Tiger Mountain

10/28/2026

Vote.

Show up.

Get a Ballot

And Vote.

If you don't want to vote.

Show up anyway and don't.

10/09/2026

The City of Asheville is keenly aware that, for years, all of the open air parking lots downtown are an extreme danger to the public.

08/16/2026

Because we know that many of us are not protected and our freedoms are locked behind a paywall.

🔒 PROTECT YOURSELF: How to safely record and store video of police misconduct

When you record law enforcement, keeping that footage safe is just as important as hitting record. If your phone is seized or damaged, your evidence can disappear.

Here are the best free tools that automatically upload and secure your videos on external servers:

📱 ACLU Mobile Justice App
➤ How it works: Automatically sends recorded video directly to your local ACLU chapter.

➤ The benefit: Even if your phone is taken or destroyed, the footage is already securely stored offsite.

➤ Cost: Free on iOS and Android.
🌐 Signal Messenger (Note to Self)
➤ How it works: Use the encrypted "Note to Self" feature to instantly send media to your own secure cloud.

➤ The benefit: Signal uses industry-leading end-to-end encryption, meaning no one else can view or intercept it.

☁️ Auto-Sync Cloud Storage (Google Drive / iCloud / Dropbox)

➤ How it works: Turn on "Camera Roll Backup" or "Auto-Sync" in your settings.

➤ The benefit: Videos upload to the cloud the moment they are recorded, preserving the file instantly.

✊ Quick Tips for the Street:

➤ Set a secure passcode on your phone (not FaceID or TouchID).

➤ You have a constitutional right to film police in public spaces as long as you do not interfere with their work.

Knowledge is power. Share this to keep your neighbors safe. 📲📢

07/21/2026

The Corporate Lords

Why the ROAD Act Won't Stop Corporate Landlords

The United States faces a major housing crisis, and many people blame large corporations. These massive companies buy up neighborhoods, raise rents, and make it hard for everyday families to purchase a home. In response, Congress introduced the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The bill features a section called Title X, which proudly claims that "Homes are for People, Not Corporations." It sets a strict limit, stating that big investment firms cannot own more than 350 single-family homes. However, a closer look at the final law reveals that it is a paper tiger. Due to intense political compromises, the bill contains major loopholes that allow Wall Street to easily bypass these rules.

The Build-to-Rent Loophole

The biggest gap in the law involves "Build-to-Rent" communities. Originally, lawmakers wanted to force corporations to sell any newly built homes to normal buyers after seven years. That rule was completely removed from the final version. Now, a multi-billion-dollar investment firm can simply build an entire neighborhood of detached houses from scratch and rent them out forever. They never hit the 350-home limit because the law only protects older, existing houses. As a result, corporations will stop bidding on older homes and simply build giant rental complexes, keeping homeownership out of reach for local families.

Fake Rent-to-Own Deals

Another major problem is the "rent-to-own" exemption. The ROAD Act says corporations can buy extra houses if they offer them through programs that help tenants eventually buy the property. Unfortunately, the law does not include a strict timeline or a success rate for these programs. A corporate landlord can put a very difficult rent-to-own clause into a contract, knowing the tenant will likely fail to qualify for a mortgage later. The company gets to buy the house, keep it on their books indefinitely, and bypass the federal cap while pretending to help the community.

Pricing Tricks and Secret Companies

The law also states that if a corporation tries to sell a restricted home to a normal buyer and no one buys it, the restriction disappears. However, the bill fails to set fair pricing rules. A firm could list a home at a ridiculously high price, wait out the mandatory clock, and then keep it as a rental when no one offers to buy it.

Furthermore, enforcing the 350-home cap requires the government to track every single property owner. Wall Street firms excel at hiding their assets. They use thousands of tiny shell companies and local LLCs across different states to mask their total numbers. The Department of the Treasury simply lacks the staff to track these hidden connections.

