Tuesday, Asheville City Council postponed approval of an apartment complex. They didn’t want an industrially-zoned (IND) property to be downgraded because the city has a shortage thereof. The developers asked council to consider the fact that the land had remained vacant for ten years, perhaps being too small for the huge job-creators the city would like to recruit. Then again, the city’s policy may be antiquated, since a lot of business these days is electronic and/or green, and in need of no smokestacks.

Either way, the best comment, in my opinion, pertained to the developers’ refusal to rent-control subsidized units. They argued any increase in the housing supply would inspire price competition, thus lowering rents in general. Unfortunately, the invisible hand of supply and demand ain’t got nothin’ on the whimsical schemes of government dreams.