Parkside: BREAKING – County Commission Proposing Resolution on June 24
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Resolutions are all the rage these days. Last Tuesday, City Council resolved that the County ought to clean up the Parkside mess. This Tuesday the County Commission will resolve… something.
An email from Chairman Nathan Ramsey:
Gordon,
As many have told you before, the county is working on many different options to address the concerns of all stakeholders including but not limited to purchasing Mr. Coleman’s property and facilitating some type of land swap with the city so the building would be moved to the south. I would assume a proposed resolution will be posted on the county website before the 24th. Mr. Coleman will make a presentation and inform our Board what, if any, action he will request that we take in the future. I expect that our staff will make a presentation of the history of the property that the county sold, the history of Hayes and Hopson, and provide the facts to clear up any myths that are in the community and the web. Please contact me anytime.
Best wishes,
Nathan
Looks like a decison’s been made about how to move forward. The first Hooligan to get the text or intent of the resolution wins a South Carolina Firework.
Chairman Ramsey doesn’t mention anything about hearing from the public, so I’m not sure where we stand there. It’s been said that the current County Commission never goes into a meeting without knowing exactly how everyone’s going to vote. Mr. Coleman’s associates will again give their particular version of events and interpretations of the Pack Square guidelines. County staff will likely provide an “official” version of events.
What do you think?
BONUS RESOLUTION! – This is the resolution adopted by the Buncombe County Democratic Party at their April 9, 2008 convention:
A Resolution Concerning the Parkside Condominiums
Whereas, the land sold by the County Commissioners to Black Dog Realty is in litigation, and;
Whereas, the City / County Plaza, which has been used by the public for nearly a century for public purposes, is being redesigned with tax dollars, and;
Whereas, the County Commissioners sold City / County Plaza land to Black Dog Realty as the site of Parkside Condominiums without prior public notices, and without debate.
Therefore, we resolve that the County Commissioners rescind the sale, stop any county planning with Black Dog Realty, return all money Black Dog Realty paid to the County, and, lastly, that the Commissioners never sell a square inch of City County Plaza again.
13 Comments
June 18th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Wow. I never saw that resolution at the convention. Very nice.
This, though, is my favorite part of Chairman Ramsey’s e-mail:
I’m wondering if the staff plans to clear up the myths that they — and Chairman Ramsey — propagated the last time the commission took up Parkside.
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June 18th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
That has been my experience. All deliberation is done in secret and the commissioner’s meeting is a dog-and-pony show that takes pains to avoid public scrutiny. They schedule their meetings to coincide with city council, censor public comment, and grin at each other during public hearings like dogs playing poker.
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June 19th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I’m anxiously awaiting your plan that you promised yesterday.
“Stay tuned. Tomorrow I’ll lay out our options for releasing the park land that Mr. Coleman is holding hostage.”
See you tonight!
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June 19th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Thanks, Tiger. I’m thinking I’ll hold off on that for a day or two.
in the interest of transparency, and knowing that you’re a friend of Mr. Coleman, would you please lay out Mr. Coleman’s plan and your understanding of the County’s plans for a resolution?
(By the way – bringing my wife’s name into this debate at the AC-T Topix forums is the epitome of poor taste. It’s exactly the type of behavior we’ve come to expect from Colemanites during this controversy, but that doesn’t make it any less reprehensible.)
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June 19th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
How would a friend of Mr. Coleman know his plan for a yet to be published resolution?
I honestly have no idea what you are refering to with regards to your wife’s name, could you please show me where that was done.
TS
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June 19th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Imagine that – A Coleman sockpuppet playing coy.
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June 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
It’s a fairly strong accusation, that I take seriously and asked you to give reference to. Please do so or stop making accusations!
TS
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Rawr!
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Maybe we can talk about it tonight?
TS
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June 19th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
TS: You know what I like? Margaritas!
My favorite recipe:
1 1/2 oz tequila
1/2 oz premium triple sec
1 oz lime juice
Rum the rim of a cocktail glass with lime juice, and dip in salt. Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into the glass, and serve.
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June 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Nothing beats Ernest Hemingway’s Bloody Mary recipe:
It’s always refreshing to see bartenders do these up from scratch instead of using a mix. If there’s live entertainment at the venue, sometimes it’s more entertaining to watch the bartender make one of these.
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June 19th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
It’s official: the County’s solution to mistakenly selling park land for development? (drum roll please)…Yes, you guessed right, it’s The Swap! They are preparing to ask the City of Asheville to give Stewart Coleman EXACTLY WHAT HE ASKED FOR one year ago, and the City Council turned him down!
Coleman’s stated goal was to purchase this park land and use it to (what’s the polite term…) “leverage” the Marjorie Street lot. Remember, this is land that the City had already turned away offers to develop, land that they were in the middle of setting priorities for, land that was among the most valuable in WNC. Stewart Coleman set in motion a speculative land deal with his friends at the County, to jump ahead of all the honest, above-board devlopers who were drooling over the “Parkside” lot. His gambit ran into opposition from Council, who didn’t like the fact that he was asking them to chuck all their priorities for the Performing Arts Center, the Eagle/Market area re-vitalization, affordable housing, all of it, so he could jump in first with luxury condos.
Now, a year later, his enablers in this blackmail scheme are saying to the City to “just give the guy what he wants, or we’ll help him screw up your park!!!”
What in Gods name is the City Council waiting for? These are not nice people, they do not like you, they do not give damn about the park, and they are making chumps out of you! Sue them now, or live with the humiliation forever.
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June 19th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Here’s the link to the resolution
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