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By JOHN NORTH
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A presentation on an alleged major crime wave besieging West Asheville was made to the Council of Independent Business Owners on Nov. 15 during its breakfast meeting at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.
John Miall, a long-time former City of Asheville employee and former Asheville mayoral candidate in 2015, led the address, assisted by two fellow West Asheville Neighborhood Alliance members — Sanjit Patel and Conda Painter.
They said WANA is seeking greater restrictions on where need exchange programs can operate in Buncombe County and throughout the state.
Miall worked for 30 years for the city, holding positions in human resources, benefits management and as director of risk management. Most recently, he served as chairman of Asheville’s Civil Service board.
CIBO’s agenda listed their topic as “Crime, safety, cleanliness, drugs and homeless issues facing West Asheville. “
Specifically, the trio, on the behalf of WANA, expressed concerns over what they termed as major fallout from entities espousing anarchy and wanting to crash the economy and social order in West Asheville via a needle exchange program by Steady Collective from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays at Firestorm Books & Coffee at 610 Haywood Rd.
The trio cited Steady Collective’s and Firestorm’s stated concerns about “gentrification” in West Asheville, resulting in soaring housing costs, and a desire to reverse that trend.
To that end, the trio surmised that skyrocketing crime, safety, cleanliness, drugs and homeless issues in that area could be tied to the efforts of the alleged anarchists and their supporters.
In a website posting, Steady Collective states, “Our goal is to improve overall community health by reducing the rate of drug overdose and the spread of infectious disease with education, advocacy, and direct services... Please consider donating to our gentrification resistance survival fund!”
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