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What is UNC Asheville doing on wooded property near Five Points? Taxi ‘shed’ at Asheville Regional Airport? What does ‘titled debris’ actually mean? • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – JOHN BOYLE – 2025-01-21 06:30:00

Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: For years, UNCA has owned land off Dortch Avenue known as the South Campus walking trails that include about one mile of wooded hiking paths. Many residents (especially those of us with four-legged family members) of Five Points and nearby neighborhoods love the woods for the opportunity they provide for connection to nature and dog frolicking (we’re not opposed to cat- or small horse-frolicking, but dogs seem to be the more popular four-legged companion). The woods are a bit of a hidden gem, and they’ve been even more of a refuge with so many dog parks closed after Helene. In the last few weeks, we’ve noticed caution tape, survey stakes, and wetland tape in various places, and a tree removal crew has begun clearing some brush at the entrance. One of the workers informed us that the university is developing the land and plans to construct four buildings; work will apparently start in the spring. There hasn’t been any signage in the woods and we haven’t been able to learn any details from the university. Any chance you can help investigate? We’d love to know if the development rumors are true, if the university is developing or if they’ve sold the land, the timeline, how the project is actually being funded given the university’s financial situation, and what the building and space will be used for.

My answer: Every time I see a cat out for a “frolic” on a leash, it looks like the poor animal is absolutely miserable and would probably take out its owner if it weighed 30 pounds more.

Real answer: UNC-Asheville spokesman Brian Hart said no decisions have been made on the property.

“UNC Asheville is taking steps to better understand the characteristics of 90 acres of undeveloped portions of university property,” Hart said via email. “This includes assessing boundaries, topography, land composition, and utilities. To support this process, the university has authorized an experienced external vendor to conduct a thorough exploratory assessment, which will require removing a minimal number of trees and collecting soil samples.”

Hart said the university is dedicated to working with environmental experts about sustainable and responsible land use.

“In keeping with our commitment to transparency and collaboration, as options are being finalized, UNC Asheville will host listening sessions to share information about potential plans and to gather input from the community,” Hart said.

Hart said “exploring thoughtful and strategic opportunities for land use is part of the university’s efforts to have a positive impact here.”

“Any future development of university property will align with the best interests of the institution, the local and regional community, and the state of North Carolina, while respecting the natural environment that surrounds us,” Hart said.

The City of Asheville said it has not issued any permits for the current work, and that the permit for the work was issued through the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

The DEQ did not respond to my request for information by deadline.

Question: We are an older couple (even older than John) who returned home recently, flying into AVL airport. After landing, we went to the info desk by baggage claim to inquire as to taxis to get to our home in Asheville. We were told there were no taxis, and we’d have to wait in an outer lot until an Uber or Lyft could pick us up. The only alternative presented to us was a black car service (probably $150). There was a shuttle bus waiting by chance, and we proceeded to the “shed” to wait. The wind was blowing strongly right through the shed, as there was no protection from the sides from the freezing cold (wind chill of 18) and it was located in an open parking lot. Luckily for us, an Uber was available in five minutes; a Lyft would have been at least 20 minutes — enough time for frostbite to set in! This is an unacceptable situation for us and certainly for visitors to Asheville. If the airport is going to abandon those waiting for rides to a lonely parking lot, they can at least provide a better shelter with sides and a heater, as well as some sort of emergency notification system if there is a problem. Even as a temporary fix, this is unacceptable, as a medical emergency is certainly possible in the shed. Our Uber driver told us he has seen instances where the rain is blowing through the shed sideways on those waiting. When will the airport provide an acceptable waiting area for those arriving at the airport?

My answer: I’m going to politely overlook the comment about these folks being “even older” than I am. Clearly it’s time for me to up my “Just for Men” beard dye game.

Real answer: Good news on this front.

“We have installed a 12- by 15-foot covered shelter in the ground transportation pick-up area, with four benches and standing room for additional customers,” Asheville Regional Airport spokeswoman Tina Kinsey said via email, adding that it is a temporary location due to construction at the airport. “We have wind/rain barriers for the sides of the shelter coming soon, as well as additional lighting inside. The pick-up area is lighted with exterior lights, and we have an emergency call box in place for our customers.”

Question: I just finished your recent column about debris removal and was fascinated by the concept of “titled” debris. I never thought about the implications of that before. Could you expand on whether and what kind of special problems and handling that causes? For example, if there’s a car in the river, does the county have to figure out who owns it, contact them, consult on what they want done with it, whether they’ll pay for or toward the removal, whether their insurance has any liability in the effort and so forth? Can the county just act without contacting the owner at all? Is there any kind of time limit beyond which the county can do what it needs to do to clear its waterways if they can’t contact an owner?

My answer: Initially, I just assumed “titled debris” meant the county was going to have to refer to river debris as “Sir Wrecked Minivan” and “Lady Semi Trailer.”

