From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Crime in Asheville “has dropped over the past two years, but many say perception still lags behind reality,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on Oct. 8.

The Asheville Police Department’s latest data shows that “overall arrests are down about 4 percent since 2020, and violent crime has fallen 28 percent since its 2022 peak,” News 13 noted. “Yet quality of life reports, including trespassing, disorderly conduct and drug-related calls, are climbing”.

To that end, Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb told the TV station, “We’ve still had shootings that happen. Sometimes ,you have quality-of-life issues, where someone may be in mental crisis. They may not be breaking the law, but they can create an environment where people feel unsafe.”

News 13 noted, “Police data show violent crime fell from 560 cases in 2022 to 326 so far this year. The drop is largely driven by a 41 percent decline in aggravated assaults.”

Lamb told News 13, “We have groups of individuals that get in disagreements, an altercation happens, then a shooting happens, and then there’s retaliatory shootings.”

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Regarding a question from the Daily Planet about whether the Asheville Police Departent’s recently released crime statistics are accurate, local FOP official Rondell Lance noted there are many variables involved and that “it’s all relative” and that one should take everything “with a grain of salt.”

Lance’s comments on the latest APD crime statistics were made during an Oct. 11 telephone interview with the Daily Planet.

Lance, an Asheville native and the long-time president of the Asheville area Fraternal Order of Police, is retired and now serves as the chairman of the local FOP’s Legislative and Communications Committee.

Before discussing the crime statistics, Lance said he would like to say a few words about outgoing Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb, who also is an Asheville native. Lamb recently announced plans to retire in December, after 28 years with the APD, working his way up from the bottom to the top. 

“Mike Lamb?” Lance asked, rhetorically. “I think he done a tremendous job” as APD chief. “He’s a great person. He deserves his retirement with his family... From what I’ve seen, he’s gotten it to the level where people want to work at the (Asheville) Police Department now. I also think Asheville City Council has ‘seen the light’” in aspiring to have a fully staffed police unit — largely thanks to Lamb’s persuasive efforts.

From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Asheville is conducting a Comprehensive Operational Analysis — costing $300,000 — to improve its ART bus system, with a focus on the trade-off between increasing bus frequency in busy areas versus maintaining wider service coverage, AI Overview reported on Oct. 13.

“Recent ridership for fiscal year 2024 was over 1.58 million, an increase from previous years, but still below pre-pandemic levels of about 2 million,” AI Overview stated. “Public input is being gathered through surveys to inform the final plan, which is expected to be released in spring 2026.” 

To that end, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on Oct. 3 that “the city and its contractor, Portland-based Jarret Walker and Associates, are looking for feedback from riders and residents.

“The current system leans toward coverage, with many routes spreading to the farthest corners of the city. But this means buses run less frequently — every 30 minutes or an hour, versus, say, every 15 minutes.

“A ridership concept would favor frequency, with routes concentrated along areas with more people and jobs — a significant reduction in wait times, but much fewer routes.”

Meanwhile, at a Sept. 30 meeting, hosted by nonprofit MountainTrue, in coordination with the city, the ACT noted that “attendees were presented with the extreme sides of either option.

“The ultimate solution could fall somewhere in the middle, said Ricky Angueira, a principal with Jarret Walker and Associates, and lead project manager for the city’s study.”

From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The city’s temporary pretreatment systems at the North Fork and William DeBruhl water treatment plants will remain in place through Nov. 30 with continued funding support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city said in an Oct. 7 news release.

Water Resources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler said in the relase that the systems will start demobilizing Dec. 1 — and be taken offsite.

They were installed after Tropical Storm Helene wreaked havoc on the city’s water system, leaving it more vulnerable to future storms. Chandler said they provided a “layer of redundancy,” ensuring that if another storm spiked turbidity in the city’s reservoirs, meaning the cloudiness caused by sediment and debris, water would continue to be filtered — rather than pumping non-potable, highly chlorinated water into the system.

The Asheville Citizen Times reported on Oct. 8 that “funding was previously only secured for the systems through the end of September. The city said it would continue to negotiate with FEMA for funding that would keep them there as long as possible.”

Chandler said in the release, “Our watershed is still vulnerable,” though not as unprotected as it was in Helene’s immediate aftermath, with the forest given some time to heal, and debris removal beginning at the Burnett Reservoir, which feeds the North Fork plant.

Debris removal at DeBruhl will take place eventually, although no timetable has been set. Support would end along with the year’s hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. 

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Following a 20-minute presentation on AdventHealth’s hospital planned in Weaverville, a 30-minute question-and-answer session — featuring a tense verbal exchange between two local hospital officials — was held during a breakfast meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners on Oct. 3 in UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.

Graham Fields, assistant to the president of nonprofit AdventHealth Hendersonville and who gave the address eariler, fielded the queries from the CIBO crowd.

Opening the questioning, an unidentied man asked, “Where are you going to find the workforce, as it’s tight right now?”

Fields replied, “Great question!” He then noted that AdventHealth officials “would look to (local) high schools and A-B Tech,” as well other local colleges and universities for future job prospects.

He added,, “We’re also offering a program called Junior Leaders — and they meet with hospital workers in the concentration they are interested in...”

Further, he said the Junior Leaders’ program is “working on how to develop a ‘flight plan’ that will allow folks” who are interested in hospital work to land” in the concentration in which they aspire to work.