The most nefarious portion of the draft for Asheville’s Downtown Master Plan is Strategy #7. It recommends the establishment of a business improvement district to “enable everyone to share in the benefits of prosperity.” The BID, dubbed the Asheville Downtown District (ADD) would be governed by a board that “must transcend election cycles.” This body would be charged with, among other things:

• “overseeing completion of greenways and bikeways,”
• “revising the city’s signage ordinance,”
• “scheduling building safety and environmental inspections,”
• “adopting downtown parks,”
• “buying, selling, and managing real estate,”
• “coordinating security patrols,”
• “installing pole [security] cameras,”
• “cleaning and repairing streets and sidewalks,”
• “overseeing planting and décor,”
• “managing recycling programs,”
• “programming, marketing, and licensing downtown public realm places and events,”
• “licensing street vendors and performers,”
• “managing downtown’s public and private parking facilities,”
• “launching a [business] incubator program,”
• “investigating a coordinated goods-delivery system to multiple downtown businesses,”
• scheduling operating hours for businesses,
• “placing the right retailers in the right locations,” and
• managing extortions from developers, otherwise known as community benefits.

This leaves those in elective office with nothing to do but hire planners for studies.