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Category Archives: Environment

Open Government Focus in Latest Issue of The Community Planner

20 Jun

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 »

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Posted by on June 20, 2011 in Citizen Participation, Economic Development, Environment, FOIA, Historic Preservation, Land Use, Local Government, US Government, VA government, Your Tax Money

 

Christiansburg VA Budget Information & Citizen Input

06 Mar

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 »

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Posted by on March 6, 2011 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Economic Development, Environment, Historic Preservation, Land Use, Local Government, Your Tax Money

 

A Plan Only Works if You Work It! (Christiansburg Sidewalk Saga)

10 Nov

A plan is a wonderful thing. It involves thinking about a problem and coming up (generally) with a written document that identifies the Goals, Objectives, and Strategies needed to accomplish those, thus achieving the Plan. That’s a pretty simple concept in theory, but it doesn’t always work in practice. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on November 10, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Environment, Land Use, Local Government, Your Tax Money

 

Sidewalk Ordinance for Christiansburg, VA? What year?

08 Nov

Important information available for citizens at the Town’s website and one additional piece of work can be found at myvaresources.com concerning the Nov. 9 2010 Joint Town Council and Planning Commission work session. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on November 8, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Environment, Land Use, Local Government

 

VML Conference: Couldn’t go but want to know?

01 Nov

While representatives from the Town of Christiansburg Government went to the recent annual VML Conference, little information has trickled back to citizens about what information or ideas those people brought home with them…yet. Of course, it is still early and Town Council members have been very busy dealing with Town business.

Fortunately, VML (Virginia Municipal League) does an excellent job of outreach to citizens. They provide a website that includes a page of topics covered and handouts provided at: http://www.vml.org/CONF/10ConfHampton.html. If you are not one of those people who wants to sit back have information delivered to you, simply take the initiative to see what is available. Who knows, it may just give you the background you need to understand why some things are done the way they are, or might inspire you to come up with a different idea that would work better for your area. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on November 1, 2010 in Blacksburg, Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Economic Development, Environment, FOIA, Land Use, Local Government

 

Christiansburg Sidewalk Questionnaire beats the Citizen Satisfaction Survey in uselessness!

29 Oct

I didn’t believe it was possible to be more biased in information gathering that what was used for citizen input in the Christiansburg Comprehensive Planning process. In that case, rather than designing a survey specifically addressing the role and function of a Comprehensive Plan, the Town used a survey that had been presented earlier concerning Citizen Satisfaction. The Citizen Satisfaction Survey does not contain questions that should be included in a Comprehensive Plan Survey and, at the time they were collected, people did not know the data was to be used to project future goals and objectives. It was simply a device which asked people how they felt about their services and Town right at that time. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on October 29, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Environment, Land Use, Letter vs Spirit of the Law, Local Government, VOTE, Your Tax Money

 

Christiansburg Sidewalk Ordinance Review

10 Oct

Since I received so many emails and phone calls about the issue of the Sidewalk Ordinance (and since the process was pretty darned confusing to me and I was at the meetings), I decided to do a summary using the 4 draft copies of the ordinance that I picked up at the Planning Commission Meetings. I have the drafts from June 14, June 29, August 16, and September 27 on hand. I set those up in a spreadsheet to show the process and changes. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on October 10, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Environment, FOIA, Land Use, Local Government, Your Tax Money

 

Does Microsoft have it’s reasons right? Sinkhole? In Christiansburg?

17 Sep

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/260579

I gotta wonder if there isn’t some misinformation here. After all, the Planning Commission and Town Council of the Town of Christiansburg, VA did a thorough study on this parcel of property. A CUP (Conditional Use Permit) was discussed, research, and approved allowing for above ground diesel storage tanks. Stuff like that should not be put in areas where the soil is not stable, particularly in areas where sink holes are prone to develop. I mean that would be unsafe and a potential ecological disaster. The health, safety, and well-being of a lot of citizens would have been put in danger should such be allowed on a site with these types of kartz features. Since that is one of the key goals of such elected and appointed officials, there must be a mistake. I hope the town will come forth with some information about this.

But, wait a minute isn’t this the same type of soil under the Blacksburg High School. So…. it’s not safe enough for Microsoft but it is for the children of Montgomery County.

I feel like I am getting a lot of mixed messages here. Can anyone make sense of all this?

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Posted by on September 17, 2010 in Blacksburg, Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Economic Development, Environment, Land Use, Local Government, Montgomery County, VOTE, Your Tax Money

 

What the Frack is this about? Fracking!

15 Sep

Let’s kick this discussion off with a reference to Wikipedia on the topic of “Fracking”. Although the biggest uproar going on right now is the use of this technique to get more natural gas out of the ground and available to consumers. Note, I used the word consumers, not citizens, because it ultimately is about selling product and making money. Let’s not hide behind any false ‘for the public good’ lines without acknowledging that certain companies are going to make a lot of money off of this practice. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on September 15, 2010 in Citizen Participation, Environment, VOTE

 

The Future Land Use Map and How to Abuse It.

10 Aug

Okay, I’ve done enough dancing around the subject of the Future Land Use Map. I’ve been nice, waiting to see what would be said or done. In the meantime, I’ve been reviewing, reviewing, and reviewing just to verify what I had found. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on August 10, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Environment, Land Use, Letter vs Spirit of the Law, Local Government, Your Tax Money

 
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