The City of Asheville wants to create a master plan for Merrimon Avenue. The public held visioning sessions, and the property owners were invited late to the activities. Government is attempting to create a New Urbanist feel through regulating the decor along this street. If planners have their way, renovations will need to be two-story mixed uses, with setbacks allowing only for wide sidewalks and vegetative buffers. Citizens want to mandate a certain “look” to convey Asheville’s sense of place.
Today the police announced that two weeks ago, a man with four times the legal level of alcohol in his system was bounced from a pool hall on Merrimon. An investigation ruled out homicide, but there are claims that he was beaten either by the bouncers or three thugs, one of whom robbed him while he was unconscious. Police are saying he died five days later from wounds to his head from falling off a retaining wall.
I am assuming it would offend the diversity police to put a cap on the number of assault victims who can lie prone in front of the new deco latte shops.
