Monthly Archives: July 2011

West Asheville Community Watch meeting August 3

A meeting to discuss crime in West Asheville will be held on Wednesday, August 3, 7 pm at 278 Haywood Road. Representatives from the Asheville Police Department and the City of Asheville will be on hand to distribute information and answer questions. For more information see this Facebook group.

Asheville Police Department seeking assistance in Home Invasions

The Asheville Police Department has responded to and continues to investigate a number of Home Invasions; particularly in West Asheville. Detectives are seeking any information that may assist in identifying the offenders. In all the cases the offenders were asking for electronics, money and drugs. Anyone with information can call crime stoppers at 828-255-5050 or the Asheville Police at 828-252-1110. Below is information regarding locations and suspects:

386 Kenilworth Rd – May 13, 2011 around 1210 am – 3 black males all dressed in black clothing and wore black bandanas fitting the following descriptions:
1) 5`9 to 5`11 light skinned Black or Hispanic, with a five inch long ponytail at the nape of his neck, wearing a black bandana with white on it, a black hoodie
2) 5`8, 215 -225 pounds, black Nike tennis shoes with a white “M” shape or design, wearing a black shirt, black pants, chubby build
3) 6’-0 to 6`4 170-180 pounds, wearing a solid black ball cap, wearing Nike Air Force tennis shoes
A handgun displayed
*This incident is not believed to be related to those in West Asheville

20 Michigan Ave – June 7, 2011 around 12:30 am – 4 Offenders
Victim recalls only dark clothing, bandanas, and 2 handguns

102 Burton St – June 25, 2011 around 1245 am – 3 Offenders
The 3 Offenders are described as follows:
1) A “skinny” white male, 5`7“- 5`10“ tall with blonde hair wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans, light blue green eyes or bright blue.
2) Average build black male around 6`2“ tall with short hair, a red (possibly a Cardinals) baseball cap wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans.
3) A “chubby” black male 5`10“- 6`0“ tall with short dread locks with beads on the ends wearing a t-shirt and jeans also wearing a face covering.
*A handgun was displayed

436 Pearson Dr – June 29, 2011 around 4:27 am – 2 Offenders
2 Offenders described as having t-shirts wrapped around their faces. No weapon shown, believed to not be related to others in the city.

326 Riverview Dr – July 5, 2011 around 2:30 am – 3 Offenders
1) White male with blue or green eyes, green bandana, thin build
2) Black male, medium size, sunglasses, blue hat, light clothing
3) Dark skinned black male, wearing dark clothing
*A handgun was displayed

46 Logan Ave – July 6, 2011 around 3:15 am – 3 offenders
3 Offenders described as follows:
1) Black male subject with short dreads, a green bandanna covering head and face, wearing rectangular frame glasses and had a tattoo on right forearm of possibly a female’s name.
2) Black male subject short hair, wearing unknown color bandanna.
3) White male subject thin build, wearing a bandanna covering face and head.
*All three offenders were wearing t-shirts and baggy jeans. A handgun was displayed

These reported Home Invasions are being investigated as residential burglaries, robberies and assaults – which would be referred to as Home Invasions when occurring simultaneously. Residents are asked to contact officers if they would like to have someone speak to their group and/or if they see unusual activities taking place in their neighborhoods. Residents are also invited to attend the next Weed & Seed crime prevention meeting at noon in the Pisgah View Apartment complex in West Asheville on Monday, August 22. Call Weed & Seed Coordinator Rebecca Byrn for details 552-1311.

East and North Asheville:
CRO Brien Griffin (828) 552-1467
CRO Jeremy Woody (828) 552-9423

West Asheville:
CRO Josh Simpson (828) 251-4032
CRO Chad McCall (828) 251-4032

Central/South:
CRO Jackie Stepp (828) 337-7478
CRO Evan Coward (828) 777-4505

Non-emergency Police Department contact: (828) 252-1110

Haywood Road Corridor Committee meeting August 10

The next meeting for the Haywood Road Vision Plan will be Wednesday August 10, 2011 at the West Asheville Library starting at 6 PM until about 7:45. Please come join us and provide comment and input.

Agenda:

1. Provide input into transportation related topics for the corridor as a follow-up to the meeting we had in May.

2. Complete the land use discussion we started at the last meeting. We had questions about some uses and want to follow up

3. With remaining time discuss some of the site specific zoning issues and regulations as they relate to the corridor and new businesses come in along the corridor and when new buildings are constructed.

