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• Community needs a seat at the table as Asheville considers Performing Arts Center on The Block (updated)

• Major county decisions are being made without an anti-displacement policy (new)
• Asheville needs anti-displacement guardrails in next year’s budget
• Buncombe County needs to adopt an anti-displacement policy
• Asheville needs to adopt an anti-displacement policy

• Long-term affordable housing can ease displacement pressure in Emma neighborhood (resolved)

Two issues this week highlight the importance of ensuring that local communities have a meaningful voice in decisions that will shape our City and County’s future. Together, these issues raise the same fundamental question: who gets a voice in the decisions that shape the future of our communities?

Community needs a seat at the table as Asheville considers Performing Arts Center on The Block (updated item)

The City of Asheville continues to explore the possibility of building a major new performing arts center on the so-called “Parkside site” within The Block neighborhood. Over 50 community members gathered last week to discuss this situation, and many expressed concerns about how it will impact the area. Many also conveyed significant distrust of the City’s process for making this decision. More community engagement is going to be of vital importance, and it’s imperative that the City ensure that representatives of The Block and East End / Valley Street neighborhoods have a formal seat at the table in any negotiations about the site’s future.

Major County Decisions Are Being Made Without an Anti-Displacement Policy (new item)

Several items on this week’s Buncombe County Commission agenda highlight a broader issue: major public decisions about infrastructure, services, and land use can reshape communities for decades. Without a clear framework for evaluating displacement risks, those decisions may move forward without adequate protections for vulnerable residents. This week’s agenda illustrates why Buncombe County needs a clear anti-displacement policy.

For most of our history, GAPavl has focused on the full range of issues that come before City Council and County Commission, encouraging timely action on specific agenda items. We’re going to keep doing that whenever the need arises. But we also know that real political change requires a long-term perspective. It requires perseverance. It requires staying with an issue long after it stops being “new.”

As we see it, pushing Asheville and Buncombe County to commit to anti-displacement is of vital importance, which is why we’ve been emailing you about it for over a month now. We know it’s hard – for elected officials and for all of us – to maintain focus on an overarching policy change that will take time to develop and implement. We’re not entirely sure we have the perfect formula for doing that, but we are committed to trying, and encourage you to stay with us.