Behind downtown’s shortened and disappearing benches is a struggle about the future of the city’s public space By David Forbes On Walnut Street, there exists a particularly odd bench, one that attracts comments from locals and tourists alike. It’s clearly supposed to be, well, a bench, but it’s far too

By David Forbes The Asheville Citizen-Times reported this morning that Asheville Council member Cecil Bothwell was charged with driving while impaired. Bothwell, driving a friend’s car, was pulled over last night by a state trooper with a blood alcohol level of .10. Bothwell, in a brief phone interview, admitted “I

By David Forbes The city of Asheville is on course to spend $147 million. That’s the amount of its annual budget, covering everything from parks to public art to smartphones for cops. Except for us urban policy masochists, the words “city budget” don’t usually make people run to pour over