On Nov. 10, The Citizen-Times hosted “Growing Asheville For All,” a civic forum to discuss issues of affordability and economy in Asheville. More than 300 audience members gathered at the Diana Wortham Theatre for the event, while more than 100 participated via an online live stream.
Panelists were chosen to represent six different facets of economy and life in Asheville: Mai Thi Nguyen, an associate professor at UNC Chapel Hill’s department of regional and city planning; former Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy, now an outreach coordinator for the Asheville Housing Authority; Jack Cecil, a commercial and residential developer and CEO of Biltmore Farms; Jeremy Littlejohn, CEO of RISC Networks, a tech startup headquartered in Asheville; John McKibbon, developer and CEO of the McKibbon Hotel Group; and Pastor Micheal Woods, executive director of WNC Rescue Ministries shelter downtown.
The event used live polling of audience members and viewers watching live at home via questions pushed to their smartphones. Moderators Casey Blake and Josh Awtry used the audience’s input to steer the panel’s conversation to more directly answer community questions.
Below is a sampling of some of the audience questions captured live:
The audience had high expectations for the evening’s panel discussion.
Some of the on-screen responses from the crowd before the panel discussion on what they hoped to learn:
Is Asheville in a growth crisis? Not everybody agrees.
While the biggest block of respondents said that Asheville is experiencing a crisis around growth, those who are unsure or agree that it’s simply in the middle of an economic boom made up significant parts of the audience.
No surprise: hotels are a divisive issue.
The poll bars grew at even pacing as the audience chimed in. As the voting slowed, it was clear that there was no consensus in the audience on hotels in Asheville’s economy. By a slight majority, residents thought that hotels made for a better economy, but those who disagree or are unsure make up a slim combined majority.
Asheville wants high-tech jobs, but not employment sectors that harm the environment.
Asheville’s love of nature was apparent as a hunger for green jobs was quickly voted to the top of the list. While those advocating for technology-oriented jobs made up the largest piece of the pie, the single-most voted on category was related to a green economy. When asked if manufacturing could ever return, the on-stage panelists agreed that manufacturing never left — it switched from large textile companies to smaller brewers, but when combined, those breweries contribute to the manufacturing economy.
To help struggling Asheville residents break the cycle of poverty, most said education was the key.
Other popular answers included stopping racism and building financial literacy.
The audience largely wanted the hotel tax to be brought under local control.
One of the more polarizing topics at the forum revolved around the recently passed hotel tax, which increased lodging tax by 2 percent with funds to be used for tourism-related marketing and infrastructure. With a net score of 23, several audience members wanted this question addressed; about 1/3 as many wanted to move past it. The audience applauded when moderators asked the panel to respond to the issue.
The audience strongly supports denser neighborhoods.
Panelists Cecil and McKibbon both agreed that they hear this sentiment echoed frequently, but whenever a new apartment or high-density housing unit is proposed, nearby neighbors unify in protest.
Respondents want to see developers be more accountable for creating affordable units.
Crowd responses were varied on how to solve the housing shortage. Most want to make developers include more affordable units, but they also think that regulations should be relaxed to make it easier to build more dense development.
The audience had strong takeaways from the panel discussion.
Some of the responses on the screen included:
And, of course, our favorite:
For more on issues around growth and sustainability, visit our growth page.
The Nov. 10 forum was provided free of charge to the community through a sponsorship by PNC Bank.
Leave a Reply