Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Some of what’s going around:
-Another downtown restaurant bites the dust: Macchialina, a new Italian restaurant planned for the ground floor of the Windsor Hotel on Broadway in Asheville, is not happening. Restaurant owners said as recently as a few weeks ago that everything was on track and that they were planning to open later this year. Not so. The deal is off, and Desirant, a gallery planning to open a small space in the Windsor, is now taking over the entire space. Look for a gallery, clothing and a cappucino bar.
-UNCA Board of Trustees: The UNC Asheville Board of Trustees met Thursday. The meeting was the first for the university’s new chancellor, Mary Grant. I attended the morning session of the meeting, during which trustees met with a group of students who urged changes on two fronts. First, the students noted that there are no buildings on campus named for a person of color, and they asked that trustees consider naming a structure after Francine Delany, the university’s first black graduate and a community leader in her day. The students also asked trustees to consider removing endowment funds that are invested in fossil fuels. They noted that other colleges and universities are doing the same – Brevard College became the first in the Southeast and the first in North Carolina to pledge to divest by 2018.
-Wildfires: A large wildfire in Black Mountain has burned about 800 acres the past couple of days, including a mobile home. Nobody was injured, and no cause of the fire has been determined. A separate fire Wednesday burned about 10 acres in Leicester along Hookers Gap Road, not far from the property of Robert Jason Owens, who has been charged with murdering a former Food Network celebrity chef, her unborn child and her husband. A few days after Owens’ arrest, a structure on his property burned under suspicious circumstances. No cause has been determined in either of the Leicester fires.
-The Lord’s Acre: The Lord’s Acre, a Fairview nonprofit that brings people together to grow organic food, has had its tax-exempt status revoked for failure to file required IRS paperwork for the past three years. I recently exchanged emails with the organizers, who say that the issue is with the IRS and its computer files, and that the Lord’s Acre has resubmitted its Form 990s and that reinstatement should be coming soon. This is a long way of reminding readers to do a checking before you starting handing out cash. Guidestar is an excellent resource that allows you to check up your favorite nonprofit. As of today, The Lord’s Acre was still listed as having its tax exempt status revoked.
-Old North on the move: Old North, the men’s clothing shop featuring salvage selvedge denim and fine clothes and shoes for men on Lexington Avenue, has moved to the corner of Lexington Avenue and Walnut (the former location of Second Gear). Old North has expanded its offerings to include women’s clothing. Check them out. Meantime, Asheville artist Alena Hennessy is planning to open a gallery, Rosewater, in the former Old North location.
-Speed dating: There is speed dating in Asheville.
-Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation: From a press release:
Each year, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation collaborates with Blue Ridge Parkway staff to identify high priority projects in need of immediate attention to protect the environment and wildlife, prevent deterioration of historic buildings, and improve visitor enjoyment and safety. For 2015, we have identified more than $600,000 in crucial projects and programs, ranging from wildlife research to historic preservation. For instance, without repairs to the crumbling walkways, picnic tables, and fire pits at the Doughton Park Picnic Area (milepost 240). The Foundation will fund the revamp of the area to keep this popular spot open to the public.
-May Day rally: A May Day rally is set for May 1 at the Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. The rally celebrates worker’s rights and marks International Workers Rights day.
Anyway, enough about all this. What I want to know is, can anyone even remember the last new hotel announcement?
C’mon, people. We’re shivering in the dark here. Toss us a new Motel 6 in Candler or something to take the edge off.
I’ve never been there, but I’m guessing Old North features selvedge denim, not salvage.
🙂
yep, I will vote for FEWER evil progressives…progressive liberals are so stupid they have NO idea WHY progressivism has always FAILED…
Mr. Caudle, if conservatism is the cure for all ills, please explain why Mississippi, the most conservative state in America, is the closest thing America has to the Third World. Please also explain why the South, which is the nation’s most conservative region, leads the nation in negative quality of life rankings such as divorce, teen pregnancy, violent crime, poverty, illiteracy, rates of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and rates of STD transmission.
Black democrats contribute most to the high levels of divorce, teen pregnancy, violent crime, poverty, illiteracy, rates of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and rates of STD transmission in the South. The Republican strongholds of Utah and Idaho are among the safest states in the country. Even in southern Alabama SE of Mobile near Foley, the crime is low and the area is very affluent and heavily Republican.
The Republican strongholds of Utah and Idaho are among the safest states in the country.
Unless you’re black. I hear sundown towns were pretty safe places too for the residents.
LVR is very good at flipping causal relationships when it allows him to blame black folks. Turns out that structural poverty and discrimination breeds structural poverty and discrimination.
The Democrats have used and betrayed the black community far too long. Wake up! Research Walter Williams of George Mason University.
Really, LVR? I bet you have Thomas Sowell up your other sleeve.
I prefer Ta-Nehisi Coates who is really pretty good at pointing out how the history of America is the history of white folks stealing black folks’ stuff, except they get to make their stealing legal.
ask Mississippi…just total ignorance there much like here, right?
Warning:
Troll zone ahead.
Indeed, especially when they’re employing such easily-refuted lies. Black Democrats are the cause of all the ills in this nation’s worst areas?
That’s rich.
Hey, Fisher Caudle. You’re back! No longer RedHotPoker, eh?
Wow, such thoughtful, perceptive, and most of all, mature constructive criticism. You must be proud of yourself for your eloquence, penetrating insight and generous heart.
So… a chain restaurant from Florida, offering absolutely nothing new to the Asheville culinary scene, and which would have plunked itself down directly across the street from a good local place serving the exact same cuisine, isn’t coming to town after all?
