I’ll tie together two current events I’ve been pounding, and then move on to other things.

(1) You will recall that BB&T was getting grief from the left for offering colleges generous grants in exchange for a curriculum that would not exclude capitalism from discussions of economic philosophy. Although some schools gratefully accepted, voices in the press argued that the money was very welcome, but the concept of exchange was no longer a part of the American lifestyle.

(2) Asheville’s Downtown Master Planners, which incidentally come from Massachusetts, affirmed that property rights don’t exist, but the “sponsors” who purchase, maintain, and pay taxes on property must cater to the whimsies of “stakeholders” by paying established “public benefits.”

It should therefore come as no surprise that the draft plan proposes a stockade of the BB&T building downtown. It recommends:

(1) Redeveloping the BB&T parking structure with a significant residential building of sufficient value to pay for new below-grade parking serving BB&T and the residential building at different peak hours;

(2) Replacing and/or screening the BB&T loading docks and surface parking with occupied building space having an active street edge.