Closing in on a quarter of our goal aint bad, but we still need a lot more support. We’re tired, too, but we aren’t done ensuring the Blade’s survival in 2026. Our quality reporting doesn’t happen automatically. So please consider the role of local leftist journalism in this time, & donate or share.

Hey it seems like ten million years since Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina but unsurprisingly, folks there are still struggling. That especially includes marginalized southerners like the ones here, so lend a hand if you can.

We cover a lot of ground in these short essays, but among other things I think they're a particularly honest look at our city post-Helene. With a lot of determination from folks otg, alongside immense grief...all while facing elites more openly greedy and exploitative than ever.

We're a co-op of working class trans reporters in a city that remains, despite the marketing, still a disaster zone in so many ways. Independent, hard-hitting local journalism is more important than ever. Please share and support this so we can keep doing it.

McBride's pr hacks are nonetheless, trying to jump on this failure and revive "she did so much lobbying behind the scenes!" (To...what end?) Seriously, this is just blatant propaganda for a nepobaby pol with a terrible record. You should think less of any journalist or figure who falls for it.

Though my work with the Blade is mostly limited to graphic design & city council coverage these days, being a member of this co-op means so much to me. We play an essential role in keeping Asheville informed. Help preserve local leftist journalism by donating. At minimum, please spread the word!

Asheville city hall directing to $7 million in federal relief dollars to renovating the golf course, and county gov funding sidewalks for tourists in storm-devastated Swannanoa show how the post-Helene "recovery" is only for the rich. Our latest A Word About Our City segment #avlnews #avlgov

Support our leftist local journalism co-op made up entirely of working class trans people. It’s not an easy time to be a trans person. It’s not an easy time to be a journalist either, and yet we’re going to keep bringing you the news. Help us do it for yet another year.

Hey y'all, please share or support this if you can. Our trans local journalism co-op's facing a lot right now. This city is still a disaster zone in many ways and, well, it ain't exactly easy to be trans. Any help is appreciated.

Donations support local journalism doing what local journalism does best. And that’s speaking back at power, yall 🏴

Howdy yall! The co-op that I am part of needs support with funding another year of hard hitting local journalism. If you can, please send us a few dollars, and if you can’t, even shares alone are much appreciated 💖 Thanks yall

Like they all decided, after Helene, to ignore the communities demanding serious rental aid and eviction moratoriums. Everyone on that dais voted for a crippling tax hike on locals this year to bankroll more cops and appease wealthy investors. City hall and the gentry are the housing crisis

Watching Asheville city council — and Roney's no exception — bemoan high cost of housing is like a giant version of that "we're all trying to find the guy who did this" meme. They made the crisis. Roney voted in favor of letting airbnb landlords rewrite the rules. Hundreds lost their housing #avlgov

Thanks @davidforbes.bsky.social Current commenter is talking about medicaid cuts pushing group home residents recovering from addiction out on the street. Pleads for #avlgov action.

Asheville city council meeting at 5 p.m. Light agenda for their last meeting of the year, with only main item considering a new member for the planning commission to replace the ousted Jared Wheatley. @matildabliss.bsky.social and @davidforbes.bsky.social will cover live #avlnews #avlgov

Hey y'all, I am proud as hell of the amazing journalism our worker-run newsroom @transnews.network's done this year. Now we need y'all's help to keep doing it. Please support or share as you can.

The myth is circulating again that it was more radical otg activists and assimilationist gays ("boots and suits") teaming up that was responsible for queer communities' gains late '60s on. The history doesn't back this up. What actually happened is more revealing. 🧵 Let's start with Stonewall...

happy transgender day of remembrance thank you for sticking around in the hardest of times. if you haven't, you are missed dearly please live 💜

As the saying goes one does not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to them.

Thanks @davidforbes.bsky.social . We're onto filling the two spots now available on the planning and zoning commission. #Avlgov chooses to only fill one spot tonight. Lindsay Broughl selected 4-3 after discussion and narrowing of candidates.

Damn, even council members saying there's not actually been much public input about the recovery plan. It's bad when even they're admitting it. Also due to their actions. Decades of giving the public a middle finger and doing whatever the chamber wants ain't a recipe for public interest. #avlgov

Council's back. They're talking Helene recovery plan, and are adamant that they will not shift any of the river district away from the flood zone, which will cause yet more devastation next time there's a serious flood but it's what commercial property barons want, so here we are. #avlgov

Public hearing over. Council member Sage Turner: Agree with commenter who said we shouldn't let Helene scare us away from doing things. This is nonsense. Overwhelmingly approach since Helene has been "build everything back the same and pretend another storm will never come." #avlgov

Of the ways out of the crises we face, here and elsewhere, "unleash the magic powers of the unregulated market" or "elaborate property rules made up by landed gentry" ain't any of them.

