City names police chief; renames HQ — See STORIES, Pg. A2
Jubilee! chief retiring; successor to take reins Chris Bailey
See STORY, Pg. A7
H. Hanger A. Steinberg
Fourth of July event roundup — See STORY, Pg. B1
LLE I V HE AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER
July 2019
Vol. 15, No. 08
An Independent Newspaper Serving Greater Asheville www.ashevilledailyplanet.com FREE
Flatiron Bdg. conversion plan tweaked, wins city OK
‘South Pacific’ show awash in optimism
Boutique hotel to offer 71 rooms, instead of 80
From Staff Reports A revised plan to convert downtown Asheville’s iconic traingularshaped Flatiron Building, completed in 1927, into a boutique hotel was approved by a narrow 4-3 vote by Asheville City Council on June 25. Voting to approve the plan were Mayor Esther Manheimer, Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler and council members Vijay Kapoor and Julie Mayfield. Voting against it were Keith Young, Sheneika Smith and Brian Haynes. The plan presented to council on June 25 had been somewhat scaled back from the original proposal. “Council members who voted ‘yes’ said they were convinced this was the best way to preserve the iconic building, Asheville television stations WLOS News 13 reported later that evening. “The proposal includes a restaurant, retail spaces, commercial office space in the second floor, and 71 hotel rooms on floors three through eight.” In contrast, the proposal with which council was presented in May boasted 80 hotel rooms — and no office space. See FLATIRON, Page A12
Special photo by X
Special photo courtesy of TREADSHOTS / SCOTT TREADWAY
In a musical number from Flat Rock Playhouse’s production of the Broadway classic “South Pacific, lonely sailors Luther Billis (Andrew Foote) and Stew
Pot (Brendan Malafronte) sing — with others in their all-male crew of Seabees — “There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame.” A review and more pictures appear on Page B1.
Asheville not a ‘connected community,’ panel says With gentrification, tourism, city’s black population feeling left out? By JOHN NORTH
U
john@AshevilleDailyPlanet.com
Special photo courtesy of UNCA / Emmanuel Figaro
Panelists (from left) are the Rev. Amy Cantrell, Kenyon Lake, Stephanie Dahl and Kimberlee Archie. To the right is moderator Darin Waters.
NC Ashevlle’s Leadership Asheville program hosted a lively panel discussion that covered many issues, but eventually drifted to what were characterized as the concerns of some — perhaps many — blacks and other minorities in Asheville that they not only feel completely left out of an otherwise “connected community” of whites, but, through gentrification, they are getting a clear signal that they are unwanted here and should move elsewhere. The first session of the 2019 Summer Buzz Breakfast Series, held June 20 at West Asheville’s Crowne Plaza Expo Center, drew a turnout of more than 160 people — predominately white. The program’s topic was to be “How Do We Build a Connected Community?” Also discussed was the question of “What Is a Connected Community?” Future monthly Summer Buzz Breakfast programs in the series will continue to deal with the “Connected Community” theme.
The program, centered around a panel discussion, reached a point where the participants seemed to agree that the overwhelmingly white Asheville likes to entertain the notion that the city is “diverse” and features terrific community connections, when, in reality, according to panelist Kimberlee Archie, many African-American residents and other minorities “don’t feel a part of this place or of the people” — and the city’s “diversity” is a myth. “They (many blacks) feel there is no unified community because ‘it (Asheville) is all about tourism,’” a sector that they feel displaces them. Also, Archie, with others agreeing, said that, with gentrification — and blacks continuing to dwindle as a percentage of the population, “people of color” are feeling as if they are being “pushed out of Asheville.” Panelist Kenyon Lake lamented that Asheville is “one of the (few) places in the United States that has a dwindling African-American community.” To that end, he said, “There’s nothing for African-American youths” (to do) in Asheville.” See NOT CONNECTED, Page A8