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ABSOLUTELY....LOVE Asheville...love how trendy & funky it is getting...kinda reminds me of an area of Charlotte called NODA (North Davidson Arts District). Hope to retire there from Charlotte and talking about crime...Charlotte-Mecklenburg leads the state in every category of high crime...murders, car jackings, shootings...etc...and I NEVER ever feel unsafe in Charlotte...I am street smart though.
EVERY city has good areas, bad areas, rich areas, poor areas, drug infested areas...my mother always said..."If you look hard enought for trouble...yu can probably find it"!
Some people live in their own little shallow world and think that anything out of their norm is freakish or something...NOT!
Look at all those beautiful Victorian homes on Montford Ave...but drive to the end of Montford Ave...and youhave housing project and drugs...within walking distance.
Just remember we are ALL God's children...no matter what side of town people live on or where they live or what they drive.
I think you will find that most people understand that most vehicles with Florida plates are really occupied by yankees that couldn't take the heat and humidity of Florida and move halfway back. Thus known as halfbacks.
Yeh, but if I move there they'll prolly' come up with a new one...
"Out of left field"..........lol
Think I should cover up my Neil Young bumper sticker? That with my NY plates really aughta have the welcome wagon out for me...LOL
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The old timers told me the first 3 years the mountains will whip you around and beat you against the rocks, if you survive they will then love you and nuture you for the rest of your time. Most people experience career change and relationship change within the first 3 years if not immediately. I could name 20 people off the top of my head that will confirm this. I have made the best friends and the most close friends I have ever had while living in Asheville. Business has been good (in am in tourism) and an artisit. There are positive things.
There are a few things that are tough to deal with if you are an educated well travelled person. The legal system still is kind of back woods and good ole boy, so justice and doing the right thing doesn't always happen. It is more like who knows who. The state accounting and tax issues, surprise rezoning of land are also handled in odd ways. This may effect your income. Really no one cares and you can't do anything about it so that makes living here kind of unpredictable. If you are a trsut fund baby (like many) or independently wealthy you will not be bothered by such things. You can just ignore them. If you have to work you will have to hire service people ocassionally. That too may frustrate you. Accountability can be nonexistant. Watch your wallet and keep it close. Sometimes if they people think you have money they may try to get it from you and feel right in this action. They will smile at you the whole time and be typically gracious. It is just a mentality of the area so if you can get used to it and work with it you will be fine. Throw away any dress clothes. If you bring them you will not fit it.
Last edited by autumngal; 12-22-2007 at 09:50 PM..
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Geez. Well then. OK. I guess I've been warned. Having read the four pages of replies to the original post, I am not swayed in my determination or in my plan to move to downtown Asheville within the next year. I can tell you that, yes virtually every town, let alone city, has it's rough/bad/undesireable neighborhood(s). I'm no naive kid nor am I a dottering old man. I am being forced to retire after 25 years in a skilled trade union (stagehands) and an industrial climber for GE repairing wind turbines following a total hip replacement. I am college educated and have a lot to offer the community and plan to do just that. Apologies to those who see people like me as invaders, but I'll have to agree with a previous post that (last time I checked) it's still a Free Country. Thank God. I'm looking to move close to downtown and have the time and means to be deliberate and do just that. If I could afford NYC I'd be there and you wouldn't have to worry about this New Jersey guy bringing his (imagined) Yankee attitude to your neighborhood but Asheville is my destination in the next year or so. As far as the comments about West Asheville, I can't imagine it being worse than Jersey. Gotta thank Jersey for my "street smarts" though, there is no better hard-knock school going......
Geez. Well then. OK. I guess I've been warned. Having read the four pages of replies to the original post, I am not swayed in my determination or in my plan to move to downtown Asheville within the next year. I can tell you that, yes virtually every town, let alone city, has it's rough/bad/undesireable neighborhood(s). I'm no naive kid nor am I a dottering old man. I am being forced to retire after 25 years in a skilled trade union (stagehands) and an industrial climber for GE repairing wind turbines following a total hip replacement. I am college educated and have a lot to offer the community and plan to do just that. Apologies to those who see people like me as invaders, but I'll have to agree with a previous post that (last time I checked) it's still a Free Country. Thank God. I'm looking to move close to downtown and have the time and means to be deliberate and do just that. If I could afford NYC I'd be there and you wouldn't have to worry about this New Jersey guy bringing his (imagined) Yankee attitude to your neighborhood but Asheville is my destination in the next year or so. As far as the comments about West Asheville, I can't imagine it being worse than Jersey. Gotta thank Jersey for my "street smarts" though, there is no better hard-knock school going......
