The Bitch and Moan club

This.

Is it just me, or is the city getting a wee bit touchy lately about it's role in Roanoke?

"Near the end of Tuesday's meeting, there was heated discussion about
which organization should be in charge of making sure these proposed
changes occur.

Tom McKeon, chairman of Downtown Roanoke Inc.'s board of directors,
said that DRI, an advocacy organization, is capable of overseeing the
suggested changes to the market area. The ideas include improving trash
pickup, cleaning up sidewalks, closing Market Square and other market
areas to allow only pedestrian access, and hiring a nighttime manager
for the market.

But Brian Townsend, assistant city manager for community
development, said the city should take responsibility for doing the
jobs it already holds, such as trash pickup and other cleanup measures.

"I have some concerns about the structure and DRI's history of being an advocacy group, not a doing group," Townsend said." (JKB-RT)

Unlike the structure of the City Government, which is an anti-advocacy/pro-oligarchy group. Which is not to say they do not do things well. Garbage pickup is spot on, especially in the Business District - but as far as fully thinking out the needs of the area (any area for that matter) it serves, well.. I'd say the City Council gets a D+ overall.

Now this is not to say they are alone in this. I know people who complain about alleged "potholes" in the roads endlessly, and leaning phone poles. Taking things from a minor side-thought to a major Freakin' problem on the scale of a nuclear war - but more personal.

These people seem to think the City is personally targeting them for stuff like this.

Maybe there is something to the paranoid power-grab the City has been making, I'd be a bit worried myself about the nuts taking control... oh wait.. never mind.

And now it seems a good number of you out there have joined me in the "Single-Issue B&M Club" - as the Art Museum nears the halfway point.

Notice how visibly invisible it is from various points? It takes about a good minute to spot it on Williamson and Elm. But wait - it gets better. This $66 million dollar beauty, befitting a small city such as ourselves and reflecting the beauty of the surrounding environs?

Aluminum siding.

"Made of pre-patinated zinc surfaces on aluminum panels, the unique color of the panels is created though a process in which the panels are bathed in an acid mixture and then rinsed with water until the desirable patina is achieved." (artdaily.com)

Acid-washed Aluminum siding.

I guess artist architect who designed it, Mr. Stout - looked towards the Blue Ridge and saw.. a trailer park? A subdivision?

Pay for what you get folks... Government or otherwise....