Asheville – Three plus weeks after tropical storm Helene hit Western North Carolina (WNC), the majority of the people on Asheville City Water still do not have clean water, and it looks like it may be some time before the treatment plants will be up and running. The neglect of the city water system has made things worse than it needed to be. One city employee working for the water department, who prefers to remain anonymous, said, “This would have been so much easier to fix if we weren’t still using the antiquated water system we currently have. There still would have been damage, but water could have been restored more quickly.”
Now, in the midst of destruction and loss, it is time to vote, if you are able. Unfortunately, many people who would have voted might not be able to this year due to being displaced, stuck on a mountain, missing, or worse, so it is more important than ever for those who wish to make the needed updates to our infrastructure to vote.
The city council and county council races are the ones that determine the most important outcomes for the future of our area, especially in Buncombe County. Those currently in office have neglected our infrastructure for years, while spending millions on what now seems frivolous compared to what locals are facing in search and recovery, clean up, and rebuilding Asheville and Buncombe County. There are new people running for these positions who want to update our failing infrastructure and put an emphasis on public safety first—not last.
While Helene is the worst storm to hit Western North Carolina, Buncombe County has seen massive damage in the past from other storms. In 2004 three hurricanes swept though our region in just 3 weeks, causing massive flooding. The problem then is the same problem we have now, the reservoir became overloaded with water and cause the main pipe to break, flooding the Swannanoa River Valley, tearing 32,000 gallon kerosene tanks from their concrete mounts, flooding and filling the French Broad River with debris and kerosene.
As we have reported before, our city parking lots, the civic center, the Tourists Stadium, the Malvern Park swimming pool, and the city water system are falling apart. Instead of allocating money to keep up these vital businesses and structures, necessary to the financial health and welfare of Buncombe County, millions of dollars has been spent on frivolous things like a $650,000 toilet, because the ones we already have are broken and vandalized; paying for scaffolding to cover the Vance Monument, then tearing the monument down, even after taking money from a private nonprofit to restore said monument; reparations; bicycle paths few use; and as important as it is to take care of our homeless, millions has been spent for less than 600 chronically homeless.
Now, because the city council has committed local tax payers to cover the more than $200 million needed to restore our fair city’s infrastructure and event locations, with insufficient funds in the budget the city council has put yet another bond on the ballot to cover excess costs. This one is for $80 million. Does it cover what is needed? According to the Buncombe County website it is for Parks and Recreation improvement, transportation, public safety facilities, and another $20 million, above and beyond what has already been spent, on affordable housing. No infrastructure mentioned.
Many local citizens agree that our money should be spent on necessary infrastructure first, followed by public safety, and then see if there are funds for pet projects.