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“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”  ~ MAYA ANGELOU

Dear Readers, Community, Friends,

What is the speed of recovery?

A HELENE SUCCESS STORY

Not surprisingly, the answer is sometimes slow. I learned of a wonderful, natural habitat called a riparian zone last week as Lisa Raleigh, Executive Director of RiverLink, 

spoke at Explore Asheville’s The Year Ahead. 

She told us the story of Karen Cragnolin Park: an auto-crushing junkyard when it was purchased back in 2006, is now a beautiful greenway, with a wild riparian zone that protected the river bank there – with 0% bank damage post-Helene. Riparian zones serve many roles at the banks of waterways: they filter pollutants, stabilize river banks with plants like native river cane, and thus reduce flooding as they absorb excess water. 

Read more about the Karen Cragnolin Park project here.

CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The YMI Cultural Center is reopening today (February 27th) after several years of renovations and updates to its auditorium, classrooms and conference rooms. Originally scheduled to open the day before Helene hit, they instead partnered with Bridging the Gaps WNC, and provided much-needed support to marginalized citizens. First opened in 1893, it is one of the oldest Black cultural centers in the U.S.

To see their calendar of events, click here.

This is the 60th issue of Platinum News! Written by Julie Miles, her passion is to act as a liaison between the Platinum team, their wonderful clients, and the community – striving to tell their stories, and make meaningful connections that fuel everyone’s purpose. Have a story to tell? Contact Julie here. 

Greetings!

Vic Isley and the crew at Explore Asheville offered a profound and helpful session at “The Year Ahead,” held on February 12th.

With rich discussions on the impact and lessons of Helene (from Sustainability, to Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Recovery), Vic encouraged us to adopt a “Both, And” philosophy, honoring our big losses, and also embracing the opportunity for us to collaborate to rebuild in a stronger and more resilient way.

In the President’s report, we learned that the visitor economy  supports $1 in every $5 in city and county revenues, and $265 million in state and local tax revenues are generated by the visitor economy as well. While it is no surprise that this was the hardest hit sector of our economy, quick action on infrastructure repair and marketing campaigns to bring visitors back to Asheville will accelerate the pace of recovery. Vic emphasized the need for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds.

And Walt Leger III, President and CEO of New Orleans & Company encouraged us to, “Work hard, collaborate, and take care of each other. Invest in your community, retain culture, and come back stronger. Intentionality is the key. Take the time to rebuild for the long term benefit of the community. You may not feel the benefits now, but future generations will.”

Eric Oberg, Senior Director of Programs for Rails to Trails Conservancy told us “Asheville will set the standard on how to repair. The country, and maybe the world, is watching.”

To view the full presentation of “The Year Ahead: The Road to Recovery and Revival,” please click here. 

Warm regards,

Michael

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