Nips and tucks

Asheville’s budget for the next fiscal year will come in at around $135 million, Chief Financial Officer Ben Durant predicts. And if City Council approves the budget he’ll propose on May 12, it will be balanced, with revenues equaling expenditures. That’s an accomplishment even in a good year, but all the more so given that […]

City of Asheville survey

This document contains a survey that the city of Asheville will circulate in April to gauge citizens’  opinions of the city’s performance. Developed by the National Research Center, Inc. and the International City/County Management Association, the National Citizen SurveyTM, hits on a wide variety of topics, from transportation to crime to general demographics. Alongside the […]

Let’s talk about the Downtown Master Plan

The draft document of the Downtown Master Plan has been public since last week, but Thursday, Jan. 15, is the official rollout date, when Asheville residents can hear—and comment on—details addressed in the draft, such as building-height and new compliance guidelines and the already-controversial Asheville Design District, a proposed new downtown-management entity. (View the document […]

A time to reflect

It’s been a really tumultuous time for our country recently—and also for Asheville and Buncombe County. So now we move forward, and while I’m filled with optimism both for our nation and for this city, I’m not ready to say “We have overcome” and forget the struggle that got us to this place. There are […]

Asheville Downtown Master Plan draft lays out potential future ***UPDATED­***

In the future, Asheville’s downtown might be managed by a powerful independent board, with different types of development for each neighborhood “core,” better support for the arts, more green building, a shuttle system and police cameras on street corners. Those are some of the many initiatives presented in the draft of the long-awaited Downtown Master Plan. The city will hold a Jan. 15 forum on the plan.

Air fair?

People Advocating Real Conservancy, an Asheville community activist group, has decided to challenge the city’s policy of selling air rights to developers. At the same time, the group has placed an upset bid on air rights above the sidewalk at 82 Patton Avenue offered for sale to redevelopers of the old First Union Building.