Leslee Kulba
Should City Council Regulate Public Feedings?
The same crowd that has been agitating Asheville City Council before is pushing for more camping on public lands, sharing drugs and defunding the police since the Black Lives Matter movement has a new talking point. A document leaked and hyped as an impending ban on providing services to Asheville’s campers.
Bad Batteries Bumping Up Water Bills
Incidental intel mentioned at an Asheville City Council meeting revealed an epidemic of water billing errors due to equipment to be replaced next year.
Out-of-State Anarchists Agitate Police Dept.
Anarchists supporting drug abuse in encampments for the homeless are trying to make trouble for the defunded Asheville Police Department. Citizens are trying to fight back with a referendum for a binding resolution to refund the department.
Pfaff: Decarceration Requires Tough Decisions
Criminologist John F. Pfaff says (without mass changes in personal choices) prison populations will not go down significantly until prosecutors change their minds about who goes to jail and citizens support more rehabilitating treatments for violent offenders.
There But By Grace Go We
The Manhattan Institute’s Steven Malanga’s horrible review of the two terms of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio showed Asheville-Buncombe is, in some ways, showing more wisdom, and in others, leaning toward going down the same path.
Large Encampments Are Hotbeds For Crime
Large encampments, viewed as refuges for those dispossessed by COVID fears and policies, have become hotbeds for crime. Asheville’s gutted-out police force is now doing double-duty as social workers to connect campers to government services. Anarchists are willing to fight to keep people out of the system.
Buncombe Engages Redistricting Representation
Statewide redistricting remains in litigation, causing concerns over whether it will be possible to hold fair elections in a timely manner.
Corridor Users: Plans Still Not Pragmatic
Asheville City Council approved corridor plans for Hendersonville Road, Tunnel Road, and Biltmore Avenue/McDowell Street. Changes set to reduce automobile traffic lanes and accommodate more transit, cycling and walking.
Buncombe’s 2022-2023 Budget Richly Subsidized
Conversations from the Buncombe County Commissioners’ first budget worksession for the 2022-2023 fiscal year indicate the commissioners, awash with funding from ARPA, the opioid settlement, Hurricane Fred relief, HCA, etc., need help from the public deciding how to spend it all. Focus areas selected by the commissioners include broad categories like “affordable housing” and “climate and environmental solutions.”
Ramada Neighbors Take Grievances to County
Residents and property and business owners feel the shelter at the Ramada Inn, rather than helping persons suffering addiction, has burdened their neighborhood with filthy and criminal activities. Finding Asheville City Council, which intends to purchase the shelter, unresponsive to their demands for a safe neighborhood, they took their complaints to the county commissioners.