Answer Woman: What's going in the old Gondolier Restaurant? Black Mountain cameras?
Today's burning questions are about a vacant lot in East Asheville and new equipment that has gone up around Black Mountain. Got a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Interim Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.
Question: Wondering if you could find out what's being built in Oteen where the Gondolier Restaurant used to be?
Answer: Gondolier, a chain restaurant, was open from 2014-2018 before it closed its doors.
Where the building once stood at 1360 Tunnel Road is now an empty lot, owned by Azalea Management & Leasing. According to CEO Carl Ricker, the lot will soon be turned into a new Bojangles to replace the one just a few doors down.
Ricker said he was hesitant to give a definite timeline, but he estimates construction will be done in about four months, opening in the summer.
He also said Azalea Management & Leasing will be opening another new Bojangles at 466 New Leicester Highway. Ricker said he doesn't have a definite timeline for this new location either, but it will take "longer" than the one on Tunnel Road.
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Question: These portable solar cameras have been spotted in several locations in Black Mountain. What are they used for, and by whom?
Answer: I first turned to Black Mountain Town Manager Josh Harrold for the answer to this one. He said these pieces of equipment, sometimes known as flock cameras, are automated license plate readers. He referred me to Black Mountain Chief of Police Steve Parker for more information.
Parker said these license plate readers are used by the police department, but the department does not get a photo of every license plate that passes by.
"We don't know about it unless they're entered into NCIC, which is the FBI federal database where stolen tags, wanted people, serious criminal offenders are placed," Parker said. "When we get notified, what happens is we get a snapshot picture of the back of someone's car."
The National Crime Information Center Parker is talking about started in 1967 and is a database shared by law enforcement agencies around the country.
Parker said once a license plate that fits one of the criteria he described is scanned, it is sent to the police department. However, the transmission only gives them the snapshot of the license plate. The department is not given any other information such as a name or address. Parker said the department has to have probable cause to find out further information through the database.
"We're not like big brother watching everybody," Parker said. "It's more of a notification that there's a serious criminal offender."
He said this technology is not unique to Black Mountain, or even to the area. Parker said while Black Mountain has had the devices put up since November, Montreat has had them for over a year. He said numerous homeowners associations across the state use them and the last two departments he has worked in utilized them as well.
Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley community reporter for Black Mountain News.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Woman: Empty East Asheville lot? Black Mountain cameras?
