I Love This Town
By
Photo credit - Bill Rhodes
Returning from tonight’s Town Hall meeting, I found myself again appreciating the forward thinking community of which we are a part. The Asheville Energy Independence Initiative can put Asheville at the forefront of a nationwide trend towards energy efficiency and greener opportunities for all of us.
Tonight’s attendees were people from across Asheville’s political, economic, environmental circles. It reminded me of the recent cross-pollination of disciplines that put Asheville in the hunt for Google’s world-class gigabit fiber optic network. And if we’re talking cross-pollination, how about luminaries from across the nation coming to town last weekend for HATCH?
President Obama and his family will honor us with a visit, drawing the gaze of the world to Asheville this weekend.
Flowers are exploding everywhere, and we’re again witness to the greening up the mountains. The Asheville Tourists are over .500. On Saturday, men in high-heeled shoes will parade downtown for OurVoice, and the Blue Ridge Roller Girls will wipe the floor with Johnson City, Tennessee. All Go West is about to throw a great festival in my neighborhood.
If you love this town and want to say so, then this is the thread for you.
14 Comments
April 19th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Meh, this town has its moments. Still pretty shitty on the good jobs front.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Thank you, Captain Wet Blanket.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Oh yeah, love it! I moved here from New Orleans, 20 years ago. The mountains called me here. I’ve never regretted my move here…..though I do visit N. O. often. It’s a good place to visit, but Asheville is a good place to live.
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April 20th, 2010 at 5:50 am
Gordon- I agree with you. I love this town, love the people, love the sense of possibility and connectivity within the community. After my wandering the country for the last few decades, can say I’m finally home.
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April 20th, 2010 at 6:54 am
What gets me is that there never seems to be any Republicans at these things — except for Terry Bellamy and Jan Davis, of course.
Why would that be, I wonder? Oh, I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who…who wrote the Book Of Love?
Sorry.
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April 20th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Yep, I love Asheville too. Thanks for all you’re doing for our community, Gordon.
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April 20th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Asheville is super-fantastic-happy-fun-place!
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April 20th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Yeah, I’m with Shad. If you’re lucky enough to actually have a decent-paying job (or, alternatively, can make a living selling goods or services to trust-fund hippies or retired part-time residents – you know, things like pot, faux-Mission-style furniture, and “life coaching”), Asheville is pretty nice.
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April 20th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
It does tend toward a tight little clique, job wise. I was fortunate to be able to ship my work out to the world. I moved here and brought my livelihood with me. Asheville is still a “good ole boy” network job wise. That’s unfortunate (and very restricting) for the town…hopefully some fresh companies / industries will arrive and bring a need for real expertise, and not who you know type of hiring.
I hear there a four job vacancies at human resources in city hall. Maybe you “know” someone and can get one of those fairly well paid jobs????
Asheville is a great place to live in spite of, not because of the local power structure.
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April 20th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
prove me wrong… (anyone?)
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April 20th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
I’m with you Shadmarsh. Asheville is a great place to live and a terrible place to work.
It has been that way as long as I can remember – and I’m older than God’s houseshoes.
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April 20th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
This is our 18th year. It welcomed us when we came and has supported us ever since. But give The Shad the due. I’m leaving in the morning for a three day gig in Knoxville.
Still, there’s nothing in the world quite like downtown on a good weekend with good weather.
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April 21st, 2010 at 5:18 am
I haven’t had regular job in this town in fifteen years (he types from a motel in Charlotte).
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April 22nd, 2010 at 7:18 am
Even when unemployed, I loved this town. Now I have a kid, I love Carrier Park, The Health Adventure, the Brew ‘n’ View, and whatever that park is in Woodfin where you can walk out across a fallen tree to some rocks in the river.
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