Blog bits: rumors, rumblings and grumblings

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Miller time

Liberal radio talking head Stephanie Miller and sidekick will be at the Orange Peel on June 9.

Miller is on a roll. She’s taken her show on the road recently and will stop by Ashvegas this summer. Pretty cool that she’ll come here – she must know she’s got a strong base of listeners. Ashvegas callers reguarly make it through to talk to her, and I think her ratings must be good for Asheville to be carrying the show (880 AM).

See you then, Stef.

Cornering the Grove Corner Market

The Grove Corner Market inside the Grove Arcade has laid off all employees. Those who work there are now simply working for food. The owner is apparently desperate for cash.

This is a bad sign. It’s the canary in the coal mine. The Grove Arcade is tanking.

The arcade project took years to get off the ground, and untold thousands of dollars, including taxpayers’ dollars. It’s a beautiful, historic building. And I think the idea of mixing shops with office space and residential living can work.

But it’s not working for the Grove Arcade. It’s empty most days. Many store spaces facing the street, and inside the arcade, remain empty. Parking, and the lack of a big draw, are the main problems. A new deck over on Haywood Street is coming, but downtown businesses continue to resist the idea of a chain retailer moving in. But the fact is, the arcade needs a destination shop (dare I say a Gap or a Pottery Barn?) to get people to come down and keep coming.

The arcade management is scrambling to put together a visitor’s center inside somewhere, but I think it’s too little, too late.

Forget the corner market. They’re not even loyal to their employees. Support the Pie Lady. And Anntony’s.

Speilberg on the move?

Just a few feet away, more rumors are flying. I know you’ve heard it – it’s been going around town for nigh onto two years now. Stephen Speilberg has purchased the top floor of the Battery Park condos going up in downtown Ashvegas. That’s the rumor, anyway.

I can’t tell you how many people have asked me about it. Honey, I have no idea, I tell them. I’ll keep checking property tax records, and I’ll keep my eyes open. But how does something like this get started?

Maybe somebody just got the name wrong. Is it actually Steven Seagal? Little Steven? The Steve Miller Band? Maybe it’s just horseshit, like the rumor a few years ago that Tom Cruise had moved to town.

Speaking of Tom, check out Tom and Katie in this great Flash movie.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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