Eagle, Market St. redevelopment considered
By Finn Finneran
Asheville, NC, Mar. 10 (AGR) — The controversial South Pack
Square Redevelopment Plan was denied by City Council 4-3 a budget ammendment
that would have entitled The Eagle/Market Street Development Corporation
(EMSDC) to $1.14 million in Economic Development Initiative (EDI) and
801loans on Feb 24.
The creation of the development plan resulted in heated debate among
“The Block’s” community members. Concerns about the plan
have ranged from lack of community imput to gentrification, to complaints
of lack of information.
On the flip side of the debate, many people feel like Eagle and Market
streets have been the sleepy area of town ever since desegregation when
parking lots and urban renewal slowly sprung up, causing “The Block”
to slowly disappear and be deemed “blighted” by the city in
1991. The South Pack Square Development Plan was seen as something that
could springboard the historic African American neighborhood into revitalization.
Looming above the entire community’s head is the potential of $6.6
million allocated to redevelop “The Block.” All parties involved
seemed to be concerned as to who would have their chance to put their
hands into this pot.
The redevelopment plan included property owned both by EMSDC and Mt.
Zion Baptist Church located on Eagle Street. Renovation of existing
buildings to improve retail space and create more living spaces and
the construction of a four story “infill” building located
on Market St. between the Cambell Building and The Ritz building across
the street from the YMI Cultural Center are all included in “Phase
1” of the physical redevelopment plan.
But the redevelopment plan also included long term goals such as a plan
“to increase property values in the area, while at the same time
working to ensure the long-term affordability of commercial space for
small businesses and the long-term affordability of housing for low-
and moderate-income residents” and “to plan and implement
development that is sensitive and responsive to the needs of the people
who have traditionally inhabited and conducted business in the area.”
However, many had reason to argue that some of these goals did not to
seem be honored in Phase 1 of the South Pack Square Redevelopment Plan.
Affordable regulations deemed 25 percent of the proposed redeveloped
living space as “affordable housing,” yet the cheapest rent
is $600/month for a 1 bedroom apartment and $900/month for the larger
apartments. The estimates for retail space were $12/square foot. Also,
vocal opponents of the redevelopment plan brought to light that no monthly
updates were given by the EMSDC as they had agreed.
Further grievances were that the private investors would not reveal
themselves, that there were no requirements that lenders be in place
once construction begins, and that public money was being put on the
line without proper input.
There was even greater controversy over the position of the two out-of-town
developers, Enterprise Realestate services and Rogers and Associates
(who developed The Grove Arcade, which has yet to produce estimated
revenues), concerning EMSDC’s ability to buy their improvements
out after five to seven years when millions of dollars in improvements
were expected to be made.
Eugene Ellison and Howard McGlohon, owners of The Ritz Building, were
particularly concerned about how the construction of the infill building
would effect their property’s ability to continue business. So
concerned, in fact, that they filed a lawsuit and restraining order
on EMSDC to halt development of the South Pack Square area on Dec. 16,
2003. Shortly thereafter Jesse and Amy Plaster, a white couple who owns
the Wilson Building on Eagle Street, joined the lawsuit.
In an interview conducted on Feb. 20 with the Plasters, Jesse described
how the infill building would block the view of the windows on both
The Ritz and Wilson buildings and would be a general eye sore to what
could be a public space. “This infill building is really no different
than the Grove Park Inn’s attempt to build on a public park downtown…
a courtyard in that space would have good potential.”
In an interview on Mar. 2 with James Geter, the President of the Board
of Directors of The EMSDC and Elizabeth Russell, the Executive Director
of EMSDC, a different perspective on the redevelopment plan was revealed.
“We’ve got to get the engine moving,” says Russell. “We
had to have a big enough project to cause enough foot traffic into this
area because we need to produce revenue to make it work… to pay
the tax investors. Grants would make it easier to subsidize, but they
are harder to get when we keep on having to back track.”
When asked about realistic affordable housing on “The Block,”
James Geter assured that that long-term goal was not forgotten. “A
big reason why we brought in the Enterprise developer is because it
is one of the largest affordable housing developers in the country…
more than Habitat for Humanity.” Geter claims there is an unreasonable
expectation from the plan’s opposers for EMSDC to assist in lowering
rents.
“What EMSDC excels at is connecting people to other resources.
We can’t stop increases, but we can help prepare people for increases…
and we can help prepare businesses to grow. We want to raise the bar
and raise the people with it,” explained Geter.
EMSDC is more than a structural development corporation as the name
suggests. The group has successfully run a work program called “You
Stand” that was set up to “improve the self-sufficiency of
Asheville residents who are most dependent on government and social
services.”
“This area of town was not safe years ago,” says Russell.
“There were problems with drugs and prostitution.”
