This year’s Bele Chere will be the last — at least, the last run by the city, as Asheville City Council members agreed during a March 12 budget session to end their financial involvement. As part of an overhaul in the way government deals with arts and festivals, city staff are also studying a proposal that sets up a “creative economies” chief, instead of a traditional arts administration staff. Photo by Max Cooper.
Led by the Asheville Design Center, a grass-roots effort is under way to build a new public plaza near the Haywood Street entrance of the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville, named for the famed architect/builder of the Basilica of St. Lawrence, Rafael Guastavino.
Follow live Twitter coverage of the March 12 Asheville City Council meeting and pre-meeting budget session, beginning at 2 p.m.
Starting in a special budget session this afternoon, Asheville City Council will contemplate a possible overhaul of the way the city deals with arts and festivals. At its formal meeting tonight, Council will appoint members of the school board.
At their retreat yesterday, Asheville City Council members discussed a variety of topics facing the city, focusing especially on density, budget issues, the effect of state legislation, and even a possible overhaul in the way city government deals with the arts.
Citizen access to the legislative process in the state has taken a solid step forward via new features on the N.C. General Assembly website, and Buncombe County legislators are taking solid steps forward in the Statehouse itself. Meanwhile, in recent legislative action, Doc Watson and Ruth and Billy Graham are proposed for native accolades.
With a key position still vacant after six months, major changes could be in the works for how the city of Asheville deals with the local arts community and tries to facilitate growth in the creative sector.
This year, both Asheville City Hall and the Buncombe County Courthouse turn 85. The two classic buildings are both undergoing renovation or expansion, part of an effort to keep them a center of civic life for the next 85 years. A look at their history, their future, and the end of the old feud that created them. Photos by Max Cooper.
Entrepreneurs and artists are gathering for the third annual Creative Sector Summit, a series of events that aim to spur economic growth in the local arts sector.
Asheville City School officials pitched the Buncombe County commissioners on building two new schools March 5, but no decision was made on funding the roughly $65.8 million request.
At their March 5 meeting, Buncombe County commissioners will consider a proposal by the Asheville City Schools system to spend roughly $60 million on new homes for Isaac Dickson Elementary and Asheville Middle schools.
At their March 5 meeting, Buncombe County commissioners will consider a proposal by the Asheville City Schools system to build new homes for Isaac Dickson Elementary and Asheville Middle schools.
In these videos, Asheville Middle School Teacher Terry Wright gives viewers a sense of some of the problems with the facility and architects display some of their plans for a new building to replace it.
At the end of her State of the City address tonight, Mayor Terry Bellamy announced she won’t seek re-election, instead running for Rep. Patrick McHenry’s 10th district congressional seat once again in 2014. Photo by Max Cooper.
Follow live Twitter coverage as Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy delivers the State of the City speech beginning at 5 p.m.
In these videos, Isaac Dickson Principal Brad Johnson gives viewers a sense of some of the problems with the facility and architects display some of their plans for a new building to replace it.
Education officials, teachers and even some students are pushing to build cutting-edge new homes for Isaac Dickson Elementary and Asheville Middle School. The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will consider the proposals soon, some of them questioning the need for high-tech designs when budgets are already stretched thin. Even supporters don’t know where the estimated $60 million cost might come from.
In their push for new state-of-the-art homes for Issac Dickson Elementary and Asheville Middle School, officials say the existing facilities suffer from leaky roofs and windows, unwieldy corridors, mold, insufficient storage, inadequate lighting and antiquated heating and cooling systems.
Asheville City Council got glimpses of a variety of issues facing the city, including finances and state legislation. It also approved rules that make expansions and renovations of one-story buildings in downtown easier.
Asheville City Council gets an earful tonight, in a meeting with no shortage of reports on the state of the city. Follow live Twitter coverage here.
Money, neighborhoods, water, the legislature, and noise are just a few of the matters Asheville City Council will receive information on tomorrow night, as the agenda is packed with an array of reports.
