Lifting the veil, 5 years on.

This is for those of you who are avid readers, and those who are finding this for the first time.

You can call me K. I am a married, 34 year old resident of Southeast Roanoke who has one child (a boy,1), a wife (30), 3 dogs (5,5, & 3), and several fish (age unknown). 

I plan on starting a serious business within the confines of Roanoke, and with any luck - Southeast Roanoke, in the next year or so. When I say serious, I mean something that does not involve house-flipping or lawn care. Not to say the lawn care is not serious - but I have enough troubles with my own to worry about others. 

My business will be retail, in it's purest form. I will be interacting with, hopefully, hundreds if not thousands of customers a week - most of them residents of the city as well. I will be fulfilling needs, meeting expectations, and (hopefully) creating a climate conducive to expansion of other related businesses in my direct area.

Sounds kinda like the way the City should run, no? 

When I first moved here, I was taken by the city - it's history that lay just beneath the surface. Hence the start of Forgotten-Roanoke.com (a project I have put on the backburner while I move towards Day 1 as a business owner). I have found out, and charted more history of this city than most of it's native residents remember. In some cases, this is a good thing. 

I have lived, previously, within the confines of New York City - one of the 5 Boros. Prior to that, a smaller village just on the border, more like New York City than it should have been. Most of my family is involved in civil service of some kind, although I have had some in politics and administration. 

I have a keener understanding of how a government serves it's people - having lived through some of the best, and worst, times imagineable in New York. I also know that in the 21st Century - there are many ways a government can better serve it's people.

I know, deep down, that Roanoke is a powerhouse city. Despite all that is said to the contrary - there is a way to make it show. To fire the engines of commerce, and provide a city that is, once again - the shining star on the hill, just as it was many years ago. 

Currently, I am working at a higher-end retail location which shall remain anonymous - mainly because it's barely a higher-end retail location. If you only knew. I have previously been a Chef here in town, and I still do some catering on the side. 

In previous incarnations I have been involved in media, radio, and communications in general - I have nurtured and taken part in a developing art scene, and laid down some funky bass lines in a band or two.

I use this medium, this endless blog (now entering it's 5th year), to move us forward. Sometimes I get a little frustrated, and unhinged with certain peoples actions. It will show. I leave it to you, the reader, to decide if my opinions are well thought out and valid, or mere cotton-candy fluff from a transplant who knows nothing of the way things are.

I don't accept the way things are. No system, no process, no government, and no people are infalliable and never subject to change. That is flawed thinking. 

With so much going for it, Roanoke is upon the knife's edge. A step in the right direction can lead to a fruitful century, or one of decline and diminishment. 

Youngstown, Ohio. Detroit, Michigan. Buffalo, New York. In countless cities, and countless states the struggle is on for survival into the 21st Century. Former staid and true businesses are folding like a house of cards, along with a severely crippled housing market, and an aging population - times are demanding that things be done differently.

And that's what I intend to do. Do things differently. 

From time to time you might see a post slamming the City Council, the City Harpie or her cronies  - there is justification for this. It will be evident. I am not one for baseless attacks, nor have I ever been one for "shining the apple." If the apple is dirty on one side, I am not going to show you the pretty side only. Informed decisions - that's what I am after.

From time to time I might wax nostalgic, like Tom Angleberger - talking about things past, and where they are now.

And occasionally, I might let slip a bit of information - things that everyone should know - but aren't being told by the common sources.

I welcome all comments, criticisms, and questions. So long as you don't ask me to "meet you in an alley in Old Southwest" as a certain federally-charged Neo-FakeNazi one asked me.

At times my posts might seem infrequent, and sometimes there will be multiple per day - one of the pitfalls of not having a laptop or fancy phone but having a family life. I hope to get back to doing podcasts one day, but without the phone-casts that blogger used to have back when (if you can find the posts relating to the Lonesome Doves demolition, good example there) - it's not easy.

Anyway - the little one has awaken, therefore I must go.

Later.