“But we went against recommendations to kick the street people
off of ‘The Block,’ ” says Geder, “and instead helped
them get off the streets altogether… We’re not going to let
people get kicked out.”
In fact Geder claims that EMSDC has been doing this kind of work for
the whole 10 years its been functioning without help from the vocal
opposition in the South Pack Square Association, a loose collective
of Eagle and Market Street businesses and property owners mentioned
in the redevelopment plan, but whose failed to have meetings over the
years until just recently when the South Pack Square Redevelopment Plan
was set on the table.
Its difficult to draw the lines on where intentions truly lie concerning
redevelopment on “The Block.” Whenever the word“gentrification”
was mentioned to involved parties, responses resembled a “but not
me” attitude.
“I see a lot of people pointing fingers at us [EMSDC] for being
implicated in gentrification. If that’s true then what do you call
it when the city lets entire sections of town go on the whim of the
free market, leaving the profits for out-of-towners?” Elizabeth
Russell said.
Jesse Plaster touched on this point too. “I’m considered the
bad guy because I’m white… because I’m making a profit
on my property and charge $10/square foot for my office space, but Eagle/Market
[Street Development Corp.] is still going to charge $12/square foot
for their renovated retail space.”
Thomas Joyce, the owner of Smooth’s Barber Shop located on Eagle
Street, expressed concerns over the entire management of the dispute.
“We’ve got grown adults that can’t learn to compromise…
This makes me wonder what this means for our children.”
Now, after City Council’s decision, the redevelopment plan has
to start from square one. The Council perceives the EMSDC board to have
a lack of representation of “The Block’s” community and
has appointed the City Attorney and staff to work on a proposal to find
a solution. In the meantime Councilwoman Terry Bellemy called for a
Vision Session in order to make another attempt to make this a community
process without rehashing or causing further divisiveness. The meeting
is an open forum scheduled for Thursday, Mar. 11, 6pm at the YMI Cultural
Center.
UNCA students plan protest for war anniversary
By John Lapp
Asheville, NC, Mar. 10 (AGR) — In a press
release sent out last week, University of North Carolina-Asheville (UNCA)
students announced that they will have a demonstration on Mar. 19 at
their campus in solidarity with the victims of the US on Iraq. UNCA
students have joined the newly founded Students for Democracy and Peace
(SDP), a national student activist group dedicated to “combat this
climate of indifference and cynicism at the place where its growing
command over young minds does the most damage -- on college campuses.”
The demonstration is to coincide with the one year anniversary of the
US led War on Iraq that began last year on the Mar. 20.
The SDP’s web site <sdp.webhop.net> calls for a national
non-violent student-strike, reminiscent of last year’s Books Not
Bombs walkouts which included hundreds of schools national wide and
preempted the War on Iraq. The site also tells student groups to “know
what you are protesting,” and goes on to list examples such as:
“the unjust, illegal, and immoral war on Iraq.”
No specific time or details were given for UNCA’s student strike
in last week’s press release, but recent handbills around downtown
say that the demonstration will take place from noon until 3am at the
quad in the center of campus. This action will include an array of speakers.
There have already been two local flyers circulated around Asheville
speaking to this event. One is a copy of the national SDP’s flyer,
which calls for “A Day of Interruption.” These flyers have
mainly been handed out on UNCA’s campus. The other flyer proclaims
that we have endured “One Year Of Shame” and invites the entire
Asheville community to participate in the on-campus action.
So far a handful of colleges have signed up to join the student strike,
two of which are located in Western North Carolina (Appalachian State
and UNCA). The two other schools hail from as far off as Anchorage Alaska.
The press release seems to focus mainly on student dissatisfaction and
calls on students to pick up the torch of the 1960s, a time when, “Activism
amongst students on campus around the nation was…a force to be
reckoned with.”
Local Action Coordinator, Eric Gardener is quoted in the release as
saying, “the remarkable amount of enthusiasm we have seen for this
project both on campus and off campus shows that college students of
this country aren’t as jaded or apathetic as the public thinks
they are, and the SDP is a way of showing that.”
There will be an additional rally and parade on Saturday Mar. 20, sponsored
by the Western North Carolina Peace Coalition (WNCPC). According to
their website http://www.main.nc.us/wncpc,
the rally is set to begin at City County plaza and march through downtown,
and will coincide with the inter-national day of action against the
occupation of Iraq, on the day that the war began.
Last year, taking heed to the call issued before the war that “when
the first bomb drops America stops,” activists all over the country,
and all over the world came out in astonishing numbers to express disgust
and anger towards the Bush Administration. In Asheville, 200 people
took to the streets in a spontaneous outcry of rage and frustration.
San Francisco was historically shut down for three days in which hundreds
of thousands of people refused to leave the streets and demanded they
be heard.
