Montgomery County Board of Supervisor’s Meeting tonight (October 24th, 7:15pm citizens to discuss the fate of the Phlegar Building (tearing it down or relocating it). … Any decision by the B.O.S. on this can have a very stong impact on the citizens of Christiansburg, stripping away the potential grants and revenue sources related to the development of the new Downtown Historic District. Read the rest of this entry »
The Community Planner is a quarterly journal on Planning. What makes it unique is that it is written to provide information to citizens as well as professionals. It is produced on a CD rather than in print because along with the 60 or so pages of each journal, there are also additional features added. For instance, in the article I wrote for the just released Volume I Issue 3, I refer to several tools that can help people understand the Freedom of Information Act and several sources of on-line information that citizens can find useful for determining what documents they need to request. Attached to the article, via links, are 3 pdf files which have a list of websites where you can find information on each state’s Freedom of Information Act, Retention Schedules for documents, and websites for each state’s auditor/Auditor of Public Accounts. Read the rest of this entry »
I got this information and wanted to share it. I have included this link to the flyer. If you can, print off the flyer and pass it around. History is more than just “old buildings”. It is about honoring where we’ve been and thinking on where we’re going. Taking advantage of local events and celebrations is a great way to spend a little and have a lot of fun!
Juneteenth Celebrations: Juneteenth is a traditional celebration of the end of US slavery. The local NAACP will sponsor or co-sponsor three events:
Friday, June 17th, 7pm, at New Mount Olive United Methodist Church in Radford, James Pennix will speak on the history of the subjugation of African-Americans up to the present. Mr. Pennix is Dean of Admissions at Radford University.
Saturday, June 18th, noon to 6pm, at the Rosa Peters Playground, at 300 Depot Street in Christiansburg. There will be entertainment and historical presentations. The pool will be open, and food available for purchase. Co-sponsored with the NAACP Youth Council, and the New River Valley Progressive Men’s Club.
Sunday, June 19th, 2pm, at Historic Smithfield in Blacksburg. There will be a remembrance ceremony of slaves who worked there. Co-sponsored with Historic Smithfield.
The Montgomery County-Radford City-Floyd County Branch of the NAACP will hold its next General Body Meeting on Sunday, June 26th from 3:30-5pm at the Christiansburg Community Center at 570 High Street. Please note there will be no General Body Meeting in July. For more information call 382-6751. All are welcome.
-Jim Klagge
Communications
NAACP.
Back in 2008, Amtrak started a holiday celebrating the history of the rail system in the United States. May 10th is the anniversary date of the driving of the “Golden Spike” out in Utah. That “Golden Spike” represents the last spike driven into the rail system that the East and West Coasts of the United States. The event is always set to fall on the Saturday that is closest to that May 10th date. Read the rest of this entry »
By now, most of you have see the “$100.00″ exercise that came to you with your water bill, was talked about in the newspaper, was posted on the internet, or came to a community/group meeting near you. Some of you have had some questions. And, many of you have had some questions bout the process.
The most important question I have heard from people working through the exercise is that they do not understand why there seems to be duplication of things in the different sections. There are several reasons for that to have occurred. Read the rest of this entry »
Prior to the June 14th, 2010 Planning Commission, I had a discussion with Planning Director Randy Wingfield about his inclusion in a proposed Sidewalk Ordinance of the statement that defines Open space as: “Any space reserved for common use (as among a homeowners association or as common space in apartment complexes) as to provide for outdoor living, patios, pools, lawns, play areas, walks, wooded areas and the like, but not including driveways and parking areas with the exception of driveways and parking areas strictly for community buildings, picnic shelters, ball fields, trails, pools, and similar common use amenities located within the open space.” (THE NEXT PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING WHERE THIS IS DISCUSSED OCCURS 6/29/10 AT 4PM AT TOWN HALL . Historic District Overlays are also on the menu…hope to see ya there.) Read the rest of this entry »
Oh yeah! Let’s cut that infrastructure budget some more.
Cambria Depot Parking Lot
The water was already moving onto Cambria Street when Meghan Dorsett went out to try to clean the drain. The volume of water flowing along the track side of the Depot was strong enough to pick up a big bag of railroad spikes stored by Norfolk Southern and carry them down the flow path. Fortunately, they were caught (by Meghan) and pulled out. It is hard to believe that the water flow was strong enough to move something that heavy, but I have it on video to prove it. This is the result of the storm drains that the town has dumping out onto the flat area by the Depot. It has been a problem some time but has gotten increasingly worse. Water also crosses the road and pours into the flat where it splits and goes around the Depot, making the Depot a virtual island.
