Answer Man: Asheville Outlets crime stats? ‘City app’ poor response?

(Asheville Citizen-Times) I did indeed ask Asheville Police Department spokeswoman Christina Hallingse for crime stats at Asheville Outlets going back five years, and she delivered. Keep in mind that the Outlets opened in May 2015, so the data from 2014-April 30, 2015 is for the previous tenants or unfinished property.

“Thirteen percent (220 calls) involved shoplifting, larceny and business breaking and entering, crimes consistent with major retail areas,” Hallingse said. “Of these calls for service 0.3 percent of incidents (six total incidents) are categorized as violent crimes —rape, homicide, robbery and aggravated assault.”

Hallingse also noted that Asheville Outlets is located within the Police Department’s Adam District, which encompasses West Asheville.

Read John Boyle’s full column HERE>

Asheville’s Flatiron hotel project OK’d by Downtown Commission as local concerns linger

(Citizen-Times) Plans to redevelop Asheville’s historic Flatiron Building into an 80-room boutique hotel will move ahead after receiving approval this week from the city’s Downtown Commission, a green light that comes with a lengthy list of concerns about its potential impact on the community.

Much of the commission’s roughly three-hour meeting Friday centered on a proposed multimillion dollar renovation effort for the 93-year-old property at 20 Battery Park Ave. Charleston, South Carolina-based developer Philip Woollcott has offered a plan in conjunction with building owner Russell Thomas to convert it from primarily small business use to a hotel with two bars and a restaurant.

Woollcott, an Asheville native, said the proposal — which still requires City Council approval — is designed to preserve the aging structure while putting forth a business model to “provide stability for it to sustain itself for generations to come.”

Red the full report by Dillon Davis <HERE>

A look back… A look forward…

Happy New Year everyone! 

I am so excited for 2019!!!! Each year, I give myself a battle cry phrase, a mantra if you will, to help define my actions. (I don’t do annual resolutions, but rather themes to underpin my actions.)

2016 was the year of my Phoenix rising. I was emerging from the back end of sweeping and humbling times in my life. I had gone from the top to the rock bottom, between 2013-2015 and I was ready to start climbing my way back up again. So I needed to remind myself daily of the story of the Phoenix. And it worked! I ended 2016 hopeful, energized and happy.

2017 was “Service”. Feeling the momentum out of 2016, I sought to redefine what I was doing with my life and my time. I wanted everything I touched to be of benefit to others. I knew what it was like to be alone, lost and confused so I wanted to bring hope and impact to other people’s needs.

For 2018, my personal call to action phrase was simply “Purpose!”. And what a year 2018 turned out to be. Wow. I tried to always focus on the purpose behind anything I did, to help guide my steps, last year and it worked. My life is so strongly aligned around service and purpose now, like never before. I’m so grateful. But that’s just the start. I needed to acknowledge the spokes of this wheel with a worthy follow up mantra, a challenge to myself to see these things through to the next level of impact.

My 2019 phrase for myself is…. “Dominate!” Because it is born out of purpose, service and humility, I feel like I’d be blowing smoke in the face of God if I didn’t do everything I could to increase the impact of the blessings I have received in my own life over the past few years. So, as we enter into a new year, my prayer for each and every one of you is that you find your call to action for the year and make it your guiding principle in everything you do.

#love – Matt

The Elder Pole

By Matt Mittan

I’ve had a lot of fishing poles over the years but there is one that has proven itself over the test of time. It’s got a couple of eyes on it that have been repaired with the old dental floss/nail polish trick. The handle padding is worn down to the nub. And there are more stretch marks on its core than… never mind, I won’t finish that sentence.

Here’s where the magic is….

Read the Full Column in Angler Magazine <HERE>

I can’t be Silent about Sam

Commentary by Matt Mittan

(Warning: This post may tick some of you off but it might also set you free.)

We are living through a very tense time in our nation and I think it is imperative that we speak with moral clarity and candid truth.

NC has been thrust into the national spotlight again, on the issue of race, due to the toppling of the Confederate Monument on UNC referred to as “Silent Sam”.

Many who are angered over its desecration yell “it’s history, not hate” or “its about states rights, not racism”… The question we should be asking is not whether it should go back up or not but why was it put up in the first place and when?

Rather than argue for days on end, lets not guess but instead go to the source… The statue was put up in the Summer of 1913, during the Jim Crow era.

Here’s what UNC trustee and Confederate Veteran Julian Carr, the keynote speaker at Silent Sam’s unveiling ceremony said… (Taken directly from the transcript stored in the UNC Library achives.)

