This image from McKibbon shows their plan for a high-rise luxury hotel towering over the Basilica of St. Lawrence.
The Church is holding a 'Say No to the Hotel' Rally! next Tuesday, September 11th, to protest the McKibbon Hotel plan for a hotel on city-owned land in front of the Basilica. The Rally starts at 4:30 at the City Building. City Council has said that they'll take public comment AND make a decision at their meeting that night.
Also, the Church will hold a public meeting tomorrow evening, Friday September 7th, in the conference room of the Renaissance Hotel at 31 Woodfin Street to present its proposal for developing this property.
On Saturday, members and supporters will get together from 3-5PM to make signs for the Tuesday rally. Please come! Bring your ideas, markers, and poster board to the church basement, Laurentine Hall.
Please email City Council, and attend the public meeting on Friday and the Rally on Tuesday.
In contrast to McKibbon's plan, St. Lawrence Park would reveal our beautiful church from all directions, creating a natural setting for this wonderful piece of architecture.
A park would attract walkers from all directions as they passed through a stand of trees on their way from one place to another. Far down Haywood Street and Page Avenue, this beautiful building could be seen through the trees.
A recent PARC PAC poll of frequent voters showed that 40% of Asheville voters want a park, 38% want to sell the land to the church, and only 13% want a hotel there.
Some people are making the silly argument that a park would be too expensive. In fact, the City already owns the land, and the price of grass and trees is quite low.
In comparision, the cost of those few hundred parking spaces at 51 Biltmore (that provided the base for the new McKibbon Hotel down there across from the Fine Arts Theater) was over 10 million dollars.
The same people who object to the park on the basis of cost had no trouble with the high price of that project!
Thanks for everything you do to keep Asheville green and beautiful,
from the folks at PARC.
. | 
