Asheville leaves a lot to be desired (Lexington, Henderson: employment, living in)

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by rosarugosa

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

The point being made was that visiting anyplace vs. living there are often polar opposites. Instead of being insulted, you might want to heed the advice before making major decisions.

[gottogetfishing]

Crewer, I think your comments are perfect. We always long for what we left. Isn't that the whole premise of "the grass is always greener"? Sometimes, as our perceptionsof a place become reality our desires shift as well. It could be that although you thought you'd enjoy an aspect of a city, you come to realize that you never really took advantage of that sort of thing inthe past, so why would it be viewed as a benefit now? We're lucky to have the opportunities to explore and test where we are. Sometimes it's just a little difficult to pair our current needs with our expectations of our locale. It isn't the locale's issue, though. It's our own. And, either we align our expectations or we move on.

[phenomshel]

Ok...but if you're looking for a good stable job in the computer field, and you aren't an artist, and like a small town feel, is the Asheville area any better for that? Or is it just that a certain type of person doesn't like it there? I see all the posts about it becoming too expensive, but is that true just in Asheville proper, or in the surrounding areas as well? Can someone please try to put this in perspective for me? Thanks

[Kootr]

I think you'll find Asheville drastically different from most any other city in North Carolina in a lot of ways.

Asheville is known as an arts center. It's also known for low paying jobs, high real estate prices, extreme drug problems, aggressive pan handlers, freaks and weirdos doing nothing all day, high crime rates, poor leadership in city and county government. etc., etc. Asheville used to be known for its beautiful mountain ridges and views, but the transplants and developers took care of messing that up.

Asheville used to have mountain culture, which has now pretty much been lost with the influx of so many new people. The entire area is very liberal with Asheville being known for its high gay and lesbian population. It's known as the east coast's [tiny] San Francisco.

If you stray outside of Asheville into the [real] rural mountainous areas you will see more of the real mountain culture that still exists, most of which you will probably view as very strange and extremely backward. The unemployment rate is extremely high because many of the people simply do not want to work - they are often on welfare and food stamps, or find a doctor to help them get on disability. It's unbelievable how many healthy looking middle aged men and women are disabled...yet they do all the things that healthy people do! You'll also see a lot of people that do not know how to take care of themselves - overweight, poor hygiene, soiled clothing, poorly dressed, etc. etc. Lot's of inbreeding!

Many of the "outsiders" that have moved to the Asheville area to enjoy the mountain scenery and climate stay away from Asheville unless they need something only available in the city. And they are careful about venturing too far into the rural areas. The meth lab owners don't like strangers!

Here's a little video of Asheville's Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville where in the summer months they have "Friday Night Drumming". This will give you a little taste of the people that are attracted to Asheville for its arts, etc.

Asheville has lots of problems with drugs, lots of freaks and weirdos, lots of open gay display, lots of extreme liberals, lots of so-called hippies, etc. If you like that sort of thing - Asheville may be the place for you.


YouTube - Asheville Drum Circle

PS - I forgot to mention - the nearest (real) airport with reasonable prices is in Charlotte (125 miles away). Flying out of Asheville's little airport will cost you dearly, probably 3 to 4 times as much depending on where you're flying.

[vandemusser]

Boy, you sound like a real Asheville Native!

[Kootr]

Originally Posted by vandemusser

Boy, you sound like a real Asheville Native!

Not sure why you made that comment...

[the Parkies]

It didn't get past me--LOL! (Thanks, Vandemusser. I choose to overlook Asheville Native but always enjoy your posts.)

Jan

[Kootr]

Originally Posted by the Parkies

It didn't get past me--LOL! (Thanks, Vandemusser. I choose to overlook Asheville Native but always enjoy your posts.)

Jan

Jan - It looks like you and "vandemusser" think I am "Asheville Native". If you two believe that - you both are wrong...

[Asheville Native]

The truth is often poorly received by those that don't want to see it.

And no I am not Kooter, and I strongly disagree with him on

Originally Posted by Kooter

If you stray outside of Asheville into the [real] rural mountainous areas you will see more of the real mountain culture that still exists, most of which you will probably view as very strange and extremely backward. The unemployment rate is extremely high because many of the people simply do not want to work - they are often on welfare and food stamps, or find a doctor to help them get on disability. It's unbelievable how many healthy looking middle aged men and women are disabled...yet they do all the things that healthy people do! You'll also see a lot of people that do not know how to take care of themselves - overweight, poor hygiene, soiled clothing, poorly dressed, etc. etc. Lot's of inbreeding!

This sounds like the comments from an outsider or someone that is clueless about the rural culture and ways of life.

Unemployed? Not having a 8 - 5 job to report to does not equal unemployed. The area is rural and many people are self-employed making a living off the land.

The fact you see them in the middle of the day in dirty cloths (that would be from already working 6+ hours) is not in indication of unemployment or slovenliness but hard work, and they will likely work many hours later in the day. If they are a dairy farmer, it goes on 7 days a week 365.

Poorly dressed, by whose standards? What would you wear to plow a field, tend crops, milk cows, fix a tractor, clean out a barn?

I dare say that any of these people you choose to belittle have done more before lunch than you accomplish all day.

Kooter has Asheville nailed, but is completely wrong about the natives of the area, some of the finest and hardest working people you could ever get to know, but apparently has chosen to judge incorrectly based of superficial observations.

[gypsychic]

LOL - I LOVE the drum circle! Granted we only went a few times, but I mostly saw nice people and families there dancing and having a good time, and no one drunk or on drugs or anything.

We have recently sold our vacation home in Asheville, but I wanted to comment on "Kooter's" post. While I agree to a point on some things he/she mentioned regarding Asheville, I certainly do NOT agree about the natives. While it's true they can be initially distrustful about "outsiders", the natives I met were some of the nicest, most honest and hard-working folks I ever did meet. I was lucky enough to have some of these hard-working folks do contracting and remodeling work on our home when we first bought it. The contractor even looked after our house when we weren't there!

As far as the "poor hygiene, poorly dressed, etc." the ones I saw that met that description aren't even natives - they are transplanted bums coming from other areas of the country looking for a handout. Asheville is a beautiful little city, but it needs to get a grip on this. We were horrified this year at the sheer number of bums downtown, the problem has grown exponentially in the last 3 years! They must have a network or something. And these aren't poor disabled homeless folks, they are able-bodied young people, panhandling for a living! I have noticed a lot of the unique and funky little shops downtown closing up - we were so disappointed by this. But I'm thinking between the constant construction, and being overrun by bums and panhandlers is hurting things.

Asheville will always be a great little city to us - to visit. But the town definitely needs some better leadership before it goes to ruin. I wouldn't call it a tiny "San Fran" it reminds me more of Berkeley, due to it's radical and liberal bent.

It is certainly a place of great and majestic beauty - I hope the development greed there won't ruin it.