“The present generation, I am persuaded, scarcely takes note of what the Confederate soldier meant to the welfare of the Anglo-Saxon race during the four years immediately succeeding the war, when the facts are that their courage and steadfastness saved the very life of the Anglo-Saxon race in the South. When ‘the bottom rail was on top’ all over the Southern states, and today, as a consequence, the purest strain of the Anglo-Saxon is to be found in the 13 Southern States — Praise God.
I trust I may be pardoned for one allusion, howbeit it is rather personal. One hundred yards from where we stand [on Franklin Street], less than ninety days perhaps after my return from Appomattox, I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted an maligned a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers. I performed the pleasing duty in the immediate presence of the entire garrison, and for thirty nights afterward slept with a double-barrel shotgun under my head.”

Those are the words spoken right there at the statue, the day of its unveiling, by a trustee on UNC who was the invited keynote.

Here’s how I see it… We are at a crossroads of accountability in our country’s evolution. Are we going to rise above the darker truths of our history by owning the harshness of true evils that occurred, and become the shining light we propagate that we want to be, or will we continue to deny the ugly truths that – by our refusal to acknowledge – continue to chip away at the soul of our nation?

No… You didn’t own the slaves youselves… But your denail of the actual history and the plainly articulated sentiments behind so many of these ‘monuments’ is yours to own.

When you have been shown the truth but still subscribe to a false narative then it keeps wounds open, it breeds resentment and it marginalizes fellow citizens from discovering the common goals and shared values that exist between us, within our communities.

It’s been over 150 years since the Civil War ended. But it’s been less than an hour since I’ve seen people try to justify, defend or excuse the hate that lingers in its wake.

Rise above it. Please.

(Posted from a place of #love…)

Commentary: The dying corporate culture

Commentary by Matt Mittan

It’s not surprising to me that the “Gig-Economy” is expanding the way that it is. The “Gig-Economy” is the world ruled by entrepreneurs, independent contractors and the self employed. This is a segment of the economy that is populated by people who do what they want, the way they want to do it, on the schedule of their choosing. And, according to a report in Business News Daily, 36% of the American work force is already independent. And numerous workforce study reports predict that we will see the freelance workforce in America surpass 50% within the next 10-15 years. So why is this happening?

Of course, technology is a huge factor in the change. More and more people can be productive from just about anywhere, so long as they have internet or cellular connectivity to the outside world. And culturally, younger generations have a different mindset about work / home balance. But I think there’s more to it than that.

There are too many times, when I’m trying to deal with corporate entities, that common sense and rational thought processes go right out the window. I can’t explain why, but there is a certain paralysis that manifests itself within many large corporations. People are often locked into rigid habits and routines that void them of even the most basic of independent decisions. And even where there may be empowerment to take action on items, many in the large corporate culture seem unwilling to make moves that may draw attention or engage any level of risk. Better to stay the course than to be party to something that may not work out.

When absorbed into this kind of environment, many employees and managers are blind to the inefficiencies and obtuseness of their stagnation. Employees who do see and feel the frustration and inevitable failure of this mind set in a company end up leaving, either to a more empowered work environment or they branch out to work for themselves.

In the face of constant turn over of employees and the challenges many businesses face in recruiting talent, many choose not to adjust their ways but instead clamp down on their key personnel even more rigidly. This further stifles creativity and workplace morale, which more and more people seek as a key factor in a job. Corporations that are learning to embrace the trend of independent workers are picking up speed, not slowing down. Unfortunately, most still don’t get it.

Which brings me back to where I began, it’s not surprising to me that the “Gig-Economy” is expanding the way that it is. Corporate culture is dying in the hearts of the American worker.

(Matt Mittan hosts the afternoon drive show on Biz Radio Asheville and owns an insurance and employee benefits agency in Asheville, NC.)

From my heart…

Swannanoa Valley, NC. Photo by Matt Mittan.

Good day everyone! I wanted to offer up this personal THANK YOU for all the support and enthusiasm over the past few weeks, as I’ve jumped back onto the airwaves. I felt like it was a good fit to do this now, while still being able to grow my employee benefits business and maintain my personal life balance – simultaneously.

Well, I just had one of the strongest growth 1st Quarters ever for Mittan Insurance – even while being part of the team in seeing Biz 1350 launch and start growing too. But it hasn’t taken away from the beautiful life balance I enjoy, outside of work, either. I still have time to be with the people I love. I still get time to play my guitar and sing. And, of course, there has to be time to get out and fish once in a while too. I am SO grateful! The best part? I feel like each of the efforts I’m involved in right now are actually helping make a positive difference! That’s all I want.

 

I feel so blessed right now for this but even more so for the love, friendship and faith that surrounds me. I sit in awe and gratitude. I will not take it for granted. The last 4-5 years were an extremely challenging and reformative time in my life. The first half of that, seeing all that I thought my life was be torn down and decimated. The second half of that climbing back out of the rubble.

