Kilgore told the Daily Planet, “I feel there’s a need for us (council) to explore other options to make downtown more accessible and multimodal-friendly, rather than to introduce more bike activity into a high-density area. Maybe we should look into options, such as securing off-site, city-owned properties for workers downtown, with a shuttle service running every 15 minutes. This would eliminate a lot of traffic.”

At the council meeting, Trib Papers reported that during Kilgore’s voicing of her concerns about the bike lanes, Councilwoman Kim Roney’s stated that Asheville used to have the second-best trolley system in the nation — “and now it has the second-highest rate of pedestrian and bicycle accidents in the state.”

Roney, an avid cyclist, also said council has to make the streets work for all people — and slowing automobile traffic makes the roads safer for drivers, as well as others.

To Roney’s assertion, the Tribune Papers reported that “Kilgore responded that locals weren’t going downtown already —  and the bike lanes would only add to traffic congestion, which is getting worse already, with population growth.”

As she said at the council meeting, Kilgore reiterated to the Daily Planet that council is “providing a lifestyle for a set amount of people” — specifically “the elite, who already live in the central business district, or those who can afford to vacation in Asheville.” 

She added, “This excludes accessibility for many of the local people... These bike lanes not only slow traffic, but eliminiate parking , so eventually directly — or indirectly — it will affect businesses downtown.”

Kilgore also told the Daily Planet, “My response to Kim Roney (at the meeting) was that the first electric cars (actually) were functioning in 1889 — and, at the time, Asheville had a population of less than 10,000. In 1934, they had to start phasing out the trolley and introducing buses and cars” because the trolley were proving to not be an effective mode of public transit any more. 

Further, the councilwoman, a realtor, told the Daily Planet, “The present population of Asheville is about 95,000 — and since 1889 and 1934, “the downtown area has seen very little added square footage” or extra streets. 

After a pause, Kilgore said, “Well, if you want to slow the traffic (as Roney said), the more effective way is you could just reduce the speed limit and enforce traffic violations than to use bike lanes” to slow traffic. 

“I take offense... I think what they’re trying to do to me” and to her native city” is horrific. “They’re trying to make Ashevile something it’s not — more in line with European-type countries. However, their streets (in Europe) are designed a whole lot differently. They’ve always been those kind of places,” where bike lanes exist. “That’s the way they were designed. 

“Asheville — because we have a unique topogaphy here — bikes lanes in congested urban areas do not work, Kilgore contended.

“A better solution is we have thousands of biking trails all through WNC... They could have access to downtown with access to pedestrian walkways,” rather than bike lanes further congesting traffic-clogged city streets.

“It’s not only access to car, but to the vehicles that have to come downtown to service the businesses... not to mention the increased hardship on emergency vehicles. This is an election year and Asheville on Bikes (the bike club) has a very strong advocacy group.”

When pressed by the Daily Planet about whether Asheville on Bikes ranks — in her estimation — as the most influential group in swaying council, Kilgore replied, “The one who influences Asheville (council) more than anyone is the Sierra Club, of course. 

“But here in Asheville, they (Asheville on Bikes) are among the top ‘influencers.’” 

During the meeting, the bike lanes’ discussion occurred after Asheville Capital Projects Director Jade Dundas gave an update on the city’s capital projects and asked if there were any questions.

As Kilgore continued to raise concerns, Mayor Esther Manheimer interjected a clarification that Dundas’ presentation was merely an update for the council, which would be able to vote in the future to accept or reject the winning bidder.

Councilwoman Gwen Wisler added that council had approved the bike lanes with its approval of the budget like it does every year.

“I clearly respect where you are and that you disagree with it,” Wisler said, according to Tribune Papers. “However, I really question our process, if we’re going to open this back up after all the public engagement and the fact that we voted on this.”

Earlier, in her questioning of the College/Patton bike lanes, Tribune Papers stated that, “according to Kilgore, when the Biltmore Avenue bike lanes were proposed, ‘a member of council whose business was affected by it ... was impacted by it, so she understood the concern.”

Later in the bike lanes’ discussion, Tribune Papers reported, “Councilwoman Sage Turner asked for the opportunity to ‘correct’ Kilgore’s ‘insinuation.’ She (Turner) was the anonymous councilwoman referenced — and she said her business did not oppose the bike lanes because it would not have been impacted.

“Secondly, she (Turner) asked for clarification on why the Merrimon Avenue bike lanes came before the council for a vote, the College/Patton bike lanes were approved via the budget adoption — and the Biltmore Avenue bike lanes didn’t  come before the council at all.

“Manheimer explained that the Merrimon bike lanes represented a potential partnership with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the College/Patton project was fully under the council purview, as part of the budget, and the Biltmore Avenue lanes were part of the NCDOT project that now has to be funded by the city because it (the city) pulled out at the last minute.”

“Kilgore returned to her point that representatives from businesses that would be directly affected by the bikes lanes on Biltmore and Merrimon, telling her, ‘knew nothing about’ the proposals,” the Trib Papers reported. “‘We’re (city officials are) saying we’ve done it (outreach) — and they’re (affected businesses) saying we haven’t.’

Later, during the general public comments portion of the meeting, Jonathan Wainscott, a West Asheville resident and frequent critic of council, said (acccording to the Trib Papers’ report), “I would like to say, ‘Bravo!’ to Councilwoman Kilgore on the bike lane issue.

After a detailed critique of problems he perceives with the engineering of the current traffic lanes and how they can be off by as many as 4 feet in width, causing problems for the traffic flow and especially emergency vehicles, Trib Papers reported Wainscott as saying to Kilgore:

“Thank you (councilwoman), for stepping up. I’d love to get together with you between now and next time and grab a couple more people and put together a 10-minute (beating the air with his fist) on this because it’s bad, bad, bad,” 

Meanwhile, Kilgore, speaking generally about her viewpoint on bike lanes in urban Asheville, concluded her interview with the Daily Planet by saying the following:

“I think we, as a council, must take into consideration the unique factors of Asheville — unique  historic structures and roadways — which limit our flexibility to put in place changes that other areas may be able to accommodate.”