Asheville leaves a lot to be desired (Charlotte: crime rates, vacation home)

[Ed&Betty]

It was the Chamber of Commerces' fault. http://community.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif (broken link)

[tismyself]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

While I agree totally with this sentiment, that is not possible, because the wonderful place called Asheville has been destroyed. The peacefulness, friendliness, culture, quality of life, heritage and beauty has been destroyed, or is in progress.

You compare life here to Miami, which is like comparing apples and school buses, not even close, while I compare Asheville today, with the Asheville that was a great place to live. I realize that this is partly because of sociality changes, but the greed, and arrogance of wanting to bulldoze a mountain side so "I" will have a view, and the hell with what it looks like from the valley below, or how much mud washes into our once clear streams and rivers, or your yard or basement.

You embrace the freaks downtown? Have you stepped in or smelled where they choose to use the bathroom, typically the stair wells of the parking garages, or out of the way doorways. The freaks (leaches on our city) are so out of control the city has hired a Warden to police a tiny little park downtown, and it still smells like a urinal.

That's because the powers that be shut down the public bathrooms.

At least the freaks are using the stair wells now. When I lived there, they used to climb the parking decks and pee on people on the sidewalks below.

Asheville has got the most bizarre invisible caste system I've ever seen anywhere - and very insidery. When you read the posts from people who love living there and kiss their windows for the views and so on, that is but one layer of the caste system. Believe me, the people who are trying to survive on the typical wages there are living with room mates and looking for a 2nd or 3rd job. The average person there can not afford to enjoy the perks.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by tismyself

That's because the powers that be shut down the public bathrooms.

For the very simple reason that they destroyed completely within only a day of being opened to the public. Downtown stores have closed theirs to the street people, not because they used them, but because they destroyed them.

The city opened public restrooms right off of Pritchard park several years ago. The constructed it to be as vandal proof as possible, and it was destroyed completely in only days. The scum on the streets downtown can go in the stairwells and wipe with their hand, they had their chance and they destroyed it.

Originally Posted by tismyself

At least the freaks are using the stair wells now. When I lived there, they used to climb the parking decks and pee on people on the sidewalks below.

Asheville is known for an easy touch for the homeless, and it attracts the very scum of the lower life forms.

Originally Posted by tismyself

Asheville has got the most bizarre invisible caste system I've ever seen anywhere - and very insidery. When you read the posts from people who love living there and kiss their windows for the views and so on, that is but one layer of the caste system. Believe me, the people who are trying to survive on the typical wages there are living with room mates and looking for a 2nd or 3rd job. The average person there can not afford to enjoy the perks.

You are right, but you seem to have lost site of the fact that someone has to clean the houses of these people, you really don't expect that they would clean their own home, and wash the lip prints off their windows do you. This while safely isolated in their gated community.

[tismyself]

Asheville Native - too funny and too true, sad to say.

When I first moved up there, I lived in the middle of no where, on a dirt road that had no name in a little cabin. Once a week I would treat myself to a trip in town for coffee and window shopping. Where I lived it was the same distance to drive into A'ville or down the hill to Hendersonville.

Usually I went to Bean Streets in A'ville and the Black Bear in Hendersonville. In A'ville, people and shop keepers were so rude, bordering on hostile, whereas in Hendersonville they fell all over themselves trying to be nice and polite. I got to the point of mostly going to Hendersonville. I remember sitting around in the coffee shop down there listening to other people talk about how they were actually afraid to go to downtown A'ville.

I think the issues in Asheville are more wide spread than just the homeless population - which I have never understood. Downtown may put up with a lot, but overall the homeless are treated horribly there. It would be an awful town to be homeless in.

[anchovie]

I have never been to Ashville, NC but it seems a nice place to visit.

[rosarugosa]

[quote=Why Did I;647262]... Asheville itself isn't really the "artist" town a lot of people like to proclaim this place to be. In fact, Asheville is, especially on this forum, GROSSLY over-rated as some sort of life re-inventing utopia, artist colony or culturally diverse mecca. The people here are odd. Very odd, but I wouldn't say they were culturally diverse. There are hardly any african americans here, hardly any asian.


Thanks for posting this. I was thinking of moving there after reading exactly the sort of promotion you mentioned. It sounded too good to be true ... and I guess it is. I am biracial and bicultural and originally from the Bay Area, which I love but it has become too expensive. I thought Asheville would be like a small town Bay Area community. Sounds like I would probably end up very isolated and out of place.

[vandemusser]

Originally Posted by rosarugosa

Thanks for posting this. I was thinking of moving there after reading exactly the sort of promotion you mentioned. It sounded too good to be true ... and I guess it is. I am biracial and bicultural and originally from the Bay Area, which I love but it has become too expensive. I thought Asheville would be like a small town Bay Area community. Sounds like I would probably end up very isolated and out of place.

Yes, heaven forbid that you make your decision based on visiting the place...

[Crewer]

Originally Posted by ericpnt1

Hey this is Eric; I moved here 4 yrs ago from Austin Tx.I bought a house, set up shop, had a new baby the whole nine. The thing is this place is completely a fraud. Can you beleive Locals actually compare the music scene and lifestyle to Austin? ...

You may want to ask yourself what prompted you to leave Austin in the first place. There must have been things about Austin that were driving you to seek out Asheville.

It's normal for people to dislike a place only to move to another place and yearn for what they left behind. Once you've settled in a new location, all the negatives of your former home begin to fade, and all the great memories and advantages of home begin to overwhelm your thoughts.

I was in Austin for 17 years and was anxious to move on. I was tired of the heat, the dryness, the college influence, Texas, and so on. I wanted to experience big city living and, through my travels, had decided on Washington, DC. I landed a job there, packed up and was on my way. But after a short time, all the wonderful things I had experienced about DC as a visitor began to fade. I was soon hit in the face by the high cost of living, the cold people, horrible city services, congestion, high crime, etc. And my thoughts of "places to live" were consumed with Austin and a yearning to move back.

This past year, my office relocated from DC to Asheville, and I was assigned here. I had few preconceived ideas of Asheville. I was coming here for work, and that was it. And though I like it okay, I've caught myself missing DC. I miss the cosmopolitan aspect of DC, the great restaurants, the energy, the museums, the architecture, and so forth. Sometimes I need to smack myself into reality and think about the negatives that wore me down there.

The point is, that it's just not reasonable or fair to go through life comparing one place to another. Whether it be Austin, Asheville, DC, Boulder, Seattle, or any city, all will have positive and negative aspects to them. It's going to be the chemistry of the individual that will determine if the positives outweigh the negatives (which is probably why it isn't a good idea to base a move on the opinions of others.)

You've moved to Asheville, and it hasn't been the city you thought it would be. That's okay. You've had a life adventure, you've given it a shot, but your chemistry isn't in sync with Asheville. You can fix that by moving to a city that offers more of what your chemistry desires. But don't be surprised if your next location has you yearning for Asheville.

[rosarugosa]

Originally Posted by vandemusser

Yes, heaven forbid that you make your decision based on visiting the place...

why waste a plane ticket when sarcastic people like you are already providing a preview of the ill will of Asheville kind

[vandemusser]

It's not really ill will, just a comment on how people decide to make life-changing decisions with little effort put forth.

I think it's a legitimate thing to bring up - you write the place off because you read some negative posts? Based on that research ethic, I can't see how you would decide to move anywhere.