Oh, You Don’t Know, The State I’m In
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I attended the State of Downtown Luncheon yesterday. Hosted by the Downtown Association, the event was information packed. A representative from the Police Department reported that grafitti incidences have declined and that the new nuisance court is working. She urged people coming downtown to lock their cars, as there has been a rash of ‘breaking and entering’ into unlocked vehicles. “Crimes of opportunity”, was how the officer described them.
The AC-T does a fine job of capturing the spirit of the other segments of the luncheon in this article:
The economic and cultural heart of the mountains is at a crossroads and could falter without state and county aid, Mayor Terry Bellamy said Thursday.
Speaking in front of 120 people at the annual State of Downtown Luncheon, Bellamy stressed the city would need to deal soon with issues that include a 700-space parking deficit and basic maintenance of important buildings like City Hall.
City residents alone can’t afford the fixes Asheville needs, and they shouldn’t have to, she and members of the Asheville Downtown Association said.
[...]
The city center makes up less than 1 percent of Buncombe County’s land mass, but 75 percent of all the county’s retail sales happen downtown and in the rest of Asheville, association Vice President Joe Minicozzi said in a video made for the event.But a state formula sends most sales taxrevenue to the county, smaller towns and other places, Minicozzi said. Only 27-28 cents of each dollar collected in sales tax in Asheville goes to municipal coffers.
“There is a huge disparity in the amount of taxes created in Asheville and the amount returned to Asheville,” he said.
You can have a look at the .pdf presentation given by the Mayor at the Luncheon by clicking here. I hope to get Joe Minicozzi’s video presentation up soon.
16 Comments
February 5th, 2010 at 10:43 am
The city is going to the state with hat in hand,to bad the state is broke too. Maybe they should stop expanding benefits,building “greenways” and other unnecessary spending and recognize the financial crisis the rest of us see, and cut their budget.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Jim,
We haven’t budgeted any money on Greenways in years. We’re looking at the whole benefits package in next month’s worksession. Cutting the budget now will mean cutting essential city services and amenities that the community has stated their desire for. This isn’t an ideological issue, it’s a matter of our city and region’s future success. We’re all going to have to take off our ideological lenses and get down to pragmatic brass tacks. If you have ‘unnecessary spending’ you’d like me to look at, then please offer them up.
I hear Colorado Springs is cutting police officers, turning off street lights, and selling equipment rather than ask their citizens to support services. I also hear that Somalia is nice this time of year.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:57 am
I have cholera!
February 5th, 2010 at 11:20 am
When is the city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ending June 30,2009 to be published online?
February 5th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Is the city spending nothing on all these greenways proposed? Is proposed Kimberly Ave greenway benefitting from stimulous spending (with matching city funding)?
February 5th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Good questions, Jim. I just emailed the City Manager about posting the 2009 CAFR. Greenways spending came to a standstill a couple of years ago. The Kimberly Ave. project I’m familiar with is the road resurfacing, and I believe it’s almost all ARRA money.
February 5th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I am convinced that the 700 space parking deficit will disappear in the next 12-18 months as gas prices rocket. Industry estimates suggest three-digit barrel prices soon. Gas will go past $3.50 per gallon by the end of 2010 and may hit $7 by 2012.
We need to focus on transit options for the future of Asheville, not try to replicate the benefit of new parking decks which unquestionably aided downtown growth in the last century.
February 5th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
I absolutely disagree that Asheville has a parking problem. We have a signage and walking problem.
That is to say: It’s hard for people unfamiliar with downtown to find the parking garages, and we need better multi-modal infrastructure.
February 5th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
with you, shrub
February 5th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
You want the obvious. You’ll get the obvious. — The Shape I’m In
February 6th, 2010 at 9:25 am
We did that video for a couple of reasons, one being that I am out of town at the National Smart Growth Conference (coincidentally presenting on the same day) and two, we wanted something YouTube-able. So whenever that copy is pressed, we’ll get it over to you. Possibly this week.
So what did you think of the presentation/data?
February 6th, 2010 at 9:39 am
Joe,
I very much like the informal presentation style. Including Elvis was a great touch. The information went over very well. i saw lots of heads nodding in agreement, including a County Commissioner or two.
The data was a little hard to read, but your explanation sufficed to fill the gap. Thanks for doing this, Joe. I don’t know what we’d do without you.
February 7th, 2010 at 7:04 am
Joe, I was impressed that you were able to relate such a wide swath of pretty dense data in such a short time and so clearly. Some of the graphics were a little hard to see (and I was at a front table), and a couple of times the view of the graphic was a little short. The visibility issue won’t be so great in YouTube format (that was partly because of the projector/screen viewing) and the timing wouldn’t matter as much if a person can stop or go back.
Excellent, over-all.
February 7th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
All:
If anyone wants the data, I am sure we (the Asheville Downtown Association) will share it. I’ll see if we can hang the entire powerpoint on our website as well, so you can download it and click through the graphics at home.
As for my comment above, how did I merit 2 thumbs down? Anyone wish to fess up on that explanation?
Cheers
Joe
February 7th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Joe,
We’ve had an influx of thumb clickers recently, most of them seem to be Alan Ditmore fans. Go figure.
February 7th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
If it is Alan, I could add the birth rates for downtown populations. He’d be happy to see that they are dropping precipitously.
PS: did you see the Op-Ed in today’s paper?