It’s the most contentious budget year in over a decade and as the public ramps up to officially weigh in, many key parts of the city’s $174 million budget remain undetermined or unclear Above: Asheville by night, photo by Bill Rhodes. From policing to the bus system to parks and

Tensions mount over a controversial push to expand policing, some shady numbers and paltry levels of funding for local social services as Council hashes out a budget Above: Asheville Police Department Chief Tammy Hooper. File photo by Max Cooper. For months tensions built. Normally sleepy committee meetings were packed with protesters.

With major decisions at stake from policing to energy to housing, Asheville’s elected officials, bureaucrats and locals are off to an early start fighting over the shape of the coming budget Above: CFO Barbara Whitehorn, who heads up the city’s budget efforts. File photo by Max Cooper. Locals packed City

New restrictions on hotels and development in the heart of Asheville mark the quiet end of an era of consensus among city bureaucrats, downtown gentry and elected officials. Above: City Hall by night, photo by Max Cooper. While it didn’t exactly rattle the windows or send town criers scurrying into

Parking, corporate expectations, technicalities, swearing, gentry pleadings, failed deals and more as Asheville City Council unanimously rejects a major hotel project Above: Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler. File photo by Max Cooper. For the latest chapter in a major political battle, the fight over the Embassy Suites had few of the

For years Southside community members pushed for the renovation of a long-neglected historic pool. But city government might go forward with other plans. Behind the debate about who decides the fate of a local landmark. The Walton Street pool isn’t in good shape, on that everyone agrees. Built in 1938,

A year after a controversial hotel vote set new political boundaries on the issue, Council again faces a similar dilemma with an election on the way. A look at the latest battle lines in the hotel wars. Above: An image of the proposed Embassy Suites project, an eight story hotel

Airbnb-style rentals are a massive, controversial issue in Asheville. The Blade’s built a map to show where they’re being halted, who’s profiting, who owns them and more as local government continues to wrangle with this complicated behemoth Above: a shot from the Blade‘s interactive map showing the impact of Airbnb

An exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the planning meeting for a local, not-at-all-cluelessly-awful Black Friday promotional video for a business consortium Recently, the following promotional video has been making the rounds causing, as one might expect, some comment. The Blade has obtained an exclusive transcript of the decision-making process behind it. We’ve

Without much fanfare, Asheville City Council moves to put more power over hotels and downtown development in their hands, reversing nearly a decade of city policy Above: Asheville City Council member Brian Haynes. File photo by Max Cooper. Local politics, like any other level of politics, is often a study