Asheville trades its soul for steel
Every day developers clear cut another
small forest, put up 10 metal beams at some
construction site, close off another street
downtown and present another 13-story
condominium unit to the Asheville City
Council.
Those sure seem like signs of a grow
ing town.
Well, yes and no.
It is hard to deny that Asheville is cer
tainly growing, but whether or not any of
this new construction is actually useful or
practical for Asheville’s citizens is up for
debate.
By focusing on new development, the
city delays work on other, years-old proj
ects still unfinished
In case anyone has not noticed, the road
work choking the downtown city streets
has not improved traffic or the quality of
the streets, and the Pack Square Park con
struction that began nearly four years ago
continues with no end in sight. Dirt fills
the old fountain and the Vance monument
is inaccessible. Beyond that, though, there
is no observable progress at the site.
Recently, the Asheville Downtown
Association said construction is moving
so slowly that downtown businesses vol
unteered to help build the park. That is
pretty bad when regular citizens feel they
need to volunteer in order to finish con
struction on what amounts to a 6.5-acre
glorified backyard.
Asheville’s itch to change has run into
problems with the Pack Square Park issue.
On the other hand, Biltmore Village in
South Asheville is having relative success
with their improvements.
Last summer, a new addition to Bilt
more Village opened and now Asheville is
home to such stores as J. Crew, Williams-
By Patrick Zarcone
Staff Writer
PWZARCON@UNCA.EDU
Asheville
Sonoma, Coldwater Creek and White
House/Black Market. While they may be
lovely stores, they cater to the residents of
Biltmore Forest and the wealthy tourists
and not to the general population here in
Asheville.
In addition to the new
stores, there is also a new
hotel under construction
in another part of Biltmore
Village. The Grand Bohe
mian Hotel, slated to open
in April, looks as though
it may actually open on its
targeted date. The Web
site describes the hotel
as: “Just steps away from
gates of the famous Bilt
more Estate lies the au
thentic Old-World, rustic
ambiance of this Tudor inspired boutique
hotel...’’
Sounds fancy, and it is. What they fail
to mention is that while they charge S200-I-
per night (for the standard room), the
views will be a bit more Motel 6. McDon
ald’s sits across the street from the hotel.
Directly next to it is a Hardee’s. Behind
it is a road with railroad tracks that leads
to a City Stop gas station and a Long John
Silver’s/A&W combination restaurant.
Construction moves along at an expedi
tious pace in other parts of Asheville.
The Residences at 151 and the Hotel
Indigo, a boutique hotel chain, both open
next year. On top of the Indigo will be
The Residences which consist of 12 con
dominiums units that occupy the top four
floors.
The condominiums will be very expen
sive, as will the hotel. The Web site for the
Residences states, “In Art in nature and in
Zen there is simple beauty. In Asheville,
there is your Residence.” While the build
ing may be beautiful, much like the situa
tion with the Grand Bohemian Hotel, the
location is not ideal.
Guests and residents alike will enjoy
beautiful views of downtown Asheville
. set against a back
drop of the Blue Ridge
Mountains, if they hap
pen to be on the good
side. The other three
sides offers folks a view
of Three Brothers Res
taurant, The Salvation
Army, the Buncombe
County Sheriff’s Office
and Interstate 240.
Asheville is not As-
pen, Colo. Asheville
is Asheville and the
people who live here know that and the
people they expect to move here will fig
ure it out rather quickly.
The city built its reputation
IS expe
riencing an identity
crisis. The city needs
to think about where
and what they want to
build and if it makes
sense for the city.
as the
folksy, little liberal city in the sea of “red”
that is much of Western North Carolina.
Right now, Asheville is experiencing an
identity crisis. The city needs to think
about where and what they want to build
and if it makes sense for the city.
Three-quarters of Asheville (north,
east and west) is full of affordable shop
ping, popular and award winning restau
rants, funky art and sculptures and beau
tiful Art Deco architecture. It’s silly to
base the city’s future development on the
one-quarter of the city that is home to the
wealthiest citizens and the wealthiest tour
ists. Catering to a few wealthy people and
ignoring the general populace of the town
is not in the best interests of Asheville’s
71,000 citizens.
The economy remains in shambles
and many people can’t pay a couple mil
lion dollars for a condo. Investing in
the belief that people will pay for those
condos is riskier than fixing the old, de
crepit Asheville Civic Center, opening a
new club or restaurant downtown or even
constructing a large music venue in or
der to lure popular touring acts to town.
All of those things would bring money to
Asheville, perhaps more than a new and
expensive high-rise might.
The majority of the people that can af
ford the Grand Bohemian, The Residenc
es, the new Biltmore Village shops and the
$3 million condos that City Council is dis
cussing plans for are the same people who
will no longer come to Asheville when
the last patch of tree-covered mountain is
razed for more senseless, overpriced and
poorly thought out development.
The people living and working iH;
Asheville will still be here. The city
should think about their needs rather than
tourists or retirees, who contribute little to
the city’s future.
It is not just expensive hotels and res
taurants that people come to Asheville for;
it is also the natural beauty and the off
beat, artistic vibe reverberating through
downtown. West Asheville and the Rivet
Arts District. Forgetting that fact might be
this city’s downfall.
Blink
Continued from Page 1 7
success.
The hit “All the Small Things” off
their album Enema of the State reached
out to a diverse group, from rebellious
high school kids to their mainstream-
rock-listening parents. The video poked
fun at ’90s boy-band antics, establishing
Blink not only as talented rockers, but as
goofballs intent on having fun.
The group continued cranking
out hits and laughs, soon becoming re
nowned for dirty jokes and immaturity.
No topic was taboo.
They drew in thousands of devoted
fans, revamping the pop-punk subcul
ture of the ‘90s. Blink’s unruly coming-
of-age anthems fueled a generation ap
proaching the new millennium.
You didn’t grow out of Blink. They
grew with you.
Tom Delonge acrimoniously split with
Travis Barker and Hoppus in 2005. De
longe barely spoke to his former band-
mates during the hiatus, instead focusing
on his new band Angels and Airwaves.
Hoppus and Barker channeled their cre
ative energy into -t-44.
Both post-Blink bands experienced
success reached Blink-182’s acclaim or
influence.
After drummer Barker’s near-fatal
airplane crash last year, the former band-
mates realized life was too short and
quickly mended their friendship.
Skeptics, including a few of my
friends who still consider themselves
Blink fans, think these guys are just
cranking out a new record and going on
some half-hearted reunion tour to fund
glamorous rock star lives. But I can’t
help but find the reunion inspiring.
Watching friends reunite and antici
pating the creative energy sure to ensue
absolutely thrills me.
I’m not ashamed to be among those
eternally stoked about the reunion.
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