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A Busy Week In Asheville City Politics

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A busy week in Asheville city politics is wrapping up.  First, Republican state senator Chuck Edwards introduceda billthat would create city council districts in Asheville.  Currently all city council seats in Asheville are elected at-large, meaning anyone living anywhere in the city can run for any one of them.  Edwards bill is similar to the one pushed by his predecessor Tom Apodaca thatfailed in the General Assembly last summer.  Meanwhile, a study looking at what to do with the so-called 'Pit Of Despair' - a city owned property across from the U.S. Cellular Center - was calledfar worse by an Asheville city councilman.  Citizen-Times reporter Joel Burgess stopped by the BPR studios to talk with Matt Bush about the week's happenings.

Matt Bush joined Blue Ridge Public Radio as news director in August 2016. Excited at the opportunity the build up the news service for both stations as well as help launch BPR News, Matt made the jump to Western North Carolina from Washington D.C. For the 8 years prior to coming to Asheville, he worked at the NPR member station in the nation's capital as a reporter and anchor. Matt primarily covered the state of Maryland, including 6 years of covering the statehouse in Annapolis. Prior to that, he worked at WMAL in Washington and Metro Networks in Pittsburgh, the city he was born and raised in.