2/21/07

City Council strikes again!

Even though they basically handed off the Valley Forward proposal to Darlene without officially supporting it - they still managed to come off looking like gold.



Comedy gold.

Vice Mayor David Trinkle noted that others have had similar ideas for Mill Mountain before.


"Your group appears to be the right group at the right time," he
said, adding that he still has come concerns about lighting on the site.

Hmmph. Lighting. Good concern.

Councilwoman Gwen Mason said her phone has rung all week with calls
from concerned citizens, whose message she summed up this way: "Touch a
blood root plant in Mill Mountain Garden at your peril."
The powerful gardening lobby must be oiling up their bypass loppers.


Mason also latched onto former Councilman Rupert Cutler's proposal
to couple the inn with a conservation easement that would protect the
rest of the mountain from further development.


"I'm hot on the trail on that idea," she said.

Get it? Heh! Hot on the TRAIL! Conservation easement... heh.. TRAIL!!!

Of course, the leadership of For the Valle.. um.. Valley Forward fared no better. Chairman Lugar said this is a great way to "democratize" the mountain. Hey, thats a piece of truthiness you can't deny.

Although obviously Valley for th. Forward's friends have not advised them well enough - the estimates they are running public with would build a restaurant on Mill Mountain.

A really fancy one, but $12 million will truly not go far due to materials, site, access, and all those other fun reasons. Allow me to share a bit of news: The "range hood" for a commercial kitchen (which the Mill Mountain thing would have 2 of) runs anywhere from $3k to 8k a linear foot. That's one of the biggest expenses.

Ah - whatever. Darlene has it now, I'm sure it will be months before we hear of it again, if at all.



3 comments:

dsbowers said...

I'm not sure putting an inn on Mill Mtn. is a horrible idea. At least I think it makes more sense than bringing back the incline (which would dump right into the RMH ER).

But I would like to see Council try a bit harder for the intermodal train site. I think they took Norfolk Southern's "no" a little too easily. If it goes up in Elliston, you know what else goes up? The population of the New River Valley. That's fine, but doesn't help the city much.

dsbowers said...

Last night I had a conversation with a neighbor who found your blog through mine. He commented that your posts on Valley Forward, etc. were dead on the money. This from someone who's lived here his whole life.

I told him to keep watching and join the commentary!

RoanokeFound said...

Well yeah! Don't just join the commentary, BECOME the commentary.

Thats what lacks right now - organization and community. Thats all groups like Valley Forward have going for them.. they are organized.