Early morning head-scratching...

"I can and I will have you shot."- R. Gravely to the Roanoke City Council.

    Wow, seems now the City Council is finally attracting more nuts than just it's members. *rimshot*


On the future re-purposing of the Victory Stadium site:
"The council will use the study to help develop a long-term master plan
for the land the city owns on the south side of Reserve Avenue between
Jefferson Street and Franklin Road, he said. In coming years, the city
plans to demolish an existing parks and recreation building and a
school operations office, along with the National Guard Armory, once
the guard relocates its offices."
    Well thank goodness, I cannot tell you what an eyesore that Armory is, and certainly I have never heard of anyone using a former Armory for anything. Well, actually there is that one in New York which is used for antiques shows, trade shows, and other things. And the one in Providence, RI which was turned into upscale apartments.. but no, no uses at all for a massive building with tons of storage space.

On the City Market plan, in which it was considered to move the vendors into the street:
"I think we have a pretty unanimous decision that we want to improve
the area that the vendors are in," said Vice Mayor Bev Fitzpatrick,
"making it a little wider and also considering whether or not there's a
permanent structure that both would give it a signature look but also
would protect the interests of the farmers and vendors while enhancing
the looks of the buildings."
    There is one simple, easy solution to this problem: shut down Market Street to motor traffic between Church and Campbell. Make it only accessable by vendors, city services and utilities, and important deliveries.  Oh, and move the Wertz outdoor dining area to Kirk, the Trio area to Church (they own those storefronts too, let them use those and stop taking space from the vendors). And as for a permanent structure, well - thats a tough one. How do you make awnings and beams look better? Perhaps asking the business owners if they would allow for installation of permanent roll-away awnings on the buildings, ones that would roll out to cover both the sidewalk and the vendors - I could see that being a big plus.

Maybe it's just too early and Im not thinking clearly. Must be, if I can figure this stuff out for less than it takes the city to do surveys and studies...