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I love the open, diverse atmosphere of Asheville. I am looking for an area to thrive not sit on the couch. No old folks haven. Want to be around diverse age groups. Moderate to liberal political leanings. Downtown seems the place. Opinions desired.
I love the open, diverse atmosphere of Asheville. I am looking for an area to thrive not sit on the couch. No old folks haven. Want to be around diverse age groups. Moderate to liberal political leanings. Downtown seems the place. Opinions desired.
So you're looking for diversity, with the exception of diversity of political leanings?
Downtown, Montford, West Asheville . . . all good. Rest assured your republican brethren are few and far between in them thar parts.
OTOH, Madison county is probably not what you're looking for.
I was in Asheville over the summer and I love Asheville, but I didn't see a lot of diversity. Maybe I was not in the right area. However, people were so friendly. I felt at home every place I went and there is a civility in the south u just don't get on the west coast. I would move to Asheville in a heart beat
With my next move, I've done something I never did before. I looked up the voting records of various towns.
I am Libertarianish, fiscally conservative, and socially liberal. In the area I live in, most people spout conservative sound bites without thought or analysis. They hardly even read. They genuinely assume EVERYONE thinks the same way they do, and if they don't, then they must be insane.
75% of the population here voted Republican. I'd love to live somewhere that the vote is closer to 50/50 because I'm tired of the constantassumption that everyone thinks the same way.
Just having a little mystery about what fellow citizens think would be a breath of fresh air. It's stagnant down here in Georgia.
With my next move, I've done something I never did before. I looked up the voting records of various towns.
I am Libertarianish, fiscally conservative, and socially liberal. In the area I live in, most people spout conservative sound bites without thought or analysis. They hardly even read. They genuinely assume EVERYONE thinks the same way they do, and if they don't, then they must be insane.
75% of the population here voted Republican. I'd love to live somewhere that the vote is closer to 50/50 because I'm tired of the constantassumption that everyone thinks the same way.
Just having a little mystery about what fellow citizens think would be a breath of fresh air. It's stagnant down here in Georgia.
I hear you. I tend to appreciate critical thinkers moreso than political dogmatists from either side of the spectrum . . . you know, rational, intelligent folks who are actually open to divergent viewpoints. The small town south is not exactly a hotbed for such folks either, all due respect.
OTOH, I'd bet Asheville is nowhere near 50/50.
Personally, I'd hate to only be around people who think just like me (which doesn't seem to be a problem wherever I go ). On the other hand, I certainly wouldn't want to only be around by folks who are *so* different from me that there is a major clash of values. I have friends from all over the political spectrum, and we tend to focus on the things we have in common rather than our differences.
Asheville voted heavily for Obama. Brevard (where I'm looking) leaned slightly toward McCain, but that is more balanced than where I'm at now.
I wanted to vote for Ron Paul (only technically Republican), but had to settle for the Libertarian candidate.
Proximity to Asheville, a city full of freethinkers, would feel like a breath of fresh air. It's not party affiliations I can't stand; it's fear of thinking for oneself that I can't tolerate.
You can access the voting information from the City Data web site.
OT, sort of...
Maybe it's just me, but I have never made a move to new location judgement based on what the local or county or area political persuasion was.
I've lived several places in the country and "they", the politicians of either of the duopoly, spend every dime we send them, plus more.
We have a large, wide ranging batch of friends here in western NC, and their political/religious tendencies range from jack boot rightists to bleeding heart libs,
or could not care less, like us. I feel Asheville and surrounds are fairly diverse; it isn't like NYC area where I came from, but diverse and open minded.
Local political bent just never seemed to matter to me.
Asheville, imo, as a 30+ mile away occasional "goer", and all of western NC that I am familiar with, is really pretty much live and let live, imo...and, that's good.
The OP ought to come and spend a few weeks in A area, and see if "downtown" or, some other area is their cup of joe. Hard to decide from afar and, foolish to
decide based on a batch of responses on a forum, imo.
GL, mD
Why is political affiliation such a big to deal to so many people looking to move here?
Look, I know I may come off to some people on this forum as a bitter native (I'm really not, but this is the only place to really vent my frustrations, lol), but I hate when the people who visit or move here buy into the notion that it's some sort of liberal oasis in the demented South.
I think you'll find that a heavy majority of the people hanging around downtown are not representative of the rest of Buncombe County. We're not all a bunch of hippy-dippy granola bohemians. But most of us are not intolerant rednecks, either.
Believe it or not, most people in the South, Asheville included, are normal people, just like everywhere else in the country.
As a person who vehemently hates politics and wears the tag of "independent" proudly, I've just never found the need to investigate the personal political/religious beliefs of the community around me.
Please, don't take this post the wrong way. I'm just tired of this belief that Asheville proper is some amazing place of enlightenment, while the surrounding area is full of intolerant hicks.
Like I said, until now I never once concerned myself with the political leanings of any place I thought of moving to. The Georgia mountains cured me of that forever. I don't think I can adequately convey what a desert of the mind it is here.
Actually it's not political affiliation that is my biggest concern; it's mainly plain ole intellectual curiosity. There is NONE here. This is the place where curiosity comes to die.
I am perfectly aware that Asheville isn't all unicorns and rainbows. I know there are plenty of conservatives too. The unicorns are newcomers.
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hmmm . . . I don't know if I'd go that far, tbh, though no doubt moreso than rural Georgia.
