If you were hoping to visit Asheville and stay in a hotel, be prepared to spend a lot of money.
If you can get a room at all.
Unable to effectively manage growth, city leaders have harnessed and exploited an anti-tourism sentiment that blames visitors and the tourism industry for the city's failure to tend to basic core services and needs.
Council has been extorting hoteliers for "donations" to city affordable housing programs for a year or so.
Now, Councilmembers appear ready to take the leap into the deep end of NIMBYism:
The chair of the City Council economic development committee has said a moratorium on the city’s fast-paced hotel construction is likely, with the temporary ban lasting possibly a year.
The statement came July 25 from Councilwoman Julie Mayfield, chair of the council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee. The committee, made up of three council members — Mayfield, Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler and Vijay Kapoor — will meet Aug. 29 to discuss a moratorium.
A full vote by the council would then be needed to enact the stoppage.
This also serves as a convenient escape hatch for Councilmembers who run the risk of angering the progressive base if they are presented with hotel projects before the 2020 election.
This is what a lack of vision looks like.
Pete's Prep: Friday, July 26, 2019
- A ridiculous "study" finds the USA is the tenth-most dangerous place for women in the world.
- There's a push to move Halloween to the last Saturday of October.
- Becki Gray at the John Locke Foundation writes: "Everyone is talking about the “bombshell” from yesterday’s #ncga gerrymandering trial. One guy got his numbers wrong. Here’s the real bombshell."