On sale now: Land in the biggest development in Buncombe County history

2 Comments

1. 

   Ash August 10, 2008

   thank you, Becky!

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2. 

   Becky August 10, 2008

   Yes, Ash, it’s going to be huge, and have an inevitable effect on Asheville as a whole, and Swannanoa in particular. It will be good and bad, I think we’ll see huge scars on the mountain while it’s being built, and folks will sure as heck notice then, both in Fairview and on Swannanoa side. There will be the usual erosion problems, folks downhill will get their creeks and wells muddied, I can’t imagine that won’t happen, no matter how well intentioned. But, it’s hard to not imagine Swannanoa getting some good impacts too, improvements over the typical DOT 5 lane billboard dotted un-pedestrian friendly asphalt slash through whatever was there before along the river and the railroad. Even with the economy souring, if really really rich people just become merely really rich, they’ll still be spending money here, and folks will open up shop in Oteen, in Swannanoa, where the death of Beacon left that corridor bereft and shuttered, the farms gone but the commerical strip impoverished, not thriving. We live out near WWCollege way …. maybe we’ll get grocery stores besides just Ingles, more funky restaurants, maybe folks can open up little businesses that will make it, with the increased traffic. There will be some jobs, those gated community folks need workers. And we need those, even if they’re just service jobs. You’re right, it was a relatively quiet opening of a major, major change in Oteen/Swannanoa, and the entrance to Fairview. I hope the State responds to the steep slope issue better next time.

   As the real estate market tanks elsewhere, we’re getting more developers, both well intentioned ones and those more predatory. In our own neighborhood, we’ve already had an elderly lady with Alzheimers relieved of her home for 1/4th of its value, all legally done, social services can’t do much unless you’re drooling in your pillow — if you’re eating and driving and getting by, even if they took you to their own lawyer and there was no appraisal, and the only family is a disabled son who does not understand, it’s a done deal. The kind of "real estate investors" who understand all too well what the hidden message is in those informercial courses — look for the vulnerable, the elderly, people in distress, and make your deal, buy below market value! In so many cases, just legal stealing. There should be a special place in hell for those SOBs who prey on the ill and the elderly.

   Or in another nearby spot, on the river where it flooded in 2004, twice, a tiny neighborhood, and newly arrived Floridians poured a dozen truckloads of cement 25 feet from the river itself, clearcutting their buffer entirely, pouring a driveway pointed straight at the river, and "enjoying the river" from their massive decking, smack in the path of the river when it floods, on their 1/8th acre lot, and even video of the flood itself from adjacent neighbors could not empower the floodway administrator to say, hold on a second, not such a great plan guys.

   So we have the high end, and the low end. Let’s try to get as many progressive Dems as we can at the state level, and if we can get David Gantt in that head commissioner’s chair, that will help.

   Funny thing, the overlap. Ramsey made millions selling to the Cliffs, and he’s the same guy that slipped in the Parkside sale to the agenda, with no one realizing what he’d done. So now we’ve got that meanspirited, childish developer, already wealthy but willing to sacrifice his entire reputation over having MORE MORE MORE, having a little temper fit, again, "I’m cutting the tree down and you can’t stop me, and if I don’t get what I want I’ll put the building even MORE in the park, so THERE!" You have to wonder how that wealthy man, who has gained so much from this community, can ignore the fact that he will be foreever remembered as either the guy who was stopped from ruining part of the park, or who was able to do so with the help of Ramsey. But if you ask him, he’ll tell you it’s just a few Wiccans dancing around a tree. The bubbas are backed against the wall and not happy about it, from Bush to locally. So used to doing what they want, unquestioned, the response is basically, "how DARE you question ME." They become indignant.

   Well THAT is my rant for the day! Whew! Now back to listening to the crickets, or tree frogs, or whatever it is that makes that "summer camp" sound, pulsing so hypnotically in August, our summer far too short and school starting way too soon!

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