Remember when the director of the West Asheville needle exchange dismissed neighbors' concerns about kids being stuck with dirty, infected needles - saying there was "no evidence" that their program "escalates the risk of harm to children"? Well... a local mom posted this on the "Asheville Mamas" Facebook group:
A few days prior, there was this photo posted to Facebook - showing a whole mess of needles at a corner in the River Arts District:
And, of course, we all learned this week about The DespairCase at the Civic Center Parking Deck -- the central stairwell that has been used as a drug den for more than a year -- after the city "barricaded" it due to structural integrity concerns. A mom took her kids to the Globetrotters game and said she used the stairwell because the line for the elevator was too long. She and her kids found human feces, dirty needles, and all sorts of other trash throughout the stairwell.
We're supposed to believe that NOBODY had any idea that the barely-barricaded stairwell had become a flop house - despite more than five dozen police calls for service in 2019 alone.
Asheville has a problem.
And it appears that the City Council's preference is to ignore it... at least until it goes viral on Facebook.
Pete's Prep: Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020
- WLOS: "Rev. Scott Rogers, executive director of ABCCM, feels city and county leaders are turning their backs on homeless men who may potentially freeze on city and county streets on code purple nights."
- Asheville Citizen-Times: New district maps mean Democrats will likely control every seat on the Buncombe County Commission.
- WRAL "fact checks" perennial Democratic candidate Wayne Goodwin's description of Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey as a perennial candidate, because journalisming!
- Wall Street Journal: "Blue State Redistribution: High-tax states are losing people, money and seats in Congress."
- City-Journal: "Last year, Democratic- and Republican-led states and municipalities passed legislation addressing housing affordability, a hopeful sign that housing deregulation is beginning to attract bipartisan support, at least at the state and local level."