Asheville Transit System to make it more responsive to its ridership at a rally this afternoon. The group is calling for late-night and Sunday service, more representation in the decision-making process and more accountability, among other changes. Photo by Michael Carlebach
