I’ve been waiting for an outpouring of anger and disbelief in the editorial pages and the blogs for the last several days, and it’s amazing to me that it hasn’t materialized. Am I the only one who finds it hard to believe that our elected members of the city council recently voted to reject a [...]
UPDATE: Newly elected council member Court Rosen requested additional financial information at a council meeting on August 18th, leading many Countryside supporters to believe he supports selling the property. His complete comments are available here. Valerie Garner, President of the Countryside Neighborhood Alliance and unsuccessful candidate for city council in 2008 makes her position clear [...]
It appears that Countryside is about to receive a five year reprieve from the threat of development. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, the future of the golf course remains uncertain. The Roanoke Times recently ran an editorial supporting the plan for a five year lease that allows the city to [...]
Before the Joe Smith ads appeared in local papers last weekend, I had already made up my mind to ignore the endorsements of various organizations for their chosen slates of candidates, and instead select individual candidates based on their merits. While the “For the City” slate that swept the last election was instrumental in finally [...]
Let me say upfront that I am neither a supporter nor an opponent of Court Rosen. I know very little about him other than that he is well spoken and has a natural gift for providing eloquent but evasive answers to pointed questions. I also know that Mr. Rosen was recently the victim of a [...]
For as long as I can remember, there has been a great deal of talk around the Roanoke Valley about regional cooperation, but in my lifetime I have witnessed very few concrete results. The current debate over the location of an intermodal freight facility in Elliston gives us a clear example of why progress is [...]
On Tuesday evening, I attended a forum with all of the candidates for Roanoke City Council and Mayor. Actually, all of the candidates save one were in attendance. Brian Wishneff’s decision not to participate was probably related to the fact that he had publicly referred to his fellow council members as slimy democracy hating thugs [...]
At a time when our city is in dire need of fresh thinking from our elected leaders, the city council has followed the predictable path in their choice of applicants to interview for the seat vacated by Alfred Dowe. Of the twenty-two people who applied for the seat, council apparently only sees fit to grant [...]
The local papers have been filled lately with articles and letters bemoaning the sad state of the Transportation Museum. Many writers place the blame directly on lack of funding from the city and state, while others seem to suggest that contributors to the new Taubman Museum of Art are somehow responsible, since they haven’t supported [...]
I am not a particularly enthusiastic supporter of the Rockledge Inn proposal by Valley Forward, but only because I do not believe that it has as much potential to attract people to the valley as the group suggests. There are legitimate pros and cons to consider, and these have been debated vigorously over the last [...]