Real answer: Nothing is simple when it comes to Helene cleanup.

“County departments, to include the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, County Legal Department, Solid Waste, ID Bureau, and Emergency Management are working together on title property removal,” Johanna Cano, a spokeswoman for Buncombe County, told me via email. “There are a couple of different categories of title property removal that include right of way removal, right of entry (private property), and waterway removal.”

The different categories require different types of administrative paperwork for accessing the debris.

“While we are close to finalizing the process, at this point, as title property is identified and mapped out, crews will be going around to assess the property for identification such as a vehicle identification number or tag,” Cano said. “The team will work across departments to locate the owner and make arrangements for removal. As owners are identified, they will need to check with their insurance company to determine if their coverage can pay for towing, etc.”

If not, the county will use a towing company procured through a “request for proposals” to “remove the property and take it to a processing site where it can be claimed or otherwise processed,” Cano said.


Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Superior Court judge sides with Riggs against Griffin | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – 2025-02-10 12:03:00

SUMMARY: In the ongoing legal battle over the state Supreme Court Seat 6, Wake County Superior Court ruled against Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin, who trails incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs by 734 votes from 5.5 million cast. Griffin has not conceded, suggesting an appeal is likely. The court denied his request to discard 65,000 ballots, with previous protests rejected at both county and state levels. The litigation has progressed through various courts. Riggs, appointed to the Supreme Court in September 2023 after previously serving on the Court of Appeals, is set to begin her term unless Griffin’s appeal succeeds.

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The post Superior Court judge sides with Riggs against Griffin | North Carolina appeared first on www.thecentersquare.com

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Elections in NC suffer from lack of money and little voter education

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carolinapublicpress.org – Sarah Michels – 2025-02-10 08:00:00

Upon further review: Commission finds that NC elections suffer from deficits and distrust

James Hardaway spent Election Night counting ballots in Wake County. With another poll worker standing behind him as a second pair of eyes, Hardaway physically checked each paper ballot, ensuring that the numbers matched those the precinct’s tabulators had been tracking all day and night. In other elections across North Carolina, similar scenes were playing out.

Afterwards, the Wake County precinct workers knew “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that the numbers aligned, Hardaway said. 

But not everyone shared that knowledge. 

“That’s not good enough for someone who’s reading something on Facebook or Twitter that there are 500,000 voted ballots that are only voting for one candidate,” Hardaway said. “If you look at the raw numbers, that’s not true. But when that post gets a million views, it gets legs.”  

Hardaway, an Army veteran, is one of 60 members of the Commission on the Future of North Carolina Elections, a first of its kind, comprehensive review of the state’s election systems and processes. 

Last week, the commission met at Catawba College to discuss its findings and recommendations after a multi-year effort. While the commission’s 11 committees covered a wide range of election topics, they arrived at two major conclusions. 

First, North Carolina’s elections need more funding to operate effectively. 

Second: North Carolinians do not know or understand the state’s electoral processes enough, which leads to confusion, distrust and apathy. 

‘Nobody’s done this’

The Commission on the Future of North Carolina Elections launched in October 2023 with a mission:  increase confidence and trust in the state’s electoral process through comprehensive review. Members came from across the state and varied in age, race, gender and political affiliation. 

The commission originated from an organization called the North Carolina Network for Fair, Safe and Secure Elections and counts Catawba College as a partner in the effort. 

It’s led by a bipartisan pair: former Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, and Bob Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice who had been a longtime Republican. 

Since its inception, the commission’s 11 committees have held over 80 meetings to discuss and debate various aspects of the state’s electoral process. 

The commission’s bipartisan committees looked into, among other things, North Carolina’s ballot security, election infrastructure and administration, campaign finance and voter access. 

“Nobody’s done this,” Orr said. “As critical as elections are to democracy, to our state, I’m not aware of any governmental units or academic entities that have done the kind of comprehensive work that this group has.” 

Voters lack trust in the elections process

For the most part, North Carolinians’ trust in elections depends on whether their preferred party wins. That’s according to a pair of surveys conducted in August 2024 and January 2025 by YouGov, a British market research company.

Over 1,000 North Carolinians were asked how confident they were in the security and integrity of North Carolina voting before — and after — the 2024 election. 

In August, 71% said they believed in the voting process with Democrats expressing significantly higher confidence than Republicans — 83% to 63%.

However, after President Donald Trump won reelection, those numbers changed for members of both parties. Overall confidence rose to 80%. But Republicans’ confidence in election integrity spiked to 86% while that number for Democrats dropped slightly to 81%.

There was a starker partisan divide when respondents were asked if they thought that votes in their county would be accurately counted.

Before the election, 89% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans said they thought that the votes would be correctly tallied. But afterwards, only 75% of Democrats felt that way. The confidence of Republicans, however, skyrocketed to 86%.