Please see the notes from the last meeting on Land Use which provides some background on these topics. Also visit the WABA website to see the archive of notes we have been posting to the site at west-asheville.com/category/haywood-road-corridor-committee/.

City of Asheville Greenway Commission meeting August 11

The City of Asheville’s Greenway Commission will host a public meeting to receive citizen recommendations pertaining to the implementation of municipal greenway projects via the Capital Improvement Project budget. The current City of Asheville Greenways Master Plan was adopted several years ago. The City of Asheville’s Greenway Commission welcomes recommendations pertaining to greenways already delineated in this Master Plan as well as potential new greenways. Comments regarding these greenways along with observations as to their implementation priority will be considered in the process of developing the Capital Improvement Project budget for 2013.

This meeting will occur in the Main Floor Conference Room in Asheville City Hall, located at 70 Court Plaza on Aug. 11, from 4:30-6:00 p.m. Maps of existing plans and possible additions to that plan will be available for review at this time. The Greenway Commissioners and staff will outline and facilitate the process for prioritization of funding and the future direction of Greenway projects. Public comments will also be accepted by email or mail addressed via the addresses noted for Al Kopf until October 1, 2011.

For more information on the progress of the Greenway Master plan, visit http://www.ashevillenc.gov/departments/ParksRCA/default.aspx?id=12914 , or contact Al Kopf, ASLA; Superintendent of Park Planning & Development, Asheville Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Dept., P.O. Box 7148, Asheville, NC 28802. Al Kopf can also be reached at (828) 259-5838 or akopf@ashevillenc.gov .

West Asheville Garden Stroll sponsorships available

The Third Annual West Asheville Garden Stroll is scheduled for Saturday, September 10th! This popular event has brought almost 500 folks to the Haywood Road Corridor and it’s diverse neighborhoods; and the gardens aren’t the only highlights. This event is free thanks to generous support from West Asheville Businesses and the stroll flyers and website are a great way to advertise and show how community minded our West Side businesses are. We’re proud to be hosting this wonderful connective event and hope the West Asheville businesses will be interested in joining our Support Sponsors. To really highlight the businesses Sponsorship is just $25…with larger $100 sponsorship also available for those businesses that would like their logo on the Garden Stroll website and brochures. Call Leslie at 337-2952 for more info or download the sponsorship flyer here.

West Asheville Plant Walk September 10

Come learn about the medicinal and edible plants growing in the sidewalks, gardens, and wild spaces of downtown West Asheville! Due to popular demand and a terrific turnout at the Spring event, Nancy Hyton and Keri Evjy will be hosting their second urban plant walk this year on Saturday, September 10th at 10:30am. It’s a different season and different plants will be out, plus they will be taking a new route so there will be lots of different things to see. As an added bonus, the plant walk will coincide with the 3rd annual West Asheville Garden Stroll, a free event sponsored by the Center and other local neighborhood businesses that takes place on the same day from 11:00am to 4:00pm.

This West Asheville Urban Plant Walk will be happening Saturday September 10th from 10:30 to 12:00, rain or shine. It will start at the Center for Holistic Medicine, located at 779 Haywood Road in the heart of downtown West Asheville, and venture off into the immediate neighborhood. The walk will be co-hosted by Nancy Hyton, Licensed Acupuncturist, Certified Herbalist, and founder of the Center, and Keri Evjy from Healing Roots Design, an edible and medicinal landscape design and consultation business. The cost is $5 for adults and includes a useful handout of the plants covered on the walk. Kids are free! Sign up in advance at the Center or just come by on the day of the event. You can also call 505-3174 or email at info@centerholistic.com to get on the list.

Be a Local Leader

The boards listed below currently have vacancies. The deadline for receiving applications for these openings is Wednesday, August 3 at 5 p.m.

Please contact the City Clerk’s Office at 259-5601 or by e-mail at mburleson@ashevillenc.gov for an application form.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE – The Committee will work in conjunction with City leadership and staff to implement the 2008 Affordable Housing Plan. The specific functions will be (1) to consider affordable housing policy issues and advise City leadership about those policies; (2) to develop concrete action steps to implement the highest priorities of the Affordable Housing Plan, and to update that Plan as appropriate over time; and (3) to advise City leadership and staff regarding affordable housing priorities for the investment of City-controlled funds.

CRIMESTOPPERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, ASHEVILLE-BUNCOMBE – The responsibilities of this committee is to review crimes and set awards for information leading to the arrest and indictment of felony crime offenders and to capture fugitives. The committee offers anonymity to persons who furnish information.

POLICE OFFICERS & FIREFIGHTERS DISABILITY REVIEW BOARD – The Board determines when supplemental payments should be made to members of the Asheville Policemen’s Pension and Disability Fund or their survivors when the disability retirement payment from the N. C. Local Government Employee’s Retirement System is less than the amount of monthly benefit which they would have been entitled to under the Asheville Policemen’s Pension and Disability Fund.

RECREATION BOARD – The Board advises City Council on various matters pertaining to the operation of park facilities and recreation programs within the City of Asheville, to make policy recommendations to City Council, and to carry out duties as may be assigned to them by City Council.

RIVER DISTRICT DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE – This vacancy is for a design professional. The Committee shall (1) promote Asheville’s riverfront as a vital economic development area for Asheville and WNC; and (2) review and make comment on major work projects within the River District in accordance with the River District Design Review Guidelines.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY – This vacancy is for an individual who is involved in the tourist business and who has demonstrated an interest in tourism development but who does not own or operate a hotel, motel or other taxable tourist accommodation. The purpose of the Authority is to further the development of travel, tourism, and conventions in the county through state, national and international advertising and promotion.

The side of the building where the graffiti was placed.

As a West Asheville property owner, I can’t emphasis enough how disturbing getting tagged with graffiti is. Thanks to The graffiti clean up program at Asheville Greenworks the most recent and difficult tagging incident at my property has been resolved. Please contact Asheville Greenworks as soon as you locate new graffiti. They will come out and facilitate abating the issue. In addition, do what you can to support this organization and this program. – Mimi Strang, West Asheville business owner

Building after Asheville Greenworks removed the graffiti

The West Asheville Business Association helped sponsor a meeting on June 28 to discuss graffiti issues in West Asheville. Many good suggestions were made and information was shared with everyone who attended. If you were not able to attend the important things to remember are:

1) Report it immediately to the Asheville Police Department at 828-252-1110.
2) Once an APD officer has taken a report and the graffiti has been photographed for their database remove the graffiti as soon as possible. Asheville Greenworks has a program for graffiti removal and can help in this step with their expertise. Asheville Greenworks can be reached at 828-251-1776. If the graffiti is not on private property, you can contact the City of Asheville Department of Public Works at 828-251-1122.
3) Notify the West Asheville Community Resource Officers that the graffiti has been removed. When they know this they can keep a watch on these spots for future graffiti activity. West Asheville Community Resource Officers are Josh Simpson and Chad McCall and they can be reached at 828-251-4032.

Comment on NCDOT Proposed Complete Streets Guidelines.

North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has released the first four chapters of it’s proposed Complete Streets guidelines for public comment. NCDOT adopted a complete streets policy in July 2009 to “guide existing decision-making and design processes to ensure all users are routinely considered during the planning, design, construction, funding and operation of North Carolina’s transportation network.” The draft describes the framework that NCDOT envisions for the complete streets planning and includes design guidelines. The proposed document is available on the website at www.nccompletestreets.org, and there is a survey there too. Contact Jay A. Bennett, State Roadway Design Engineer, at 919-707-6200, or jbennett@ncdot.org for questions about the proposed guidelines themselves. Comment closes mid-August.

Update to Wilma Dykeman Riverway Project

An updated newsletter for the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay River Arts District Transportation Project has been released. There has been a great deal of work happening on the consultant team side including refinement of the alternatives and details shown at the Public Mtg # 1 in January 2011. Great comments from the community during the public input period in February were received. The consultant team also has continued to coordinate with local and state agencies, the project Steering and Advisory Committees and other stakeholders such the Asheville Area Riverfront Redevelopment Commission. They are currently preparing for Public Meeting No. 2 which is tentatively scheduled to occur in late August. Notifications will be sent about that meeting once the date, time and place are confirmed. This next Public Meeting will be a very important opportunity for community input since following that meeting, the current multiple alternatives called Orange, Yellow, Purple, Blue, Green and Cyan (as well as hybrids of these alternatives that are currently being evaluated) will be narrowed down to ONE (1) community preferred alternative. The project newsletter pdf is also available on the City’s website here: http://ashevillenc.gov/residents/transportation/transportation_planning/default.aspx?id=23772. Access is also available through the City’s main website and under “Projects & Initiatives” and select the “River Arts District Trans” project.

