Artist Hoss Haley to raise latest work in RAD

Above: Artist Hoss Haley with a model of his “Old Growth,” which will make an appearance in the River Arts District. Asheville artist Hoss Haley’s latest work will take a stop through the River Arts District, emerging over the coming months at the former site of the Ice House off Riverside Drive. In an agreement with [...]

Asheville chosen as an AT&T GigaPower city

AT&T announced that Asheville will be among cities where AT&T plans to to expand the availability of ultra-fast speeds through AT&T GigaPower to homes, apartments and small businesses. AT&T’s GigaPower is described as an “ultra-fast Internet service.” Internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second over the AT&T GigaPower network let you instantly access the latest online [...]

Asheville earns Municipal Innovator award for Open Data portal

The City of Asheville was named Municipal Innovator during this month’s North Carolina Digital Government Summit in Raleigh. The award recognizes the City’s updated open-data portal, data.ashevillenc.gov. The N.C. League of Municipalities nomination reads: “It (open-data portal) provides the public an array of useful, downloadable information, from crime locations to flood maps to demographics to a [...]

Asheville map makers tap into public data

The Asheville Map, the creation of Bruce and Nora Daniel, is picking up accolades at the national level, like inclusion in the NACIS Atlas of Design and a nod from WIRED Magazine. The map, which portrays in full color downtown Asheville and the surrounding region, is chock full of visual details, pinpoint accurate [...]

Asheville Tree Map crowd-sources survey of city’s trees

Autumn has arrived in full, and in Asheville that means admiring the brightly colored fall foliage. There’s no shortage of trees for leaf-lookers to soak in autumn’s display. And as long as our attention is on trees, it is a great time to dive into the Asheville Tree Map, an online crowd-sourced tool that [...]

asheville community garden

Bountiful Cities and Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council relaunch updated Asheville Edibles Map with City of Asheville

Local nonprofit Bountiful Cities and Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council partnered with the City of Asheville to release an updated interactive map showing public edible plants around Asheville.  Asheville is known for its vibrant food culture and commitment to sustainability. However, alongside a community of passionate foodies, there are individuals experiencing food insecurity. The Asheville Edibles [...]

City Council and WNC Delegates talk legislative priorities

Members of Asheville City Council and members of the Western North Carolina delegation met Monday December 1 to have breakfast and discuss Council’s legislative agenda for the 2014 long session. Council will approve this year’s legislative agenda at its Dec. 9 formal session. Photo from left to right: Senator Terry Van Duyn, Council Member Gwen Wisler, [...]

Holly Barham

City of Asheville announces Holly Barham to serve as Information Technology Services Director

Asheville City Manager, Debra Campbell, is pleased to announce that Holly Barham, who has served as the Interim Director of Information Technology Services (ITS) since October 2022, has accepted the position of Information Technology Services Director. Holly will oversee a team of 27 responsible for providing high-level customer service and quality technical deliverables with professionalism and [...]

solar panels on Fire Station 11

City of Asheville completes aggregated solar project

Recently the City of Asheville “flipped the switch” on a photovoltaic array, commonly known as solar panels, at the Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center on Shiloh Road. This is the fifth City facility to include onsite renewable energy production. This completes the City’s portion of projects included in the joint initiative to install solar panels on City of Asheville, Buncombe County, Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools and AB-Tech facilities. 

City of Asheville payroll goes paperless

Earlier this month, the City of Asheville kicked off the new year by kicking paper pay stubs in favor of e-mailed payroll info. The move, which grew out of a Business Technology Improvement Project passed by Asheville City Council in 2009, reduces paper use by the city and increases accurate databasing and record keeping. According to [...]

City of Asheville seeking citizen ideas for IBM Smarter Cities tech grant

The City of Asheville’s Information Technology Services Department is collecting ideas from the public for technological opportunities as part of a proposed application for an IBM Corporation Smarter Cities grant. IBM is currently taking applications for up to $400,000 for technology improvements that provide enhanced and efficient interactions between citizens and municipal organizations. Asheville City Council [...]

City of Asheville shares data from new solar installation at Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center

On July 28th, the City of Asheville “flipped the switch” on the photovoltaic array, commonly known as solar panels, at the Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center on Livingston Street.    Sustainable Energy Goals: This is the sixth City facility to include renewable energy production, the first being the Transit Station on Coxe Avenue.   Installation of the solar [...]

