{"id":290073,"date":"2026-04-28T18:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/290073\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T18:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:36:51","slug":"asheville-locals-respond-after-fox-news-calls-downtown-unsafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/290073\/","title":{"rendered":"Asheville locals respond after Fox News calls downtown ‘unsafe’"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A national article written and published by Fox News<\/a> on April 25 describes Asheville as a quaint mountain town battling homelessness and an \u201cunsafe downtown.\u201d The New York Post<\/a> later shared the piece.<\/p>\n

It has sparked a strong reaction<\/a> from locals, with people expressing both support and opposition to the article\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of misrepresents downtown,\u201d said Clark Hollins, longtime owner of Hearn’s Cycling & Fitness<\/a>. \u201cI think downtown has gotten a lot better. Pritchard Park is a lot better. We don\u2019t have people sleeping on the sidewalks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asheville Coalition for Public Safety chairperson Honor Moor said safety concerns remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Asheville Coalition for Public Safety hears about these complaints on a regular basis,\u201d Moor said. \u201cMany of our members live downtown and shared this article. They feel we have a lot of challenges still downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fox News article, written by an online reporter based in Florida, reported that the homeless population has grown to more than 800, a 9.1% increase from last year. It also included comments from former Asheville City Council Member Carl Mumpower, a Republican, who said the city\u2019s council previously dismantled the police department.<\/p>\n

FOX NEWS ARTICLE CLAIMS ASHEVILLE IS ‘PLAGUED BY HOMELESSNESS, CRIME’ AFTER HELENE<\/a><\/p>\n

Current city officials dispute that claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil did not defund or dismantle the police department,\u201d said Asheville City Council Member Bo Hess, who chairs the city\u2019s public safety committee. <\/p>\n

Hess said leaders are focused on addressing vagrancy downtown and noted a gradual return of tourism following Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust this past weekend, we had tens of thousands of people out on our streets,\u201d Hess said.<\/p>\n

Mumpower said he has received significant feedback since the article was published.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten lots of feedback,\u201d he said. \u201cMost of it good.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that while Asheville leaders are aware of concerns, other cities have taken stronger steps to maintain business-friendly downtown environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou find little or none of it in Charleston, little or none of it comparatively in Greenville,\u201d Mumpower said. \u201cAnd take a little journey to Biltmore Forest, on your way out of here, and go find a homeless person over there. There aren\u2019t any.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Rosenstein, a longtime Asheville resident and former restaurant owner who helped establish the city as a destination in the 1980s, said the article presents an incomplete picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one-sided,\u201d Rosenstein said.<\/p>\n

Rosenstein said homelessness and affordability challenges in Asheville are longstanding issues that have become more visible in recent years.<\/p>\n

NEW DATA SHOWS RECENT PATTERN OF FIRES, BREAK-INS IN ASHEVILLE’S RIVER ARTS DISTRICT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLots of what\u2019s happening to Asheville is very true and very sad,\u201d he said. \u201cThe beginning of a lasting solution, in my opinion, is that each of the parties, instead of playing the blame game, should ask themselves the question of how they\u2019re contributing to the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that affordability remains a central issue that city leaders continue to address. <\/p>\n

City of Asheville spokesperson Kim Miller provided News 13 with the statement sent to Fox News for the article responding to questions about how the city is dealing with the unhoused:<\/p>\n

The Continuum of Care (COC), a community-led, local collaborative planning body, is responsible for homelessness response. The City continues to focus on public safety.This month we launched the Asheville Police Department’s Downtown Plan, which will essentially double police patrols downtown – increasing day and overnight patrols and, in some cases, responding along with trained mental health counselors. Our REST Team program is an operational response to mitigate the effects of homelessness. It uses specially trained Asheville Fire Department staff to engage with concerned residents and people experiencing homelessness to problem-solve and connect them to resources.We have expanded our Panhandling ordinance and continue working with community partners like the Asheville Downtown Association and its ADID program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A national article written and published by Fox News on April 25 describes Asheville…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-290073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}