I have to laugh out loud at all the negative descriptions of West Asheville! Does anyone who believes these things actually live here (and by live here I mean as a primary residence, and participates in the community)? Well, I do live here, and I in fact live within walking distance of the so-called projects, and I can't believe how off-base so many of these posters attitudes are!
Look. I have lived many places. Cities, small towns, extremely rural areas, places with totally unrestricted strip-mall type development, and places with amazingly tight zoning laws. I have lived in government housing, I have lived in upper-middle-class neighborhoods and everywhere inbetween. I have lived in places where I was a minority. I have lived in places where there was absolutely no real diversity to speak of. Maybe those who think that all the drugs? and crime? come solely from housing projects have only been watching fox news? (i kid, sort of) Seriously, yes, there are drugs in the world, but if you think that only poor black people (the primary population in the PJ near my house-- yes, I said near my house) are responsible for the existance of drugs, your head is firmly in the sand. Like I said, I have lived in areas which are white as white can be and guess what? There's drugs there too! They are everywhere. It's not a poor people problem. It's not a racial problem. It's a human problem.
As for crime, the paranoids are talking like West Asheville is a lawless anarchist's paradise. It isn't. We live here-- and by we I mean me, my partner and our four children-- and it's not a gated community by any means, but it is filled with real people with real lives and sometimes yes, real problems, but people nonetheless. Hardworking people. Families. Poor, lower middle class, all the way up to wealthy, and the vast majority of people who live here are law abaiding citizens, just like everywhere else. It's pretty. People are nice. It's easy to walk where you want to go. My kids attend public school, and they are getting a decent education from positively minded teachers. I *gasp* like it here!
Reality check: anywhere you live on this planet, there will be drugs and crime. Eutopia doesn't exist, and some of the posters upthread need to stop being so scared of their own shadows and get out into the general community of folks who aren't like them (oh, how scary!) and live in the world a little. Yes, there was a shooting. ONE shooting. That's some damn good crime stats, if you ask me. There are nice people and not-so-nice people everywhere, and just because crime in gated or money-type communities happens behind closed doors, don't think it's not there. Mmmkay? You know what helps curb crime and violence? It's simple, really. Knowing your neighbors, whomever they might be!
I have to laugh out loud at all the negative descriptions of West Asheville! Does anyone who believes these things actually live here (and by live here I mean as a primary residence, and participates in the community)? Well, I do live here, and I in fact live within walking distance of the so-called projects, and I can't believe how off-base so many of these posters attitudes are!
Look. I have lived many places. Cities, small towns, extremely rural areas, places with totally unrestricted strip-mall type development, and places with amazingly tight zoning laws. I have lived in government housing, I have lived in upper-middle-class neighborhoods and everywhere inbetween. I have lived in places where I was a minority. I have lived in places where there was absolutely no real diversity to speak of. Maybe those who think that all the drugs? and crime? come solely from housing projects have only been watching fox news? (i kid, sort of) Seriously, yes, there are drugs in the world, but if you think that only poor black people (the primary population in the PJ near my house-- yes, I said near my house) are responsible for the existance of drugs, your head is firmly in the sand. Like I said, I have lived in areas which are white as white can be and guess what? There's drugs there too! They are everywhere. It's not a poor people problem. It's not a racial problem. It's a human problem.
As for crime, the paranoids are talking like West Asheville is a lawless anarchist's paradise. It isn't. We live here-- and by we I mean me, my partner and our four children-- and it's not a gated community by any means, but it is filled with real people with real lives and sometimes yes, real problems, but people nonetheless. Hardworking people. Families. Poor, lower middle class, all the way up to wealthy, and the vast majority of people who live here are law abaiding citizens, just like everywhere else. It's pretty. People are nice. It's easy to walk where you want to go. My kids attend public school, and they are getting a decent education from positively minded teachers. I *gasp* like it here!
Reality check: anywhere you live on this planet, there will be drugs and crime. Eutopia doesn't exist, and some of the posters upthread need to stop being so scared of their own shadows and get out into the general community of folks who aren't like them (oh, how scary!) and live in the world a little. Yes, there was a shooting. ONE shooting. That's some damn good crime stats, if you ask me. There are nice people and not-so-nice people everywhere, and just because crime in gated or money-type communities happens behind closed doors, don't think it's not there. Mmmkay? You know what helps curb crime and violence? It's simple, really. Knowing your neighbors, whomever they might be!
After reading all of the four pages of posts, I am still curious as to whether this is truly a walking city, as New York, and San Fran etc. are. Can one rent an apartment in the so called downtown area and walk to most everything and/or take public transportation? It sounds very diversified and liberal, which I like. I am looking into retiring there, but still need more info and also need to visit. Any information would be most helpful.
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Living In Asheville
