All I can say is “WOW!”
I love small downtowns. You Asheville dopers have a real jewel of one. I awoke here, in my small, quiet, humble downtown loft in Knoxville this morning, to shouts of “Welcome to our neighborhood! Welcome! Welcome to our neighborhood!” outside, punctuated by sounds of scrap metal from construction next door being thrown into a dumpster three-stories below. Surprised to hear something alive outside on a Saturday morning, I have a look out the window and saw a few people roaming down the street and hear shouts and cheers around the corner. “Ahh,” I thought, “real activity downtown!” So I take a quick shower, throw on trousers and a shirt, grab my camera and wander downstairs to hit the street.
Only, no one’s there … 
Huh?
There are plenty of vehicles, but no people. I’ll swear I heard people. It’s not that I like to interact with folks, I’m pretty anti-social in crowds actually, but I like to people-watch and know that something is alive downtown and is drawing people in. Well, not today. So I surmise that I must’ve been listening to a “Life in the City” soundtrack or something rigged by the City to draw people in and keep folks like me there. They’re devious that way. But I figured since I was already outside, I’d might as well hit the road to somewhere.
So Asheville made the cut.
Good Lord! Asheville ROCKS! The last time I was there was one weekend near the end of April. My date and I wandered around downtown, stopped in the Grove Arcade for lunch, wandered around some more, and called it a day. It was impressive back then, but today I was utterly astonished at the explosion of activity that came about in those few short months! It reminded me so much of a European town. It’s compact, there are many great shops lining the streets, and there were tons of people walking around and eating at the cafes on the sidewalks. The downtown was alive! And there were LOTS of beautiful women. Several of whom, I understand, are looking for the other beautiful women there rather than for me. But, damn they were all stunning!
The whole atmosphere reminded me so much of Europe. Asheville is a model of urban redevelopment and of what can happen if it’s done right. It’s a comfortable city. I couldn’t help but wonder why Knoxville just doesn’t “get it” yet. We (as in the city, collectively) have potential, but only a minimal desire to do something. We see sporadic activity here, but with the exception of UT football (ick!), I have NEVER seen my streets as active as those of Asheville on any given Saturday. I wanna just shake the leaders of our town and point to you guys and say “LOOK! LOOK! See what can happen?! It really does work if you just try it!”
But, in the mean time, any Asheville dopers want to adopt me? I’m sure I’m good for something. 