Hardaway said his committee found that the doubts of voters stems from a lack of understanding. They don’t know how election technology works. They don’t trust that the ballot’s path from printing to counting is secure each step of the way. And they want more proof that voter rolls are accurate and regularly maintained.  

While a great deal of information on these processes already exists publicly, in places like the State Board of Elections’ website, there’s a need to more aggressively advertise and spread the knowledge among the electorate, the committee found. 

“More communication and more information is ultimately going to build confidence in the process,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University.

The civics education we’re missing

While there are legislative efforts to bolster civic education — including a bill introduced this session requiring UNC System institutions to require at least three credit hours in American history or government to graduate — they often focus on specific historical documents, such as the Gettysburg Address or Federalist Papers. 

But there’s not much that teaches young people on how localities prepare and run elections.

Martha Kropf, a UNC-Charlotte political science professor, told the commission she once asked her college class a series of basic questions to gauge their election knowledge. Among them: Can a felon vote?

The correct answer is yes — once they’ve served their sentence, completed probation and paid any restitution. 

But only 18% of her students got it right. Some were even insistent that Kropf was wrong. 

The commission discussed trying to get more basic election knowledge into this session’s bill. 

Civic education requires civic engagement

People who start voting at 18 tend to make civic involvement a habit throughout their life, Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer said. 

But the opposite is also true. 

“If you get later into your life and haven’t participated or haven’t cast ballots, it’s perceivably harder to get people engaged and into a mindset of being civically engaged,” Bitzer explained. 

The committee devoted to civic education found that most county election offices who responded to their survey did not have someone on staff whose job description included voter education.

Some advocated for paying non-voters, particularly those who are younger or in marginalized communities, to participate in research on what civic engagement barriers they face. Many brought up social media as a necessary tool to reach less civically-engaged North Carolinians. 

Whatever the solution may be, Bitzer said it will have to start small. 

“Everything in American history teaches us that oftentimes things that are fundamentally shifting … begin at the local level,” he said. 

Elections and their cost

The commission noted that one area in dire need of investment is campaign finance.

Each election cycle, over 3,317 political entities are legally required to file campaign finance reports. Most have to file more than one during each cycle. 

Two attorneys, six to seven auditors and one to two investigators are responsible for policing all of those reports with software that’s over 20 years old. 

A commission committee found that hiring at least two more auditors, in addition to investing in modern-day software, would better hold candidates and campaign finance organizations more accountable in a timely manner. 

Understaffing and outdated technology underscore the challenges. Last December, a three-plus year investigation into campaign finance violations committed during Mark Robinson’s run for lieutenant governor finally concluded

Poll position

Funding is also needed to address critical personnel challenges in several areas of election administration, the commission found. 

In the past five years, election directors in 61 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have left their jobs. A Carolina Public Press investigation found that safety concerns, increasing complexity of the job as voter policies constantly change and low pay were behind the exodus. 

Minimum pay for election directors was set at $12 an hour in 1999 and hasn’t increased since. 

Their responsibilities have increased exponentially since then. And now, with the passage of Senate Bill 382, they will face tighter deadlines to count provisional and absentee ballots after elections. 

In addition to election directors, the supply of poll workers is suffering from a lack of funding. In 2022, 48% of North Carolina jurisdictions reported difficulty recruiting workers.

To combat that, election administrators will have to get more creative, said Leslie Garvin, executive director of an organization called North Carolina Campus Engagement. 

“Has anybody seen a commercial to recruit you as a poll worker or an ad on social media or something?” she asked. “We’ve got so much access to folks now, and we need to use that.” 

Where do elections go from here?

While last Tuesday was the unofficial “graduation” of the Commission on the Future of North Carolina Elections, the work is far from over. 

By its bipartisan nature, the commission did not reach a consensus on every issue and recommended some things for further study. 

Within the next month or so, the group will present its findings and recommendations to the legislature. 

In October 2023, the commission set out to answer one question, Bitzer recalled: “Can we, with confidence, say to our fellow citizens in this state that North Carolina’s election system is fair, safe and secure? Is it a good system?

“I think we can take away the answer is yes.” 

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Amazon workers push to unionize in 6-day vote in NC

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www.youtube.com – WRAL – 2025-02-10 06:07:57


SUMMARY: This week, workers at Amazon’s rdu1 facility in Garner will begin voting on whether to unionize. An upstart union is seeking to represent over 4,000 employees, advocating for higher wages, increased paid time off, and other benefits. Currently, wages range from $18.50 to $23.80 an hour, while organizers aim for $30. Despite enjoying their work, employees feel they deserve more, citing Amazon’s substantial profits without bonuses. The National Labor Relations Board is overseeing the six-day voting process, which concludes on Saturday. If successful, this would mark Garner’s facility as only the second Amazon location in the U.S. to unionize.

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