So I've covered Asheville city hall for most of 20 years. They are already scrambling to try to make sure they change *nothing* in the face of the massive public outrage about the water. 🧵 about their tactics and some ways to stop them... #avlgov #avlnews Asheville city gov, like many others, has three main tactics to tamp down public outrage: deflect/delay, co-opt and outright repression.

They've already started deflect/delay, blaming the water crisis on the weather... #avlgov #avlnews

Said this a lot before, but the wider prevalence of at-home tests (which don't make official tallied) means that case counts aren't a reliable indicator of a covid surge and haven't been for a long time. Pay attention to test positivity and wastewater. If you're wondering what your local covid test postivity is, you can find it here: covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…

Airbnb is killing our city.

Every dot represents a whole house/apartment where people actually lived until they were kicked out to bring in more asshole tourists. There are over 2,700 in Asheville. This is a fundamentally evil industry #avlgov #avlnews Numbers from Inside Airbnb: insideairbnb.com/asheville/

Since I first visited the site in late April, 90 whole home/apartment airbnbs added near Asheville. That means 90 households kicked out or denied housing in just a few months.
#avlgov #avlnews

So @CityofAsheville just canceled public meetings about an unpopular land swap they'd planned to do with Duke Energy. Would destroy one of the last dense patches of trees in downtown and one of the last parking lots locals can easily access... #avlgov #avlnews Wide backlash to project in recent weeks, from locals and some biz owners. Sizable city hall parking lot is right next to the current substation and could easily be used to expand it, but that would mean #avlgov bureaucrats would lose their special job perk parking spots #avlnews

Yankee gentry don't get the shit kicked out of them nearly enough. Sigh.

1) Queer leftists warned for years that a particular brand of coddled bigot, especially prominent in the jacobin "left," were just going to end up outright reactionaries

2) Spoiled aristocrats embracing rabidly far-right views ain't a new fad, including in nyc

Asheville city council meeting's started. Council unanimously votes to allow council member Antanette Mosley to attend remotely.

Meanwhile locals are required to attend in-person to speak. Covid rates here are currently sky high... #avlgov This is grotesque, mayor Esther Manheimer, who personally sanctioned a crackdown on anti-raxiat demonstrations and targeting of queer and trans mutual aid activists, is currently lauding Stonewall, a riot against the cops... #avlgov

Yeah, maybe a hierarchical non-profit complex primarily devoted to internal control and setting up a class of gatekeeping "leaders" isn't a solid vehicle for social change.

Maybe that was never the point of it and now even their rank-and-file are realizing that.

https://twitter.com/theintercept/status/1536666445601546241

The most vicious internal attacks I've seen on the left, hands down, have been leaders/orgs in a position of influence trying to hold on to power and cover up corruption, bigotry and abuse. But it's always grassroots call-outs that get the lion's share of the blame.