Changes to City of Asheville billing

he City of Asheville is now billing the stormwater utility fee on the combined utility services statement for many customers, effective July 1. Other billing changes include an upgraded online bill pay system. Currently, charges associated with City of Asheville water and sanitation services, as well as Metropolitan Sewerage District services, appear on the statement. Stormwater utility fees are billed on the city’s fiscal-year schedule, July 1 – June 30. The move will improve efficiency and spread the annual fee over the six bills delivered in the course of a fiscal year.

For single family residential property owners, this means the $28.08 annual fee will appear as a charge of $4.68 on the bi-monthly combined utility services statement. Non-single family property owners currently receiving a stormwater utility bill two times per year will be billed one-sixth of their annual rate on each bi-monthly combined utility services statement. Property owners not serviced by City of Asheville water or Metropolitan Sewerage District will receive an individual stormwater utility bill on the same billing cycle as currently established.

Stormwater is rain that falls on streets, roofs, parking lots and other man-made surfaces and then flows into storm drains. The storm drain system empties directly into creeks, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. Stormwater fees support the stormwater programs and services the City of Asheville is responsible for implementing. These include maintaining and improving the public storm drain system, monitoring and enforcing stormwater and erosion control standards, preventing illegal dumping and raising public awareness of stormwater pollution issues.

A new online bill pay site will launch on July 11. The current site will be disabled on July 31. For current users, website redirects will assist in navigating to the new page. The new site offers more features, including payment history and consumption history. Account numbers and customer numbers, both of which appear on the paper statement, are the only items needed to establish a new account.

For more information about City of Asheville stormwater projects, visit www.ashevillenc.gov. Beginning July 11, the online bill pay tool will be available at https://selfserve.ashevillenc.gov/css.

Changes to Asheville City brush and leaf collection program

Beginning July 1, the frequency of brush and bagged leaf collection will change from once per month to twice per month. Monday and Tuesday trash customers will have brush collected the first and third week of each month. Brush for Wednesday and Thursday trash customers will be collected the second and forth week of the month. Brush collection will continue to occur on a scheduled week and not a specific day. Residents should make sure brush is out for collection by 7 a.m. on the Monday of their collection week.

Brush should be cut to four feet in length and six inches in diameter. Crews ask that residents do not mix trash, debris, garden waste, weeds, vines, construction materials, leaves or dirt with their brush or bagged leaves. For the safety of crews, thorny trimmings should be placed in a separate pile. Visit the city’s blog http://coablog.ashevillenc.gov/ in the coming week for a video outlining appropriate brush pile content and placement. Another change will be the elimination of loose leaf collection by vacuum trucks. Beginning July 1, all leaves must be bagged for collection. The city will provide large leaf bags to residents on a first come first served basis; bags will be available at local fire stations in October. Director of Public Works Cathy Ball shares, “moving to bagged leaf collection only will both save money and help improve water quality since loose leaves often clog storm drains.”

Revised brush and bagged leaves collection schedules will be mailed to residents within the next two weeks. New schedules can also be viewed and downloaded on the city’s website at www.ashevillenc.gov/sanitation. For further information contact the City of Asheville at 251-1122 or visit www.ashevillenc.gov/sanitation.

2011 Telephone book recycling drive

The City of Asheville and Curbside Management are please to announce the 2011 Telephone Book Recycling Drive supported by AT&T Project Redirectory. Resident are encouraged to “Throw the Book at Us” by bringing their used telephone books to any of the eleven (11) Asheville Area Community Recreation Centers between July 7th through August 18th. The Recreation Center that collects the most used telephone books wins a $500 cash prize for their center!

AT&T Real Yellow Pages are 100% recyclable content and are made from an average 40% recycled, post-consumer content. The paper is made from recycled paper waste and wood fiber such as sawdust and wood chips that would otherwise go unused. Recycled phone books are made into useful products such as insulation, roofing singles, animal bedding and new phone directories. For the closest Recreation Center please visit http://www.ashevillenc.gov/departments/ParksRCA