Whose Master Plan?

Sitting in the Public Works Building at 161 South Charlotte Street on Monday July 28th, all that were present were reminded that the facility sits on what once were the homes of many of the citizens who attended that night’s session of Asheville Downtown Master Plan Board. The panel from Goody Clancy seemed unprepared for what transpired; a discussion from black citizens on the hurt they have endured in Asheville and its planning.

I was pleased to hear the anger from so many of how neighborhoods, historically black neighborhoods, have disappeared. Citizen after citizen voiced disgust, anger, and mistrust in how this new master plan is going to include and benefit the African-Americans who are slowly being moved out of the downtown of Asheville.

Goody Clancy was shown
that with future plans, neighborhoods, schools, and businesses will be
affected by change. Although we may not want to admit it now, but if
businesses move down Coxe Avenue, Biltmore Avenue, and South Side
Avenue, a public housing area is going to be changed. One of my
questions has been why not put a grocery store in the area? How will
this change make life better for those people on limited incomes? When
areas of the city change, what then will constitute “affordable
housing?”

I have driven down South Side and South Charlotte and wondered; when I
was a child and the neighborhood was demolished, did anyone plan that
in 2008 the city would be thinking of building in an area where homes
and businesses vanished? I did not think of it then as I played in the
dirt that was generated from the “Urban Renewal.” What I saw renewed
was the closure of Gaston Street to South Side, a tennis court that is
not used, the rerouting of Choctaw Street, and a place for the city to
store its equipment.

I want to thank all those citizens; young and old, black and white, new
and native, minister, teacher, and retired, for coming out and speaking
up. This is what the planners needed to hear. We care about this city
and want in on the planning. We, as Asheville’s citizens, need to walk
through the door and demand to be heard as you did so eloquently that
night.
Cedric Nash, Asheville