Now that the city has planned big, the General Assembly is advancing legislation to prevent using water revenues to repave infrastructure torn up for waterworks improvements.

Of course, tyranny is never bad when it works toward one’s own selfish ends (speaking as Caligula), and so it was nice that the legislature’s personal stranglehold on Asheville has caused it to cough up consideration of implementing a 7-plus-percent-tax business improvement district downtown. Unfortunately, since evil never dies in this life, the beast will ruminate the BID concept like a big wad of cud and try to get taxpayers to swallow it next year.