Violent and disturbing incidents downtown are leaving workers frustrated and frightened. One business owner at an Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce listening session asked the assembled crowd, “How many people have to get assaulted?”
Tag: downtown
Showing 1-21 of 146 results
Year in Review: Residents and local leaders reflect on Asheville’s growth and tourism
With growth comes worsening traffic, rising housing costs and long lines of tourists waiting at locally beloved bars and restaurants. But it’s not all bad, as 2021’s Year In Review participants note in their reflections on Asheville’s development and tourism sector. These residents and local leaders shared their growth gripes and hopes as they look forward to the coming year.
Ordinary noise
Inclined not to park
Asheville, N.C.
Open Streets Asheville: Shape Your City
The streets of downtown Asheville were free of cars on Sept. 17 — but that doesn’t mean they were quiet. Open Streets Asheville returned for its second year, filling the roadways with people and activities, including art, dance, sports and music.
Manicomio Pizza brings New York-style pies to Biltmore Avenue
The new pizza-by-the-slice restaurant is taking over the space that once housed Hannah Flanagan’s Irish Pub.
In Photos: Asheville residents rally for People’s Climate March
Asheville residents turned out in scores to show solidarity with the National People’s Climate March on Saturday, April 29. The procession marched through downtown, waving banners and signs, and chanting slogans urging government leaders to recognize climate change data. The marchers, which ranged in age from small children to older residents (and a couple dogs), […]
IN PHOTOS: Asheville Holiday Parade
Crowds flocked to fill the streets of downtown Asheville for the annual holiday parade.
In photos: Open Streets Asheville Festival
The inaugural Open Streets Asheville brought residents and visitors into the streets to enjoy downtown in a new way. With Battery Park Avenue, Wall Street and portions of Haywood Street, Patton Avenue and Church Street closed to automotive traffic, folks did art projects, movement-based activities, listened to buskers and relaxed with yoga and massage.
In photos: 15th annual Organicfest
Local wellness, food and art vendors converged on Pack Square Park on Sunday to celebrate all things organic and sustainable.
UPDATED: Asheville residents gather to provide feedback on downtown shuttle proposal
Scores of Asheville residents met with city staffers and representatives from Nelson Nygaard, a national transportation consulting firm, on Wednesday, August 17 to learn about and provide feedback on an early-stage proposal on instituting a city shuttle service in and around downtown Asheville.
Council members defer busking regulations at Public Safety Committee meeting
Asheville city staffers, downtown stakeholders and local buskers turned out in force for the city’s monthly Public Safety Committee meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss a city proposal for a pilot program regulating downtown public space. The meeting, which was preceded by a community forum with downtown stakeholders, came amid tensions over pilot program, which would add regulations to several […]
Series continues: NC Collection hosts Asheville in the ’80s discussion
Editor’s note: The next session, “Social Activism and Social Agencies in the 1980s,” takes place Wednesday, June 29, from 6-7:30 p.m. In the 1980s, Asheville was a smaller community, and that made everything — including social change — seem possible. Dedicated individuals worked together to tackle social problems such as the AIDS epidemic, threats to […]
Balancing local tourism’s costs and benefits
With an annual economic impact of $2.6 billion, tourism is a critical industry in Western North Carolina. But politicians and local residents are increasingly asking whether the tourism industry is paying a fair share of the cost of providing everything from sidewalks to roads to public safety to tourists. Now, City Councilman Gordon Smith is pushing for a new study to consider the local tourism industry’s impact and sustainability.
Lexington Corner Market launches this month with soft openings
As an in-and-out kind of place to grab a fresh sandwich, a jar of Lusty Monk mustard, a to-go pint of ice cream from The Hop or a couple of Buchi kombuchas (sounds like a fun night!), Lexington Corner Market will add a new facet to the mix of merchants downtown.
Park and Recreation
Letter writer: Future of downtown begs question: What would Julian do?
“Asheville has to do better. The ‘end justifies the means’ approach is unacceptable.”
Weathering the winter months: Addissae Ethiopian restaurant hopes for community support
Asheville’s first and only Ethiopian restaurant, Addissae, has fallen on hard times nearly a year after opening. The restaurant’s owners, Vicki Schomer and Neeraj Kebede, recently launched a GoFundMe campaign to elicit community support and help pay for the basic costs of rent, utilities, insurance and fees. “Recently we have depleted our resources and exhausted our […]
In photos: 2015 Asheville holiday parade
The 2015 Asheville holiday parade featured nearly 100 entries including marching bands, dance and cheer squads, nonprofits and businesses. This year’s parade theme is “Joy to the World.”
Bringin’ it all back home: Asheville Grown ramps up for 2016 Go Local campaign
As new hotels and construction sites pop up across across the city seemingly every week and nationally-branded chains vie for retail space downtown, the local small business alliance known as Asheville Grown is reminding the Asheville community of the importance of keeping small, locally-owned businesses at the center of the city’s economic development plans.
Yellow Alert
It would not be a case of yellow journalism to investigate the suspicions that something smells in dark recesses of downtown Asheville’s parking garage stairwells. City leaders should make addressing this a number one priority. It’s one thing to advertise downtown as a drinking destination, but having facilities available to return that rented beer makes the difference […]