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Tag Archives: Asheville News

Scenes from GoogleAVL Town Hall Meeting

This is one of the huge welcoming signs for Go...
Image via Wikipedia

The Google Fiber Town Hall Meeting was held last night at the Asheville Civic Center Ballroom and the message was clear: Fill out your form. Each and every one of us needs to make sure we fill out a form nominating Asheville as a candidate for Google’s Fiber initiative. To do so, go to http://googleavl.com and click the button that says “Nominate Asheville”. But hurry, time’s running out.

What should you say on the form? The speakers addressed this last night.

Do say:

  • Tell Google why you believe Asheville is a good fit for their program.
  • Tell Google how you will use their Gigabit-per-second internet connection to do things you simply can’t do with a standard internet connection from AT&T or Charter.
  • Tell Google how it will let you innovate.

Don’t say:

  • Don’t tell them it’ll just let you do what you’re already doing only faster.
  • Don’t tell them it’ll let you download your porn straight into your brain at the speed of light (they didn’t cover this last night, but I thought it needed to be said).
  • Don’t tell them that it will “save” Asheville or be the root cause of a technological revolution that brings Asheville out of the dark ages. This simply isn’t true. Asheville is already in the midst of a technological revolution. Google’s Fiber will simply allow that to shift into overdrive and bring about real change to our community and the world.

Another overarching message of the night: Asheville doesn’t need to change our name to Google like some cities have done. Asheville deserves to be chosen based on our merits, on our real qualifications. What are those qualifications? The GoogleAVL site lists 18 good solid reasons.

Below: a few pics I snapped of the event.

Fences Come Down in Pack Square Park

Pack Square Park Construction Nears an EndThere’s been a whole lot of construction work on display on our East View for quite a while now. Not only was it unsightly, marring the fantastic view of City-County Plaza and Pack Square, but it was a NIGHTMARE to have to drive or walk through, and it was often very, very loud. But good news is upon us! The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that work is wrapping up and the fences have come down.

The construction fence around Reuter Terrace came down Wednesday. It was the last area where major work on Pack Square Park had been under way.

The completion of some drainage work could herald the approach of the first day since September 2006 that some part of the 6.5 acres of downtown park space has not been blocked off by fences, barrels or some other barrier.

Soon, we will be able to enjoy Pack Square Park as the designers intended. Watching it all develop over the past couple of years has been pretty interesting. It’s not completely done yet, though, there’s still a bit of work to do:

Part of the park will probably be closed off again later this year while workers install a kiosk with an information desk and restrooms on part of a large grassy area in Reuter Terrace. The conservancy may eventually put a more elaborate pavilion on that spot. Work to improve drainage near the future Pack Tavern on Spruce Street was still going on Wednesday.

Contractors have some minor items to complete before the park is truly finished, said Gary Giniat, executive director of Pack Square Conservancy, the nonprofit in charge of the park project.