The New Corporate Playbook

Ultimately, the ROAD Act will not stop corporate real estate hoarding. It will merely change the corporate playbook. Instead of buying individual houses on the open market, big companies will dominate the housing supply from the ground up. By building massive rental communities and using clever legal tricks, Wall Street will maintain its powerful grip on American neighborhoods.

07/18/2026

The Asheville Paradox: Why Glossy Travel Headlines Mask a Downtown Crisis
There is a massive, highly visible disconnect between official tourism data and the economic reality on Asheville’s streets. While corporate hotels boast stable revenue due to high nightly rates and emergency contracts, street-level economic indicators tell a much more alarming story. The glitzy national magazine travel lists are papering over a fragile, deeply stressed local economy. The truth is that downtown Asheville’s actual street-level footprint has cratered, leaving a ghost town in its wake.

The Sidewalk Reality Check

The days of dodging massive, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds on weekdays are entirely gone. According to regional tracking data from platforms like Placer.ai, overall foot traffic in the downtown core has dropped by a staggering 23% year-over-year. Unless it is a Friday night or a Saturday afternoon, parts of downtown are completely hollowed out. Weekday visitation—especially Mondays and Tuesdays—has hit historic lows, averaging just a fraction of weekend crowds. Locals are actively avoiding the area due to shifting vibes, and the tourists who do come are staying insulated inside resorts or driving straight to isolated destination hubs rather than walking traditional street blocks.

The Storefront "Extinction Cycle"

This loss of casual strollers has triggered a brutal cycle for independent businesses. The Asheville Downtown Association recently noted that over 40 brick-and-mortar storefronts downtown closed their doors permanently over a consecutive 12-month stretch. These weren't just new, fragile startups; several were multi-decade institutions. Most independent retailers and restaurants rely on a massive "leaf season" and holiday rush to build the cash reserves needed to survive the slow winter months. When those seasons underperformed, businesses burned through their remaining capital just trying to keep the lights on. By spring, their resources were completely tapped out. Compounding the issue, over 53% of surveyed downtown business owners stated they received absolutely zero financial cushion or grant assistance to survive the downturn, turning the commercial real estate landscape into a revolving door of rapid turnovers and empty windows. [1]

Small Business Exhaustion and Labor Crises
The fear of a downward spiral back into a neglected era—reminiscent of the boarded-up, abandoned storefronts of the 1970s and 1980s—is now a dominant concern among locals. While the Buncombe County TDA has millions of dollars to inject into massive national ad campaigns, independent shops, galleries, and restaurants do not. Many are operating on razor-thin margins and are highly vulnerable. At the heart of this struggle is a severe labor crisis. The hospitality and retail sectors account for the vast majority of local job losses over the past year. Severe staffing shortages mean that even surviving businesses are forced to limit their hours or reduce services, further killing the weekday vibe. [2, 3, 4, 5]
When a street loses 4 or 5 anchor businesses and the workers required to run them, the visual momentum breaks. People see a row of darkened windows, turn around, and leave. We are watching a town transition from a bustling, self-sustaining cultural hub into a deeply fractured, fragile tourist corridor.

07/05/2026

For nearly a year, establishments without food permits or outdoor seating were legally blocked from operating. This structural exclusion meant that general survival metrics completely glossed over the unique financial devastation experienced by standalone beverage establishments.

The Legal and Economic Inequity
The mandates created a stark divide in the hospitality industry, heavily favoring businesses that could adapt to dining or outdoor restrictions.

The Vetoed Lifeline: In June 2020, a bipartisan bill was passed by the NC legislature to allow standalone bars to serve patrons outdoors at reduced capacity. However, former Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, stating it was unsafe to pass permanent laws altering emergency health mandates.

The "Illogical" Distinction: While restaurants, breweries, distilleries, and wineries were allowed to resume partial indoor operations under the premise that they served food or produced their own product, private clubs and traditional bars were forced to stay fully shuttered. Standalone bars argued that they were equally capable of enforcing social distancing and capacity limits, but were denied the opportunity.

