No free parking

Based on my long experience examining and reporting on Asheville’s dance with parking spaces and lots and decks, and based on recent reading, I now question the development rules we are using which require developers to provide parking for new structures. While provision for parking SEEMS to be a solution, it has proven to be the problem in cities across the country.

More thoughts on the Basilica of St. Lawrence

Opposition to the hotel proposed for the site in front of the Basilica has focused on the view of that grand church and how it might be affected by placement of a massive structure in its face. But I’ve discovered what I consider to be an equally iconic view that will likely be demolished by [...]

A new spirit of patriotism: my filing speech

I delivered this speech on the steps of the Buncombe County Board of Elections after filing as a candidate for Asheville City Council, on Monday, June 6.
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I have just filed as a candidate for a seat on the Asheville City Council. I do so in part as an answer to President Barack Obama’s call for a new spirit of patriotism. It is also partly my answer to the first presidential speech I can remember hearing as a child, when another young president suggested we not ask what our country could do for us, but to ask what we could do for our country.

[photo by Edwin Shelton]

Full System Development Charges Ordinance

I propose that Asheville enact an ordinance which requires new development to pay the full infrastructure cost to the city. Studies elsewhere have shown that fees and permits come nowhere near to covering the actual cost to taxpayers of subsidizing new development.

We are frequently told that we must “increase the tax base” for some unstated reason. The implication is usually that by increasing the value of taxable property in the city we will all reap benefits. [to read more click the header]

Does the city want to hide the Basilica?

Please help put pressure on City Council to end this misguided plan.
[click the header to watch the video]

The Downtown Master Plan

My brief critique:
1. I question the creation of a separate management entity.

2. I question the imposition of a new downtown tax.

3. I don’t understand the height exceptions in the Appendix.

4. Reading the original plan I saw more gloss than substance. But the final plan seems to meaningfully address serious design issues and advocate a form-based approach that could favorably affect our city’s future development.

5. Any new plan should reasonably include mandatory review and mandatory compliance with planning guidelines; however, NC state law only permits mandatory compliance rules in historic districts. There are two ways to approach this … [to read more, click the header]

Truth in Labeling

Since announcing my candidacy for Council (and during last year’s race for County Commission) a number of mostly anonymous bloggers and commenters have accused me of being either a liberal, or, shudder, an ULTRA liberal. It’s funny how labels work. I believe in conserving fertile soil instead of paving it. I believe in conserving whatever [...]

Buncombe Commissioners vote on I-26

This seems like a good moment to note that if I hadn’t lost my primary race last May (I finished .8 percent behind Bill Stanley) I would very likely have been part of the Democratic sweep in November. I would have been sitting in Bill Stanley’s chair on Tuesday and I would have voted for [...]