Category Archives: West Asheville News

Small Terrain, the garden shop at 278 Haywood Road is looking to fill a part time position of general operations and customer service for 15 – 20 hours a week. Application deadline is June 20, 2013. For more information visit the Small Terrain website.

Registration is open for RiverLink’s Anything That Floats Parade to be held on Saturday, August 10, 2013. Gather a crew and join RiverLink for the wildest, wackiest event of the summer.

Creating and building a raft, float or flotilla with fun-loving friends, family or co-workers is not only a grand excuse to hang out and play on the river, it’s also a unique chance to have a blast while showcasing mind-blowing creativity in a “friendly competition.” Judges will select a winner in each of 4 catergories:

1. Most creative- clever and imaginative
2. Green Machine- best use of recycled and green materials
3. Funniest-generates the most laughter
4. Judges Choice – Overall Best in Parade

Registration, fees and details at http://riverfestavl.brownpapertickets.com/.  Don’t forget to wear costumes!

The Anything That Floats Parade is a featured event of RiverFest 2013 held in French Broad River Park on August 10, 2013 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. The festival has an exciting line-up of live music, dancing, hooping and juggling, along with food trucks, crafts beers, kids parade and activities and arts and crafts. Admission is free. Be sure to stop by the viewing platform to cheer on the rafters.

The Anything That Floats Parade and RiverFest are hosted by RiverLink and are a fundraiser to support their efforts in the environmental and economic revitalization of the French Broad River as a place to live, work and play.

In a continued effort to reduce waste headed for the landfill, the City of Asheville is restructuring its fees for recycling and solid waste collection.

Beginning July 1, the city will replace the $3.50 per month recycling fee with a $7.00 per month solid waste fee. This fee will continue to appear on the combined utility statement and will apply to all customers using the city’s solid waste collection services.

The fee change more accurately represents the high cost of waste disposal. Solid waste services use about 80,000 gallons of fuel each year. These costs continue to rise and make it difficult to continue delivering quality service with the same amount of money.

Replacing the $3.50 per month recycling fee with a $7.00 per month solid waste fee will generate an additional $750,000 that will be used to further reduce materials going into the landfill through the installation of downtown recycling containers and allow for optimization of solid waste collection routes in order to reduce fuel costs.

The City of Asheville’s Zero Waste campaign is aimed at reducing landfill waste. The “Big Blue” recycling carts rolled out in 2012 have resulted in a significant increase in recycled materials in the city. The City of Asheville remains dedicated to reducing its waste and carbon footprint.

Find out more at: http://www.ashevillenc.gov/Departments/Sanitation/Recycling/ZeroWasteAVLRecycling.aspx

Looking for a few quick answers?  Click here for frequently asked questions.

Click on image to download a pdf of the informational flyer.

June 3, 5:30pm
Lenoir-Rhyne University Center for Graduate Studies
36 Montford Avenue, 2nd Floor
(Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce building)

Complete Streets are planned, designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities should be able to safely travel along and across any street.

This Overview Presentation will provide a background on the benefits of Complete Streets, explain how existing streets can be retrofitted into Complete Streets, and explore how a Complete Streets policy can help achieve transportation, health, and other community goals.

Presented by JOHN N. LAPLANTE, PE, PTOE

Mr. LaPlante is Director of Traffic Engineering for T.Y.Lin International. He was with the City of Chicago for 30 years in various transportation positions, including Chief City Traffic Engineer and Acting Commissioner of the new Transportation Department. He has served on many national transportation committees, and was principal author of the AASHTO Pedestrian Guide. He has taught courses for the Federal Highway Administration, the National Complete Streets Coalition, the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals and the US Access Board. He is a Fellow of both ITE and ASCE.

For more information email iwalk@ashevillenc.gov or call (828) 232-4540