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

Skyline of downtown Asheville, looking toward the Flat Iron building. Photo by Max Cooper. By David Forbes The doldrums are over. “Real estate rebound in Asheville, N.C.” blared a recent headline from the Wall Street Journal. It’s the latest in a long, long line of major media outlets to refresh