I wonder if the Town will continue to ignore this problem until the Depot is damaged to the point it cannot be repaired. Maybe that is what they want. The failure of the Town to correct the issues sure makes you wonder. Or, maybe it is time to simply move the Depot … entirely out of Christiansburg before it is destroyed by the Mayor, Town Council, and Town Manager. It would be shame to see a building that has such historical significance for the area be destroyed or relocated.
Is the Depot in a floodplain area. Yes it is. Was there flooding before the Town allowed a lot of new development and impervious surface WITHOUT requiring the very storm water management techniques that would have mitigated the problem, uh…..NO! This flooding is a direct result of the failure of the Town to effectively manage storm water, a fact confirmed in the FEMA reports from last years flooding. The techniques required by code would be great if we were in the Eastern part of the state. The minimum State standards were set to take care of issues in the majority of areas which are relatively flat. It is up to each jurisdiction to improve on those codes based upon their own ‘landscape’. Montgomery County and Blacksburg have more stringent codes for stormwater issues in their jurisdiction. Christiansburg continues to apply the bare minimum required by the state.
Please note that once again, the creek did not overflow. This is simply water cascading downhill and being dumped into the Town’s personal reservoir that happens to be Norfolk Southern property. Why is the Town dumping storm water on a floodplain? Why hasn’t the Town taken steps to correct this situation? The property owners of these structures pay taxes. Shouldn’t the Town be taking steps that ‘do no harm’ rather than steps that are designed to create this flooding? Why are they still doing things that make the problems worse rather than trying to help fix the problems that they created?
It’s not just the Depot. This is happening all over town. Maybe some of the elected officials need to get in their vehicles during the next heavy rain and drive around looking. Maybe some of them could help try to keep some of the drains cleaned. I’ll be posting a bunch of photos in the future and sending all of the photos that I have collected from various areas of town to various agencies, state elected officials, and federal elected officials requesting help in dealing with Christiansburg’s storm water problems because until there are some serious changes in attitudes of elected officials, this problem will simply continue getting worse and worse. This is beginning to smell a lot like malfeasance.
There is another new page in the Christiansburg Issues collection found at: (.pdf versions of all of these are availalbe at: http://myvaresources.com/Special/DepotDazedPages.html. This one deals specifically with the Goals, Objectives, and Strategies Section of the Comprehensive Plan. To effectively use it, simply scroll down the list and look at promises made in 2003, renewed in 2008, and then look around to see which of those promises have been fulfilled and which have not. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you one of the people who got the information and the questionnaire in your mailbox? Whether you were or were not, you might want to look at this take of the process. It is a bit long for a blog and contains a lot of information on sources of information and relevant state code. If you don’t have the time, suffice it to say that I found the questionnaire to be of questionable design and value. Additionally, it appears to be biased and does not provide citizens with the information needed to make valid decisions for themselves. Happy reading….and you will probably find the 2 maps that I included as links in the article informative. A basic course in survey/questionnaire design might be useful for future applications.
The videos are up and running at myvaresources.com video files. It’s a 4 parter this time.
On another note: despite the additional flooding at the Emporium and Depot, the Emporium is hoping to reopen the front of the building in the next few days. We have discovered that while the Town’s sandbags on the sidewalk do not stop the flooding from near daily rains, it does reduce it significantly. Removing of those sandbags, without making some changes in the curb and gutter will be disasterous, so I hope the sand bags will stay in place until something is done. (Maybe they’ll put some of those planters that are preventing handicap access to the sidewalks on the other side of Cambria along side the curb, replacing the sandbags. It would look better.) The Toy Store, in the Depot, unfortunately, will be closed for a few more weeks for repairs. The Norfolk Southern Railroad is trying to help without even being asked, but their help will do little to prevent the continuing damage from runoff that we have been fighting for years on both buildings down there. It is with some irony that when I find myself standing out in the rain trying to divert runoff water so that it goes into the drain rather than up on the sidewalk that I remember that Cambria was once a separate community from Christiansburg. It was when the government of Cambria found itself unable to provide adequate water, sewer, and stormwater management, that Cambria trustingly turned itself over to the Town of Christiansburg for better service. Perhaps, if history repeats itself, it will be the Town of Christiansburg, one day in the future, that will have to turn the reins over to the Town of Blacksburg or Montgomery County because they can no longer provide for the safety and well-being of citizens. After all, what goes around….comes around.
Oh…and check out this blog on Bacon’s Rebellion. Interesting stuff!
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