Stop holding middle-class hostage, 30 protesters say — See Story, Pg. 6
Pat McCrory
McCrory scores hit with firedup GOP faithful at Taylor dinner — See Story, Pg. 7
ILLE V E H AS ASHEVILLEʼS GREATEST NEWSPAPER
January 2013
Vol. 9, No. 2
An Independent Newspaper Serving Greater Asheville
Daily Planet Staff Photo
Some of the attendees of a workshop examine a rendering showing a proposed project that would widen and realign a 2-mile stretch of Riverside Drive and Lyman Street (in blue) in Asheville’s River Arts District.
2-mile RAD plan given positive public response
About 80 people examined a proposal to make changes to a 2-mile stretch of land in Asheville’s River Arts District during a Dec. 6 workshop at the Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Center. Featured were six stations that sum-
marized the history of the project’s process. The stations also served to illustrate the recommended plan. In the aftermath, the organizers said that the public’s reaction generally was positive toward the plan, provided there are bike lanes, sidewalks and greenways included.
The alignment would run through the parking lot of 12 Bones Smokehouse and its outdoor dining area. What’s more, Dan Baechtold, a city transportation planner, told the news media recently the project could involve a total relocation (of 12 Bones) or rearranging how its site is configured.
By JOHN NORTH john@ashevilledailyplanet.com Updates on recent activities and problems — and plans for 2013 — were unveiled by managers of the City of Asheville and Buncombe County during a breakfast meeting of the Council of Independence Business Owners on Dec. 7 at Asheville’s Biltmore Square Mall. Giving separate addresses to the CIBO were City Manager Gary Jackson and County Manager Wanda Greene. More than 50 peopled attended the early-morning session. The report by Jackson and other city officials, coupled with questions by CIBO members, occupied most of the meeting, so Greene, who spoke at the end with limited time, mainly focused on the lingering election challenge over second-place for the District 2 commissioners seat. Greene said the issue has captured state attention and that she hopes it will be resolved soon, so that a full commission can address pressing issues. Speaking earlier, Jackson lavishly praised Robert Griffin, director of the city’s development services department, for improvements the latter has made in that unit. “We’ve been on a mission since 2004,” when it was decided that “we need to fix our development services department,” Jackson said. He commended “Robert and his staff for becoming a one-stop shop,” so that those seeking to make improvements know there is “one place to go” to deal with the city for their projects. Jackson added that Griffin and his assistants “are now creating process — or case — managers ... What we’re going to create is a quarterback — a process manager. Someone who tracks the process” to its conclusion. “This is about changing the culture,” the city manager asserted. “It’s changing the 15 people in the department from ‘My job is getting it right’” to a point where they can report on “what came in, what came out and ‘Did we do it as expeditiously as possible?’” See CHANGES, Page 15
Link between entrepreneurs, investors urged
From Staff Reports
AdvantageWest’s Venture Local conference for entrepreneurs and investors drew a large crowd on Dec. 7 to downtown’s Renaissance Asheville Hotel. The focus of the all-day event was on local, social and sustainable opportunities in Western North Carolina. Among the highlights was a keynote address by Michael Shuman, author of “Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Move Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity.” The other headliner was Martin Eakes, founder of the Self-Help Credit Union, who spoke during the local foods luncheon.
Other program features included: • Concurrent roundtable discussions covering entrepreneurial opportunities in the areas of clean energy, craft brewing and distilling, ecotourism and agritourism, fiber and textiles, forest products, local food and food products, natural products and outdoor products. • “Shark-tank”-type fast pitches from six WNC entrepreneurs, with rapid responses from a panel of funders. • Concurrent panel discussions ranging from financing resources for local entrepreneurs to how to build a successful manufacturing company from prototype to production, to technology and tools to drive competitiveness.
FREE
City, county managers cite changes
A LONG AND WINDING ROAD
From Staff Reports
www.ashevilledailyplanet.com
The event concluded with a farm-to-table reception. Shuman, who opened the conference with his address, prompted laughter from the crowd when he quipped that he bills himself as a “recovering lawyer.” More seriously, he noted the focus of the event and said “it’s heartening to see that the momentum has shifted into this” important area. It is vital that ways are devised to “bring new sources of money” to finance business startups, Shuman said, instead of sticking to what he termed the “mainstream business formulation” of merely attracting and retaining businesses. See ENTREPRENEURS, Page 22
Michael Shuman