Mayor Terry Bellamy was not to impressed to be confronted with data indicating differences in survey sample characteristics and the choice of variables for economic impact analyses can generate conflicting conclusions. The Asheville Citizen-Times flew in the face of Bele Chere advocates’ claims that economic multipliers (referred to in academic settings as double-counting) resoundingly supported continuation of the summer festival. The Citizen-Times looked at the festival from the perspective of merchants that either shut down for the weekend, tried to do business behind a row of tents, or catered to disruptive people that didn’t buy anything.
The article claimed the festival had run its course. It once was a great marketing tool for businesses in downtown Asheville. It grew from an $8000 budget to an $880,000 one with taxpayer-subsidized overruns. Business owners are nonplussed that, after paying heavenly property taxes, the city clamps their business for a few of the busiest days of the year.
