steel magnolias will not bend

steel magnolias, originally uploaded by Bill in Ash Vegas.

Gene and Mariahsage chat under the endangered 100-year-old magnolia tree in front of Asheville City Hall this afternoon.

The land on which the old tree sits was sold under questionable, at best, practices of the county commission to a former business partner of one of the commissioners.

A gathering is being held every afternoon from 4-7 p.m. under the shade of the tree. All are welcome.

Come, join the people of the tree.

Seems Resonable to me...

from our friend Gordon over at ScrewHoo...

"PUBLIC FOREVER" RESOLUTION GOES TO BUNCOMBE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Group Calls For Investigation of Parkside Deal and
Reacquisition of Public Land

Though widely acknowledged to have been a mistake, the
sale of public park land to a private developer has
neither been investigated nor has the County
government corrected its error through reacquisition
of the land in question. The process that allowed
this failure of government to take place must be
publicly examined and corrected to ensure the people
of Asheville and Buncombe County can have full faith
and confidence in their elected government.

George W. Pack gave Pack Square to County residents in
1900 "provided that the County will dedicate to the
Public forever, to be used for the purpose of a public
square, park or place". While Stewart Coleman's Black
Dog Realty fights the Pack family in the courts,
ordinary citizens are left wondering how their
government could have allowed the sale to happen.

Asheville Buncombe Policy Institute, in the spirit of
open government and honoring the legacy of George W.
Pack, put forth the "Public Forever" resolution on May
12, 2008 asking that County Commissioners shoulder the
responsibility of (1) determining the cause and remedy
for the failures that led to the sale; and (2)
reacquiring the park land in order to return it to the
public.

The private developers continue to move ahead with
their project, slated to come before City Council in
June, 2008, despite being rejected by the Asheville
Planning and Zoning Board and being opposed by the
Pack Square Conservancy, the ostensible stewards of
the park.

That which George W. Pack insisted remain "Public
forever" is in danger of being forever lost. Our
County government has a moral and ethical obligation
to its citizens to investigate and rectify this
transaction.

Through a full accounting of the error(s) and through
rectifying the errant transaction, our County's
government will demonstrate its openness, commitment
to quality, and willingness to say that "public
forever" means public forever.

# # #

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to
schedule an interview with Gordon Smith of A/B Pi,
please contact him at 828/279-2551 or email Gordon at
scrutinyhooligans@yahoo.com
-----

"Public Forever" Resolution. Submitted by the
Asheville/Buncombe Policy Institute to the Buncombe
County Board of Commissioners on May 12, 2008:

WHEREAS the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on
January 7, 1901 recorded in the minutes an offer from
George Pack, which was accepted by the Commissioners,
"I offer to give to the County to be used for a site
for a Coach House and County offices, the land on
College Street in Asheville, which I purchased of Col.
A.J. Davidson, provided that the County will dedicate
to the Public forever, to be used for the purpose of a
public square, park or place".

WHEREAS Buncombe County acknowledged that parcel
9649.19-50-0341 (otherwise known as park land in front
of City Hall) fell within the Pack Square boundaries
in an August 14, 2001 agreement between the City of
Asheville, County of Buncombe, and the Pack Square
Conservancy;

WHEREAS it has been publicly acknowledged that the
County sold Parcel 9649.19-50-0341, which was included
in the August 14, 2001 agreement that Buncombe County
signed with Pack Square Conservancy, is public
parkland;

WHEREAS this sale was advertised for only one day in a
small, classified advertisement;

WHEREAS that sale was inserted into a consent agenda
moments before voting on it without any public notice
and summarily passed;

WHEREAS the sale of such land requires a public
process, requests for qualifications, etc.;

WHEREAS Builder Stewart Coleman began research to
acquire this parcel before it was for sale;

WHEREAS Builder Stewart Coleman held private meetings
with former City Planning Director about acquiring the
park land for a year before doing so;

WHEREAS these discussions, per Mr. Coleman, involved
swapping City-owned land for Parcel 9649.19-50-0341;

WHEREAS the parcel was sold for $278,000 below the
value later assigned to it by the County;

WHEREAS Wanda Greene's signature is on the August 14,
2001 agreement with Pack Square Conservancy, promising
that parcel to them for the park, but she then
advocated for the sale of the parkland when Stewart
Coleman approached the County about buying the old
jail;