Climate Justice Data Map provides valuable information during water outage

Climate Justice tools and resources can help operationalize lessons and information gathered in “clear skies” times to react and respond with informed, data driven actions during times of stress and crisis. Reports and data sets from the multi-year process of analyzing Asheville’s climate threats and assets, interviewing community members and hosting community conversations culminated in [...]

Craven Street improvement project begins July 21

On Monday, July 21, work will begin on the Craven Street improvement project in west Asheville, a long-term enhancement that will include multi-modal roadway improvements including pedestrian and bike facilities, stormwater Best Management Practices and stream restoration, low impact parking and greenway construction and water line improvements. See background on this project at the City [...]

Dashboard tracks and reports graffiti cleanup progress

Follow along with 123 Graffiti Free! A new online dashboard tracks the City of Asheville’s progress on the 123 Graffiti Free cleanup assistance initiative. The dashboard, produced in collaboration between the city’s Public Works and IT Services Departments, displays the number of graffiti cleanup requests, the number of cases completed and the amount of money [...]

How leveraging funds earns Asheville more bang for the buck

The saying goes that, given a big enough lever (and fulcrum to put it on), you can move the world. That’s a tall order, but it is true that leverage applied at the right place can make a big impact, and leveraging funding is helping make big changes in quality of life and economic development [...]

orange fall leaves

Leaf season is here! We got your bags.

Leaf season is upon us, and with that comes leaf collection. The City of Asheville Sanitation Department picks up leaves on an alternating schedule. Be sure to leave bags untied or use a reusable container marked “leaves”. And if you need some reusable bags, you can pick them up from any City of Asheville fire [...]

Neighbors and City collaborate to reduce speeding

Like many streets in Asheville, Macon Avenue has a speeding problem. The corridor through the Grove Park – Sunset Mountain Neighborhood sees some 7,000 vehicles from a combination of residential, cut-through and tourist traffic each day. Unfortunately, many of these drivers exceed the speed limit through the residential area, a dangerous practice magnified the presence [...]

Charlotte Street scene

Public invited to follow-up session on North Charlotte Street for Road Diet Project

  City also launches online survey on zoning overlay   The community is invited follow-up meetings to the Charlotte Street Road Diet on Wednesday, May 1.  The meetings will be held at the Jewish Community Center, 236 Charlotte St. A morning session will be held from 8:30 to 10 a.m., with an evening session set for 5:30 to 7 p.m.   These [...]

Public/private partnership restores high-speed communication to Asheville’s emergency responders

Fire engines and police cruisers alike lit up on September 17 at the Murphy-Oakley Community Center and Fire Station Building, but they were not responding to an emergency. The blue and red lights were flashing in celebration of a high-speed communication connection that means better and faster service responses by Asheville’s emergency responders. The City of [...]

Climate Justice image

Sustainability Department shares Climate Justice Initiative update

Following the Climate Emergency Declaration by Asheville City Council in January 2020, city staff have been exploring strategies to incorporate Climate Justice in city operations.  Initial engagement in the Climate Justice Initiative sought out community expertise and leadership through interviews, story circles, and lived-experience sharing. This expertise informed tools, priorities and [...]

Talking the Walk: The Road Safety Review Team gives roadway safety its undivided attention

What better way to see first-hand the challenges and opportunities for making Asheville’s streets safer for pedestrians, bicycles, and drivers than putting feet to the street? That’s the idea behind the City of Asheville’s Road Safety Review Team. This collaborative effort combines the professional knowledge of departments across the city organization as well as state [...]

Anthony Foxx, Esther Manheimer

U.S. Transportation Secretary announces $14.6M grant for East of Riverway multimodal project

The announcement that the City of Asheville won $14.6 million in federal funding for transportation improvements in and around the River Arts District and adjacent neighborhoods advances the hard work and planning that has gone into that area. The TIGER VI award was announced September 12 during a visit by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, [...]

What do you want to know, Asheville? Just ask newly upgraded SimpliCity 2.0 search tool

    From trash collection days to crime, from properties to neighborhoods, Asheville residents have been able to look up local data by address on SimpliCity since it launched in 2015.   Now, with SimpliCity 2.0, residents can access even more information, including integrated topic dashboards like the City budget and capital and bond projects, with many more to [...]

You spot it, we fix it: City of Asheville launches Asheville App

The City of Asheville is excited to announce the launch of the Asheville App, an easy-to-use online tool that allows users to notify the city about issues like water line leaks, potholes, or illegal dumping that need the city’s attention via smart phone or computer, then track the results. “This is the kind of technology that [...]

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