Anybody who’s read newspaper articles, which I assume most Americans are far too intellectual to do, would know the feeling of reading strings of buzzwords about this or that latest great plan that is supposed to save the world. And so it was this morning. The bwa-bwa-bwa had lulled me into a long, winter’s nap, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but:
In questioning that followed, [business owner Mac] Swicegood said, “I’ve heard catchy words like ‘collaboration,’ ‘threshholds,’ . . . . I still don’t understand what you’re talking about. You need to be more specific in what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” [the City of Asheville’s Chief Sustainability Officer Maggie] Ullman replied. “When we’re talking about small business, we’re talking about under 50 people . . . . Right now, typical economic development means number of jobs and amount of capital investment.”
Undeterred, Swicegood said, “When you start talking about sustainability . . . and providing the services I’m already paying for,” it leaves him wondering what is going on. “I have a building downtown that I’m having to put up no trespassing signs to be able to enforce the law. . . . If you would just provide the services that we’re paying for . . .”
