Just before Asheville City Council approved the BID, they took issue with a request from Biltmore Farms to get some retail signs in their urban village. The staff report was funny in a twisted way as the developer complained that retailers have an expectation that people will be able to find their stores. Retail spaces are renting much more slowly than otherly-purposed properties in the village. Paul Szurek, representing Biltmore, explained retailers employ people to understand the market. It is not commonly held, say, that a person looking to buy a TV is going to walk up to a blank building just to see if an electronics store is inside.
Szurek, with all due respect, told council there was merely a difference in perspective. He related it to the story of Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss. Some on the top had lovely views of the fields and the forests, but the lofty frills were not sustainable because the poor guy on the ground doing all the work was getting squashed.