People being shut out of housing is a major problem, but the expensive units YIMBY groups generally get most enthused about aren't going to go to locals outside the gentty, and it's telling their reps are well-off property owners, not working class locals. Once more. #avlgov

NIMBY gentry are also awful, of course, and we'll give them Current speaker, part of YIMBY group, claiming opponents "say they're ok with housing" but are against any specific plan. I mean, yeah, the dangers of paving a flood plain, on a wetland, are...actual reasons to be concerned. #avlgov

It gives the game away that YIMBY gentry (especially here) generally oppose affordable housing requirements, airbnb bans and any measure that ensures working class has access to newer units It's because their concern isn't housing, it's developer profits. #avlgov

These Asheville for All folks are particularly set on magical thinking around housing. They're telling Haw Creek residents to just deal w/ flooding, tree reduction, & the destruction of a wetland to promote an ideology where airbnbs & 2nd, 3rd, & 4th vacation homes just magically don't exist #avlgov

Barber Melton: "I've watched that creek flood my whole life." Warns about city hall not taking flooding dangers seriously, even after Helene #avlgov

Thanks @davidforbes.bsky.social , onto changes to the forest demolishing New Haw Creek Rd project approved two summers ago. #avlgov

Manheimer reading a tepid statement about ICE/CBP that's mostly focused on telling potential protesters to be calm. No actions to protect locals mentioned. #avlgov

Resolution barring ICE/CBP using city property will not proceed this meeting, after more conservative council members refused to advance it and council member Kim Roney folded rather than face an ounce of conflict. #avlgov

This is usually how it goes. More conservative council members use excuses of process or needing more time to kill any actual measure against status quo, then Roney folds like wet cardboard rather than fight. Put not your faith in politicians, y'all. #avlgov

Campbell leaves a city poorer, more desperate and even more corrupt than when she took power. This is the kind of person who declared "perfect! Yippee!" about homeless camps getting demoloshed. Mayor Esther Manheimer calls this "an outstanding career." #avlgov

Meeting's started with a proclamation honoring outgoing city manager Debra Campbell, whose tenure included teargassing most of downtown, brutalizing the homeless, badly underpaying firefighters, gutting transit and raking in massive annual raises for herself and other city higher-ups... #avlgov

On to removal of planning and zoning board member Jared Wheatley, an open racist and Islamophobe who's supported genocidal remarks about Arabs and Palestinians. ashevilleblade.com?p=4994 He's being removed for clashing with staff, though, so major gentry fight moment #avlgov

Asheville city council meeting at 5. Resolution barring ICE/CBP from using city property, backed by array of community groups, isn't on the agenda. So expect justifiably angry public reaction. @davidforbes.bsky.social and @matildabliss.bsky.social will cover live #avlnews #avlgov

While solid public health data's been difficult to come by the last few weeks, it's now clear that covid risks in the Asheville area have declined to SUBSTANTIAL, down from High. We may be out of this wave entirely in a week or two, but we're not there yet. Risks remain very real. #avlnews

You’re only out of the fight when you don’t get back up.

The cheapest plan available to me (a Georgian) is over $1,000 a month. Healthcare is no longer an option for me. I will ration the medication I take for as long as I can and then I will wait to die.

2000 Chevy Silverado and camper top for sale for $700! To purchase the truck without the camper top, $500. Camper top without the truck, $300. This babe is at present inoperable. Coming in at over 290,000 miles, it will need a new transmission. This could be a project vehicle.

we now know that it’s not illegal to throw sandwiches at ICE agents, an important development

We did it yall. With your support of this fundraiser and donations across both of my apps, I was able to buy a fuel efficient hatchback yesterday. While it’s at the upper limit as far as what I was looking for on the odometer, it’s of a make an model that’s known for its longevity.

I bought a vehicle today! More in a bit, but I wanted to give yall a quick update and thank everyone for their support 💖

Yeah, anyone who lived through the Bush years a conscious person is celebrating right now. It is impossible to sum up how much evil Cheney did that we'll be dealing with for decades. Good goddamn riddance.

With a little boost in donations yesterday, I’ve now made it to 30% of my goal. I’d love to hit 40% in the next day or two. Please keep sharing so that I can afford safe transportation! www.gofundme.com/f/support-ma...

Please help Mohammed protect his children and ensure the survival of himself and his family. You can help by sharing and donating even a small amount

Matilda is a badass trans gal, friend and comrade who needs a vehicle to make it through the winter. If you're anywhere near the Asheville area and you know of an option, let her know. If you're elsewhere, or don't know of one, please share/support her fundraiser: www.gofundme.com/f/support-ma...

Okay with all of my savings and donations across all of the platforms, I’m ready to talk purchase. My budget is $3.5k now and an additional $2.5k for a total of $6k by the weekend before Thanksgiving. As things currently stand, part of this would be a loan. 🧵

America, sadly, can only truly be defeated by the hands of its own people Moreover, ICE must be destroyed