The Fight for Accountability
The anger and exhaustion felt by owners left to drown has since manifested into major legal battles that are actively coming to a head right now.

The Constitutional Violation Ruling: The North Carolina Court of Appeals officially ruled that Cooper's disparate treatment of standalone bars was "illogical" and directly violated the state constitution. The court recognized that the orders unconstitutionally stripped owners of their ability to earn a living.

The Supreme Court Decision: In late 2025, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that a pair of major lawsuits, backed by the North Carolina Bar and Tavern Association, could officially proceed to seek financial damages from the state.

Current Action: As of July 2026, lawyers representing affected bar owners have filed a motion to force former Governor Roy Cooper and former state Health Secretary Mandy Cohen to give depositions under oath. The legal teams are attempting to uncover the exact "science and data" used to justify keeping standalone establishments closed for over a year while allowing identically structured restaurant bars to trade.

06/30/2026

06/30/2026

Stable House: A Shelter System Without Bank Interest or Landlord Profit

Traditional renting pays someone else’s mortgage. Traditional mortgages can make families pay for the same home two or three times over through interest.

Stable House is a member-owned housing co-op designed to help people buy homes together, in cash, without landlord profit or bank interest.

The goal is simple:
lower the lifetime cost of shelter, create a fair path to ownership, and recycle every payment into helping the next household.
How Stable House Works

1. Members pool funds
Members contribute into a shared housing fund. The fund is used only for acquiring homes, maintaining reserves, and operating the co-op transparently.
No landlord profit.
No bank interest.
No hidden ownership game.

2. The co-op buys homes in cash
When the fund reaches the purchase target for a local home, Stable House buys the property outright.
No mortgage.
No institutional leverage.
No interest clock running in the background.

3. A transparent priority queue assigns occupancy
Members enter a public, rule-based priority queue. Your place in line is determined by clear factors such as contribution level, readiness, local need, and co-op rules.
If you move into a home before you have fully paid your cost-basis share, you make a locked monthly payment back into the fund.

4. Payments recycle into the next home
Your monthly payment does not enrich a landlord or bank. It returns to the shared fund.
That money then combines with new member contributions to help buy the next house faster.
One home becomes two.
Two become four.
The loop compounds.

5. Ownership transfers when cost-basis is complete
Once your total contributions and monthly payments equal the home’s cost-basis under the co-op rules, the home can transfer into your name free and clear.
The purpose is not permanent dependence on the co-op.
The purpose is stable ownership.

6. Members have a fair exit path
Before full ownership, if you need to leave, Stable House provides a published exit process through the member reserve and occupancy transfer system.

The goal is simple:
No punishment for leaving.
No predatory lock-in.
No trap.

Why Stable House Matters
It removes the interest burden
Bank interest forces people to work extra years for the same roof. Stable House is designed to remove that cost multiplier.

It removes landlord profit
Your payment builds shelter equity and community capacity instead of paying someone else’s investment return.

It lowers monthly pressure
Payments are based on real cost: purchase price, taxes, insurance, maintenance, and reserve requirements — not whatever the rental market can squeeze out of you.

It builds local resilience
Every paid-back dollar helps the next household. The model turns housing from an extraction pipeline into a community ownership engine.

It gives people a floor
People cannot build stable lives while housing panic eats every paycheck.

Stable House exists to give ordinary people a real path to shelter, ownership, and breathing room.

The Core Signal

Stable House is where freedom gets a floor.
It is not charity.
It is not speculation.
It is not landlord reform.

It is a member-owned path to stable shelter without bank interest, landlord profit, or permanent dependency.

06/30/2026

I loved listening to music with all of you, learning about the songs that you liked, and what you danced to. It was great.

Today, I want to remind all of you that you need to get into Homeownership.

I have a project that you can look at, called Stable House: A Community Liberty.

I'll give a description of it in the comments