I went to a meet and greet at Bull and Bones last night. Three Town Council candidates were there: Krisha Chachra, Tom Rogers, and Greg Fansler. I had a chance to talk to all three one on one, and I was impressed with their enthusiasm for Blacksburg and their desire to preserve and maintain what makes Blacksburg "a special place" while at the same time having realistic and achievable goals for solving some of Blacksburg's long term problems.
All three candidates seem really dedicated to maintaining and extending the Town's "green" focus, and all three have this great vision of Blacksburg as becoming a "walkable" community. Chachra, Rogers, and Fansler each have different but complementary ideas about how to achieve this.
Chachra wants to create more opportunities to live and work downtown, and boy, did I see a lot of heads nodding among the younger professionals at this gathering who were listening. Fansler is an avid cyclist who wants to make it easier to walk and bike around town by putting more attention and focus on designing better and better-connected walking and biking trails (and Frank Lau, another candidate, is also keenly interested in this).
Tom Rogers is a real advocate for green space, more focus on parks and recreation, and spending more to upgrade and improve our recreational facilities.
One thing that really caught my attention was the number of young professionals at this gathering. Blacksburg has begun attracting more young professionals, largely because of the growth of Blacksburg's second economy. Virginia Tech is Blacksburg's first economy, but the success of the CRC business park has created a second and extremely important economy in Blacksburg--a business economy.
Why is this important? Blacksburg's second economy, which already employs more professional workers than the entire faculty and staff of the university, provides an important tax base for Blacksburg that will help support the Town and its green initiatives, among other Town goals. The second economy in Blacksburg, unlike the university, pays taxes, and creates lots of secondary financial benefits. Professional workers buy homes, shop in Blacksburg, eat in Blacksburg, and don't leave the community for four months out of the year. And these young professionals want the green emphasis and clearly like the idea of a town that is livable and walkable--low impact energy use can be business-friendly.
I think I saw the future of Blacksburg last night--at least a potential future--a Town that preserves the very best of what with have and yet moving forward with an conservation-conscious approach that makes the Town truly sustainable by supporting both our first economy--the university, and our second economy--the professional businesses that are growing, paying taxes, and creating jobs.
Blacksburg Town Council election and peer group politics
Hi "aroundblacksburg" - I appreciate your work promoting citizen democracy via cyberspace in Blacksburg, but want to caution you against seeing Town issues through the lens of your peer group. I am the developer of an NIH medical genetics research system and wish I had a chance to network in systems and other professional circles in Blacksburg. My own social circles in Blacksburg are different, but I am frequently cautioning my contacts there to look at Blacksburg politics through the eyes of all residents, not our own respective circles.
My commentary below, from the Roanoke Times, indicates the big issues in this election, from my perspective. I think it's among other things a matter of free market v. bailout capitalism. One of the key issues is what happened at First and Main, whether or not one supports the position of the current Council and the unamious ruling of the Virginia Supreme Court with respect to the submission of a developer a detailed mixed use plan and then attempt to develop according to an entirely different plan. This was wrong in three ways. First, a violation of public trust. Second, a huge waste of thousands of hours of the community's time. We have people of outstanding expertise and dedication in town whose time was wasted examing the details of a bogus plan - how would you feel if you spent many hours of your own time on a detailed plan that was never intended to be followed? Finally, I think it was a poor business decision. The mixed use plan was a good one, had developed public buy in. The developer choose to try something else, with perhaps a chance for a bigger bonanza in the short term, but also more risks of failure. We all nevertheless want this to succeed, but there are boundaries as to whether we should someday violate public and neighborhood wishes or our town treasury to provide a bailout for this poor decision. In the long term, sustained growth, continued increased homeowner property values, continued business prosperity, is best supported by preservation of the public trust as well as Blacksburg's neighborhoods, historic structures, and natural heritage. I hope we get a chance to discuss this further at some point.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Remember the Blacksburg council's past
New River Forum
By David Scheim
In May 2004, a landslide election victory changed the majority composition of Blacksburg Town Council. The reforms begun then will be an important backdrop for November's council election.
Prior to 2004, questionable actions by town government were not uncommon. For example, in 1999, it purchased the Brown Farm for $1.15 million from a friend of a town official, although the listed market price was $650,000. Nor was it rare then for council to disregard near-unanimous citizen views expressed at crowded public hearings.
In 2003, council attempted to defy the public will again with a push for a central sewer system in the Toms Creek Basin using an antiquated 1968 plan unsuited to the area's terrain. This system, the former town manager declared, was needed to fix a sewer capacity crisis in the North Main sector of town.
Adding gravitas to this deception, approvals for some development permits in the area were withheld. The capacity problem was fixed in 2005 by a minor sewer repair under Webb Street, known back in 2003 to have been the actual bottleneck.
Also, bogus cost figures were presented to citizens, state regulators and a court, with the actual costs later revealed in town documents. These spurious costs and this contrived crisis highlighted the absence of public merit to this project. The issue was not one of opposition to growth, as the defeated slate tried to portray it, but of open and responsive government, as citizens overwhelmingly affirmed in the 2004 election outcome.
Town council has made continued strides toward good government since that historic election. There is consensus in Blacksburg government today that preservation of our natural heritage, neighborhoods and balanced growth guided by the town's comprehensive plan are intrinsic to our quality of life and also to our economic growth. These draw and retain both business owners and skilled employees.
Council has continued to promote quality of life and economic development through projects including the rehabilitation of the Motor Company Building to LEED platinum standards, the Odd Fellows Hall restoration, the new Farmer's Market, and signs for the historic 16 squares. Blacksburg has fared as well as any regional municipality during this recession, unburdened by millions of dollars in repair costs for gravity sewers in a flood plain.
Two years ago, citizen concern was again aroused when a developer sought to construct a large-format retailer, likely a Wal-Mart Supercenter, in the First & Main development. The problem was that commercial rezoning had been obtained from council based on a different, detailed plan for mixed-use development. That original plan had gained not only public approval, but public buy-in that would have boosted its prospects for success.
Earlier this year, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled for the town, requiring the developer to obtain a special use permit for a big-box store to be built. The fundamental issue, once again, was one of fidelity to the public trust.
Incumbent Councilwoman Susan Anderson has been a dynamic leader in the open and responsive Blacksburg government of recent years that has served citizens so well. She has done this while continuing two decades of other exemplary civic service and merits our vote.
I support other candidates who likewise have deep roots in Blacksburg, strong records of civic, neighborhood and town government service, and who value citizen input. Candidates known by friends and neighbors who reach you through volunteers rather than direct-mailed glossy brochures are more likely to serve you better than those with deep-pocketed contributors.
Let us ensure that any large campaign donors are welcome partners but not behind-the-scenes masters of our town affairs.
I appreciate the opportunity for broadening this election to include more young voters, inspired by the candidacy of students in the race. This bodes well for increased civic engagement in town decisions.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary council service of Al Leighton and Tom Sherman, who are declining re-election bids. Both worked tirelessly over the years to enhance every aspect of town life. They will continue to make integral contributions to our vibrant town fabric.