In the past 20 years, there has been a major shift in demographics by level of education. We used to have a fairly even distribution of college graduates per total population nationwide. The shift is to the northeast and the west coast, which now have proportionately twice as many college grads as the midwest. That’s because the idea driven economy brings idea driven people together. Not to say that a college degree is required to be part of that group, but it is an good indicator, overall.

That’s why I’m glad Roanoke has finally seen fit to invest in things like the new medical school, the art museum, and the trolley buses. Without things just like that we will go down the path of other declining cities, although much more slowly, since we were never really a boomtown to begin with. We didn’t have the huge upsurge in real estate prices, so the downfall is much less also.

I think Roanoke is going to come out OK in the end, with some obvious pain along the way. The loss of Mill Mountain Theater was a sad result of the times, and the school budget issue is obviously discouraging. In the end, though, I think the City will come through with a leaner, more efficient school system. Sounds like a couple of the school buildings were in need of retirement anyway.