|
|
|
|
Home Contact Us ACCESS ASHEVILLE ACCOMMODATIONS ACTIVISTS ADVERTISERS ADVISORIES ARCHIVES ARTS & CULTURE ATTRACTIONS BLOGS BUSINESS COMMENTARY CRIME & JUSTICE DEVELOPMENT DINING ENTERTAINMENT EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT EVENTS GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE HISTORY HUMOR LINKS MAPS MEDIA MUSIC NEWS NON-PROFITS ON STAGE OPINION PHOTOS POLITICS SHOPPING STREETS VIDEOS WEIRD
|
July 15, 2008, Update FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE AND PICTORIAL, GO TO CATEGORY ABOVE, or Click Here>
CITY COUNCIL TOSSES BACK PARKSIDE HOT POTATO The Political Game of Chicken Continues as the Parkside Time Bomb Ticks On July 15, 2008, while hundreds of protesters to "Stop Parkside" demonstrated peacefully outdoors around the City-County Plaza magnolia tree and demanded definitive political action, the Asheville City Council announced after deliberating in closed session that it stood by its previous resolution to Buncombe County.
The city council members had previously demanded unanimously in writing that the Buncombe County Commissioners reacquire the public parkland, which the county had wrongfully sold to the controversial, sometimes hotheaded, Parkside high-rise condo developer Stewart Coleman. The city contends that the county had broken a decades-old agreement between the city and the county that states neither party would ever do anything to City-County Plaza without first notifying the other. The county's unilateral action that allowed for the sale of the public parkland to Coleman's private interests was in direct violation of that understanding. Some whisper that the outrageous land sale by the county was simply payback to the city, which has tussled publicly and vehemently with the county over water rates and ownership. Asheville mayor Terry Bellamy delivered her no-new-news message at approximately 6 p.m., July 15, in the second-floor council chamber in Room 201 of city hall to a quietly seated group of Stop Parkside protesters and Parkside supporters, which included Coleman of Black Dog Realty, purchaser of the parkland. Bellamy made this announcement with the entire City Council in attendance, save Brownie Newman. The mayor said nothing new about how the city or county might resolve the Parkside problem. She added that council members remain open to assist the county in land swap negotiations, although she did not elaborate. After the council's work session was completed -- which involved the need to fill six vacancies on the popular Parks and Recreation Commission -- the meeting was adjourned. Mayor Bellamy then walked out to talk with a handful of protesters who remained after the lively protest earlier in the day. Council member Holly Jones also spoke with some of the protesters under the magnolia. The mayor spoke quietly for approximately 10 minutes with Dixie Deerman, a.k.a. Lady Passion, and others who continued their ongoing 24/7 vigil to save the 100-year-old magnolia and stop Coleman's Parkside development. Deerman, who had hoped for some new action at the city council's work session -- such as the city becoming a part of the Pack heirs' lawsuit that demands return of the parkland -- expressed her disappointment to the mayor. In summary, the city told the county, again, to clean up the Parkside poop it had dropped on the citizens' front lawn. The citizens attending the rally cheered when speakers, including former city council candidate and journalist Cecil Bothwell, reminded them that the November elections were approaching. The 24/7 vigils under the magnolia continue with Lady Passion and others protecting the tree from the hatchet men. Coleman, now armed with the Technical Review Committee's recent stamp of approval in his back pocket, creeps toward his condo payday. The epic struggle of private versus public interests grinds forward at a torturously slow rate. Public outrage grows as some press for a blue ribbon investigation to sort through the mess. The Pack heirs continue in their lawsuit. The pressure builds. The final outcome remains very much in the air. Anyone taking bets? -Report filed by Byron Belzak, DowntownAsheville.com Copyright 2008 MEDIABEAR dta8parksidejuly15updatebb1 |
|