Well, poopies. That just chills the cockles of my black and shriveled heart.
they were hardly going to serve pizza , but your comments are so smarmy and disdainful, just like a know nothing sniveling lieberal progressive…INtolerant of others all the time.
Mr. Caudle, I am only intolerant of hatred and stupidity. All the rest is negotiable.
Funny thing though… when you Google “Macchialina” and go to their Miami restaurant’s site, the picture in the background is of what?
A pizza.
Just to clarify on the Old North’s new store at 15 Walnut, formerly occupied by Second Gear: That was Second Gear’s downtown location that closed in early January, however, the West Asheville location at 444 Haywood Road (aka Mardis Building) is alive and well. Thanks!
As a long-time reader of Ashvegas, here is the collective wishlist of my fellow commenters:
– more sustained funding for entrepreneurs/start-ups
– a more contiguous greenway system
– more investment in public transportation
– more choice in our communications infrastructure (less monopolies like Charter)
– a longer-term, bigger-picture development plan
– more affordable housing options in city-center
– more transparent law enforcement
– more progressive safety-net for low-income families
– a whitewater park
Sounds about right, although I’d add a performing arts center decent enough to snag Broadway shows from the Peace Center to that list.
I would like an exercise park and/or exercise equipment along the greenway or trail in an exercise course.
I would like to see NO mobile homes allowed in Buncombe County (modulars maybe). My natural instincts are to let the free market decide (which it could), but sometimes you have to zone it to protect the community. You’ll help local builders and employment opportunity and the town will look nicer. Money will stay here instead of going to the Democrat Warren Buffett (who owns Clayton Homes). He has enough money. Don’t give it to him. Look up the article “Warren Buffett’s mobile home empire preys on the poor”
Also called fitness trail or paracourse
I would like the Asheville Mall, WNC Nature Center, and Asheville Airport to be upgraded- total remodeling not just a new carpet or something. Too bad Simons does not own the mall. They prioritize updating their malls which greatly enhances the shopping experience.
We need a swimming lake. The Burnett Reservoir is an obvious choice. Perhaps a new dam could double the size of the lake (there is a lot of unused flat land behind it which could be flooded). Rename it to Craggy Lake or Blue Ridge Lake or vote on something other than that dull name. Since it is our water supply, I would not allow motor boats, but have kayak or rowboat rentals. A new campground on the lake and Greenway to connect to it would be nice too.
Not just remodeling- it may requiring tearing down existing structures. The airport needs more glass- perhaps change the color from turquoise to blue to match the Blue Ridge Mountains. I have long said the airport needs a parking garage and be pushed back from the road. A new highway exit to the south (maybe even the north) and an overpass over NC 280 could ease traffic congestion and provide direct access to Fern Cliff RD and a new airport entrance.
Jtroop got a lot of this right, thanks for paying attention! I notice a lot of our needs are about quality of life, often falling under the jurisdiction of the public/govt sector. We simply don’t need another restaurant/brewery/boutique or grocery at the moment, though that, along with hotels is what the free market is providing. I’d add fixing our roads to the list, just repaving them, as the state of most streets in the city is straight-up shitty. The River Arts District will be an interesting case study in the next few years. We have a relatively blank canvass there to craft what we want. If the emphasis on walking, biking, exercising, being on the river, and outdoor events comes to frution, alongside industry, housing and the ancillary businesses there, it will be interesting to see how that area actually functions, if pieces can be used elsewhere in the city to improve our lives.
As a long-time reader of Ashvegas, none of these ideas represent a wishlist I or people that I know would endorse.
So tell me Ashvegas friends – there are always lots of opinions about what Asheville needs less of. What is it you think Asheville needs more of?
Let’s fuel the entrepreneurial fire, and tell those of us who enjoy affecting
change what it is you want more of and would support if it existed.
Kind of like this new entrepreneurial pitch thing going around town, but let the pitch come from the local people and let the entrepreneurs figure out how to give it to them.
I’m all ears…..
-Barry
I don’t know about Asheville, but Fairview sure could use a few more decent restaurants or at least a few more food trucks. Also, a Walgreens franchise would do very well in Fairview. I know the locals would probably not like either of these ideas since they love how rural it is, and I love it too, but I think a Walgreens would do really well out here.
“I’m all ears…..”
I thought you were all mouth.
How about this: fewer progressives, to stimulate the local economy.
Way to be original Tim. That same line was used on you not long ago.
Anf it must have really stuck in his craw if he waited so patiently all this time to use it against the person who used it on him first.
(Cue accusations of “ad hominem” and sarcastic acknowledgement of just being so darned fascinating that everyone focuses on him instead of the topic at hand.)
I don’t know … Barry Summers is usually pretty careful to use his own log-in information on this site. I’m guessing that Mr. Peck might have just gotten his “revenge” on a completely different person who just happens to have the same first name.
Yeah, I’m not this ‘Barry’ person who Mr. Peck just insulted, nor was I the one who said that he was “all mouth” (although I thought the comic timing of the comment was pretty good.)
But as we’ve all seen, accuracy isn’t the primary concern when Mr. Peck is slinging ad hominems.
How about this: fewer WHITE TRASH like Tim Peckerwood.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
If you were at all sincere, that is.
Another kids museum! Ever since the Health Adventure closed the closest one is Hands On in Hendersonville. The Lodge is expensive. Give the kids an affordable, educational indoor place to play!
Or another Mexican restaurant.
Hard to say what the AVL needs less, a gallery, a hip clothing shop, or a cappucino bar…
…or another hotel.
The “hip clothing shop” sells denim from Cone Mills sewn into jeans in Raleigh. Yeah, it’s expensive. But if you treat ‘made in the USA’ as more than a BS slogan, it’s money well spent.