WHEREAS Commissioners Peterson and Stanley have stated
that the deal might have been a mistake;

WHEREAS Commissioner Gantt has stated, "We screwed up"
and "Everybody failed." in regard to the sale of the
property;

WHEREAS the Register of Deeds office possesses an
aerial photo with a map overlay that clearly shows the
proposed sale's property line extending well into the
park;

WHEREAS, according to Commissioners, no one in County
staff alerted the Commissioners to the fact that the
land is in Pack Square;

WHEREAS this would have required failures at every
level of County staff;

WHEREAS public trust and public confidence are central
to our democracy;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the parcel be reacquired
and returned to its intended purpose as stated in the
Pack Square Agreement signed by parties representing
the City of Asheville, the County of Buncombe, and
Pack Conservancy on August 14, 2001.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THEREFORE that the
Commissioners or an independent organization will
initiate, complete, and make public an investigation
into the causes of the various failures that allowed
this sale of public park to a private developer to
take place and that this investigation will be
completed by August 15, 2008.

Thoughts on Zoning... Zoning Out Thoughts

I have to admit, I am torn on this issue. I can see the arguments of both sides, and both sides have horror stories and successes they can point to.

Last night was a split decision, or a set of split decisions, between the county and city. At neither of them was there a voice for the wilderness. There rarely is.

This morning I took a drive up Chun's Cove Road, to Vance Gap Road (soon to be closed, made private by city edict) to Town Mountain Road. It ain't pretty what we are doing to the hillsides, even in this area of large tract, "green" development.

It is insane, and our grandchildren will curse us for allowing it.

Even here in my West Asheville neighborhood, where one would think there are all the houses there could be (incorrectly, it seems) we have houses going up on stilts on steep slopes on Grandview Drive, and on State Street.

Stilts. Wonder how those are going to be to heat with all that airspace underneath.

But, it seems the City Council is determined to fill every empty lot in the city with some kind of housing, no matter how inappropriate. They have said so over and over.

Density is their mantra.

And I would say, by extension, their mantra clouds their foresight.

"Like An Amsterdam Hash House" Says Mumpower

For those of you outside Asheville, you won't recognize Dr. Carl Mumpower, part of the potentate class of the City of Asheville, our lone Republican, usually (but not always) the 1 in the 6-1 votes, and of late, our self-appointed drug czar.
But that is an actual quote by the suited crusader, made after "observing" this weekend's Ratdog show at the Asheville Civic center.
Now I am not going to even speculate on how the upstanding Dr. Mumpower knows what an Amsterdam Hash House smells like any more than I will wonder why he seems to have some kind of obsession with drug use among poor people, young boys, and men's rooms. Oh yeah, he likes to know what the police department is up to also... way more than his job description in the city council requires, it seems.
So good Dr. Carl (psychology if you were wondering) glommed tickets to Ratdog so he could monitor the drug use, the police response to such drug use, and, you guessed it, the men's room situation.
Thank goodness we are safe from whatever hell would have befallen us without his beneficent intervention.
According to the ironically-named Citizen-Times, there were a number of arrests for drug-related offenses, as reported here. There was no mention of arrests made at previous, non-Mumpower intervened concerts, nor if that number of arrests was normal for a concert.
So, breaking news here....
There is drug use at rock concerts.
Stay tuned for more episodes from the suited crusader.

McCormick Heights

Okay. So I am new to North Carolina and I am starting to look around at some things. Most things here in Asheville are pretty cool, and I agree with the city council, for the most part.

And then there is this.

from Mountain Express

In December, the Asheville Housing Authority – which manages McCormick Heights for the property owner, a subsidiary of Progress Energy – announced that the project had sunk into severe debt, with only 40 of the 100 units occupied, and that the owners planned to sell it.

Why is the city managing a private apartment complex? And if said private apartment complex is only 40% occupied, no wonder they are going broke and why is the private owner getting this apparent special treatment?

Because they are Progress Energy's money-loss machine?

What's the matter, Progress? Expiration date on losing money write-offs coming up next year?

Or is there something I am missing here?

Please. Anyone. Set me straight on this.

I should explain that the link I have above refers to the January 30, 2007 City Council meeting. The issue of buying this failed apartment complex has been kicking around Asheville city government for months.
The issue at this meeting was re-location money for the residents of McCormick Heights, which apparently the city is trying to tack onto the purchase price.