During that climb I have been fueled and affirmed by the most unconditional love and support that my heart could ever dare pray to receive. In hindsight, I can see that those things would never have been unearthed if not for the hard times I had to endure. And even before that could happen I had to first come to peace with God, and myself, and have faith that things would get better if I just stayed positive, humble, grateful for the best of what I had and employed the spirit of a servant – without expectation of return. 

 

It works. I’ve come out the other side. It has left me feeling more empowered, free and at peace with “being me” than at any other point in my life. I feel like a passenger on an amazing ride, not the pilot of my own ambitions. There’s a big difference. And you can get there too. If you are going through a hard time where it’s hard to see the way forward, don’t lose faith that it can improve. And, from my own journey, I’d say embrace the hardship as a cleansing and strengthening process. Believe me, I know, it’s not easy to do while in the fire and fury of crisis or enduring challenges. I was there too. 

Here’s the thing though… You can recover and come out stronger, more at peace and feeling a more purpose-filled existence than ever before. I only hope I can pay the insights, the experience, the compassion and the encouragement forward that I have been so fortunate to receive from so many of you.

THANK YOU. I love each of you!

#purpose

Two weeks in… Oh my!

By Matt Mittan

What a fun ride this is!

Before two months ago, I would not have believed you if you told me I’d be right back in the thick of local, afternoon drive time radio. I have to tell you that I’m having more fun broadcasting now than I’d had in many, many years. Perhaps it’s the timing in the community. Perhaps it’s the timing in my own personal life. Perhaps it’s the format of the brand new station. My bet is that it’s the combination of all of these things.

In just the past two weeks, there have been 15 different community guests – from all walks of life, on all kinds of topics and with the full range of motivations and emotions found within the human experience. We’ve laughed. We’ve gotten active on a couple issues. We’ve even watered up our eyes a couple times, together. We’ve reflected back on where we’ve been and have looked forward to where we are going. In short, we are building commUNITY. And it’s exactly why I decided to take the invitation to jump back on a mic.

One of the most exciting, and validating, things so far for me is to see the way people are jumping right in to make it their own. Because here’s a trade secret… I’ve never looked at neighbors tuning in as “listeners”, I’ve look at you as “partners”. What I do doesn’t work in a vacuum. When it’s clicking, and it IS clicking right now, I am more the sail for the community’s wind than a ship Captain. That’s the way a community broadcaster should operate, in my opinion.

So as we continue to press forward, know that I have unwavering respect and appreciation for all the engagement and enthusiasm this amazing region is pouring into this new platform. We have a very rare situation right now, when it comes to large format commercial broadcasting… The airwaves are in the hands of us!

Let’s make it what we dream it should be… together!

Yours in service,
Matt

 

You can listen to Biz 1350 Live Streaming at Biz1350.com or check out “The Matt Mittan Show” Best of Podcasts on TuneIn and iTunes. The show is on Live 4-6pm EST, Monday through Friday.

Here I go again…

I’d might as well make it official. I’m returning to the airwaves.

After taking the last few years away from the broadcast world to regroup, refresh and realign some stuff in my life, and to build my Employee Benefits business (Mittan Insurance), I’ve been given the amazing gift of getting to reconnect with – and serve – my neighbors in the way that only strong signal, local, daily, independent, talk radio can afford.

When I walked away from the mic, I really didn’t see – or want – a path back to the platform. But the time feels right. It feels right in my personal and professional life and it feels like the right time in our community. And I feel like the perfect partnership has come together, to do this right.

It’s been increasingly hard for me to just sit back and not engage when I see so much division, so much hostility and so much irresponsibility, by partisans and purveyors of personalities, when it comes to fair and meaningful dialogue.  Some of my friends think I’m crazy for jumping back into the fray. But I have hope.

I don’t think I’m alone in my hunger for some unifying space on the radio dial again. I believe we can bring accountability to important matters, without letting it be overtaken by political agendas or titillating controversies, just for the mere benefit of ratings. And I know we can have fun while still being relevant and inclusive.

Fear is an overplayed card these days. The flame of suspicion in one another is given too much fanning. And, there’s too much focus on what divides us rather than what brings us together.

I don’t have any grand delusions of what this new show and new station might be. All I know is that I must try to do something to give us a place where we can gather each day and compare notes – together. We can laugh together. We can cry together. We can learn. We can teach. We can even flood phone banks if need be. But mostly, let’s just be a community again.

That’s why I’m going back on the air. To try and build community. That’s worth taking a stand for still, isn’t it?

Thanks,
Matt Mittan