ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Tag: Vijay Kapoor
Showing 22-42 of 61 results
No new hotels emerge from Council meeting
A 170-room proposal on Fairview Road was voted down 6-1, with only Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler dissenting, while a public hearing on a 56-room project on Biltmore Avenue was continued at the developer’s request until March 26. Council members Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield raised concerns about the former hotel’s place in longer-term plans for Asheville.
Airbnb involvement could mark turning point in homestay discussions
In its first known formal engagement with Asheville, Airbnb sent two of its representatives to an Oct. 23 discussion of homestay regulations sponsored by the Homestay Network, a local group representing over 600 legally permitted homestay hosts. The firm has also committed to another meeting of over 50 stakeholders on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
Letter: More reward money needed for murder info
“I am writing this letter to ask those who are making a lot of money here and others to donate to this reward and also consider helping set up a large reward fund to be used in all serious gun violence cases.”
Asheville City Council split over Hooper resignation agreement
According to interim City Manager Cathy Ball, Council held a closed session vote on the amount of Hooper’s $118,000 compensation. Mayor Esther Manheimer, Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler, and Council members Keith Young, Sheneika Smith and Brian Haynes all voted in favor of the agreement, while Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield voted in opposition.
NCDOT gets input on Sweeten Creek expansion
To alleviate congestion and improve traffic flow, the N.C. Department of Transportation is in the early planning stages for widening Sweeten Creek Road from Rock Hill Road to Hendersonville Road.
City staff share manpower woes at budget work session
At City Council’s Nov. 13 budget work session, four department directors spoke about their troubles with obtaining bids on service and construction contracts, recruiting qualified employees and retaining current staff. Burgeoning activity in other parts of the economy, they said, had created stiff competition for workers.
Council members declare shift in hotel thinking as Biltmore Ave. proposal withdrawn
After Mayor Esther Manheimer and Council members Keith Young and Brian Haynes shared their intent to reject the project, attorney Wyatt Stevens pulled the building from consideration on behalf of his clients, local hoteliers Pratik Bhakta and Monark Patel.
Asheville City Council expands affordable housing incentives
The Land Use Incentive Grant point maximum will increase from 140 to 200, with every 10 points worth a rebate of one year of city property taxes above a property’s pre-development total. But developers will also face stricter conditions when applying for LUIG money: The minimum period for which a project must guarantee affordable housing will increase from 15 to 20 years.
Embattled county, city officials struggle to talk business
At the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s 13th annual Elected Officials Reception on Aug. 16, local politicians acknowledged that the intensity of recent city and county government scandals have sometimes pushed other issues to the side.
Homestay short-term renters push for looser kitchen definition
On Aug. 13, the Planning & Economic Development Committee recommended that staff throw out the kitchen sink from the current definition. Council members Gwen Wisler, Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield moved to adopt a new “maximum flexibility” definition for kitchen spaces.
Letter: Where is the outrage for Derrick?
“Where is the questioning and outrage about this and other fatal shootings of area young people, especially those in public housing? “
Letter: Developers, breweries and hoteliers come first
“So in the name of progress, neighborhoods are being displaced, communities’ concerns are being ignored, and the people charged to serve the greater good have given over to the avarice of so-called ‘progress.'”
Budget and policing disagreements at forefront of Council meeting
No additional changes made their way into this year’s budget as Council decided to adopt the ordinance in a 4-3 vote. Mayor Esther Manheimer, Vice-Mayor Gwen Wisler, and Council members Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield all voted in support of the budget. Members Brian Haynes, Sheneika Smith and Keith Young voted against the plan; all three had shown hesitation about a police funding increase during previous work sessions.
“Fireworks” in store for June 19 Council meeting
Two weeks before the Fourth of July, the meeting’s agenda promises a grand finale of rhetorical explosions over two matters of unfinished business. The first is the Asheville city budget, which Council member Brian Haynes has said he will not support as long as it contains funding for additional officers to staff the Asheville Police Department’s downtown district. The second is a series of resolutions to rescind and replace the three motions on police policy previously proposed by Young and passed by Council on May 22.
Asheville City Council member Vijay Kapoor issues statement on policing changes
In the letter, Kapoor writes that he will ask Council to “reconsider” its actions at the upcoming meeting on Tuesday, June 19. Speaking with Xpress, he clarified that he’ll be calling for the motions to be rescinded and their substance explored through the normal committee process.
Police group threatens legal action against Asheville City Council on recent policy changes
The words City Council adopted on May 22 could land the five members who supported them in hot water, according to lawyers from the N.C. Police Benevolent Association. Language in the city’s charter suggests that the consequences could be serious, possibly even including loss of office if convicted of giving an order to a city […]
City Council drives through policing changes in contentious meeting
By the end of a six-hour session, Council had approved multiple items showing an unprecedented level of urgency for policing reform. Multiple split votes, however, showed the concern of some members over the process of making those changes.
Police accountability and transparency focus of City Council meeting
Amid calls for increased public access to policing data, Asheville City Council left the city’s volunteer board dedicated to hearing residents’ concerns about law enforcement in place for now. At the same time, the elected officials noted many vacancies on the Citizens Police Advisory Committee and signaled their longterm intent to dissolve the body once the newly forming Human Relations Commission has gotten up and running.
Budget balancing to present hard choices for City Council
Asheville City Council will pull a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 24, as it grapples with how to address a projected deficit of $2.2 million for the budget for fiscal year 2018-19, which begins on July 1. The Council begins at 3 p.m. with a budget work session in the First Floor North Conference Room of […]
City committee crunches the numbers, hopes for Mission sale windfall
With the potential of tax revenues from the proposed acquisition of Mission Health by a for-profit company looming on the horizon, members of City Council’s Finance Committee heard several proposals on March 29 that would help balance the city’s FY 2018-19 budget.