“THE SEASON”
By Dan Phillips
As you come back to Town to live and play for the season, we hope that you appreciate being kept up to date with what is going on in town.
The last thing you want to do is get involved in the political issues in BR, you are only here for a short time.
I know that you enjoy low Taxes, safety, great schools and property values.
We are fortunate that the BRCA (Blowing Rock Civic Association) is willing to go out front and deal with local challenges to make sure that people in Town government and organizations such as (Chamber and TDA) are held accountable.
They are catching a lot of unwarranted criticism.
This is not only hard work; it is very frustrating, and some cases sitting through hours of meetings (sometimes up to 5 hours) that are truly hard to understand the reasoning and decisions.
If you want to see what the BRCA is dealing with, go to Facebook and look at the clips people have posted about the last council meeting.
Please be careful of the rumor mill, no matter if it is verbal or written. These are always one person’s opinion. Including mine.
A perfect example is the current proposed Project for the Rainey Lodge at 221 and Morning Side Drive. This building will be close to 6 stories high from 221. It will overpower that road and neighborhood.
Just bring it within code and I feel more people will support it.
One of the commissioners was excused from voting based on talking with a DOT representative to find out basic information about traffic to make a good decision.
This person was elected to make decisions for the Town. This is wrong.
If we wanted to excuse others it would not be difficult to do. For example, how many council members have met with this Developer to discuss this project?
Get ready folks, very soon this in the hands of Lawyers. God help us.
Small Town politics can smell just as bad as Statewide or Nationally.
Most of the council members are good people that care enough to give of their time to serve.
Newly elected members have a steep learning curve.
That means that they must learn from their mistakes. (At our expense)
We can afford to say NO to tall Buildings. We need to stick with no higher than2-3 stories.
The way you keep something special is you limit the amount of it.
There are folks saying that a Higher Tide Floats more boats.
Personally, I feel you can only have some many boats the congestion alone will kill the sweet village character.
Runaway unchecked development has serious consequences.
We are just around the corner from becoming Gatlinburg.
The BRCA needs your support with your talents as well as funds. If you can register to vote, you need to do it. 100 new voters can change the outcome of elections.
We need your help to keep this place special.
Disclaimer: I need to remind readers that my blog contains my opinions and doesn’t reflect the opinions of any organizations or individuals that I might be affiliated with.