Recent Comments
To your point for #1 - I think the big box store would have gone in at 1st & Main if the developer had been up front about it to begin with. The original plan called for a mix use with apartments/town homes in the area where the WalMart was situated, but that was never going to be economically feasible. It's a shame because the developer dug in, and the town dug in, and a solution better for the Town and for the businesses trying to succeed at First & Main could have come to fruition if both parties had just come to the table and gave some ground.
What is there now is a shell of what could have been for that property. Most of the fault is on the original development company, and some fault lies with the Town as well. It's a good lesson in urban planning though as a developer - you can't come from out of town and try to bully your way into the development you want. It'll never be a success for either entity. The bait and switch they tried to pull was pretty laughable. Those guys were clueless. I can say that with confidence, as I did some estimating for this project when it was originally proposed, and our company ultimately passed on the project because we told the developer what it would cost, they didn't believe us, went with someone else, and ended up costing what we told them it would in the end.
I haven't seen how the movie theater has impacted the development - that was the bid draw after the WalMart got struck down to increase pedestrian traffic. Not sure if it did the trick. I doubt did.
Apartment*
Oklahoma
UNC
Alabama
Clemson
ND
FSU
Disclaimer: The opinions and ideas expressed herein are solely my own and do not represent any agency.
GoKartMozart asked me about what "invisible security" would be around for the Battle at Bristol and at Lane stadium. While I cannot comment about what is going on at those event specifically because I don't work for agencies covering them. However, I can talk about what goes on at most large events these days.
Let's start with what happens in the months, weeks and days leading up to the game first. For a large event like a football game the FBI, DOJ, Homeland Security along with a host of other alphabet agencies at the federal level along with their state partners, State Police, State Emergency Management etc, and the local county/city/private entities will set up meetings to discuss resources that will be used at the game, any active threats in general, any threats specific to the game, any persons of interests in the area that the game will take place that could pose a threat to the game. The agencies will usually set up a task force for single style event, like Battle at Bristol, and use existing state/Federal task forces and fusion centers for regularly occurring events like games at Lane to coordinate this over time. The first priority for this is intelligence, knowing what your potential threats are and what weaknesses a venue has make planning to stop said threats a lot easier.
Next comes the work of setting up agencies and personal to work the events. I won't give out numbers of officers it takes to work even a game at Lane but just know ITS A LOT. So something like Bristol is going to require some agencies with every officer and resource that have there. Since Bristol hosts events other than the game the local and state agencies have a good idea of what is the baseline they need to have there. Some things you won't see that will be used include: scores of explosive detection dogs and teams inside and outside the area, a command center or three with chemical, biological and nuclear detector technology, a fully staffed bomb and SWAT team command nearby, a fully staffed magistrates court (Tenn equivalent) , transport vans and jailers to take offenders to nearest incarceration facility, plain clothes and undercover officers in the area around the game and inside the game itself, a marked helicopter flying around the game and an unmarked plane flying above the game collecting intel and using a new technology that consistently scans the area and take pixel like pictures that can be used to backtrack the movements of a specific car or person if needed later. An operation like Bristol will involve every level of government, law enforcement agency and homeland security/emergency management.
The biggest threat we face at football games or one off events like Bristol isn't a 9/11 style major attack. It is one person either self-radicalized here in the US, a race nationalist, an anti-government person or a simply person who wants to gain notoriety for themselves. These are the hardest attacks to prevent because there is usually no intel that can be worked on. They are intent on committed their acts on soft targets and people would not accept the restrictions that would be needed on their lives to stop these attacks. However as much as the media might make you think these attacks are very rare and that's why would see so many officers at these events, the only way to stop them quickly is a fast response from a trained law enforcement officer.
Please feel free to ask anymore questions that this may have raised. I'm sure I left something out you want answered, I also cut out about 300 more words so this would not be too long.
TL;DR version: The Feds, State and Local agencies will work together to try and secure any event, using known threats and preparing for possible threats,
Houston
UGA
USC
Clemson
ND
FSU
Blacksburg wants Blacksburg to stay Blacksburg
Except it isn't. Blacksburg has done nothing to remain Blacksburg, which has been about Main Street. In fact, it has done everything counter to this line of thinking. So if what they really want is Blacksburg to remain Blacksburg then returning Main Street as it's destination is paramount.
Problem is in "protecting" itself it's killing itself. Developers know this. Every local developer would love to do some variation of what i suggest, but why fight it. Let the city starve itself to death and then pay next to nothing to get it then.
That's where the balls come in. Done or not it needs to happen and likely will eventually, once econimcs get so bad they can't stop it.
|
9 years 10 months
# | OT: Hoda Kotb Reps VT in 2017 Princeton Review's Best Colleges on Today Show Great to see VT getting attention like this.
Didn't realize Hoda Kotb was a VT grad.
CLASS WAR VETERAN
|
9 years 10 months
# | OT: Hoda Kotb Reps VT in 2017 Princeton Review's Best Colleges on Today Show how many other "news anchor" gigs can offer you the opportunity to get bombed by 9:30am??
Ah, Lynchburg....Roanoke's bastard cousin.
I agree that downtown should be a pedestrian mall, but I can't think of an efficient way to get from north Main to south Main without going through downtown. Though it has been a while since I've been down, so I may be forgetting something.
4. Pedestrianized Main Street Commercial Core
We're supposed to be inventing the future. Well, Charlottesville did this 40 years ago. How are we this far behind?
Pro Tip: tackle Brett Hundley!
Houston
North Carolina
Alabama
Clemson
Texas
Ole Miss
If you're in Asheville, be sure to check out Highland Brewery. Their Gaelic Ale is fantastic.
My biggest problem with this is that while I may not have a personal attachment to Mikes, it was a Blacksburg establishment, and I love the small town feel.
I loathe the fact that Moe's occupies the storefront that it is currently in, wish Chipotle was somewhere else and would love it if Sharkey's didn't have other locations.
I want all of the downtown to be local mom & pop shops, despite how unreasonable that may be for Blacksburg's economy.
Boomer Sooner
UNC (Although I hope the cheaters lose)
Bama
Klem
ND
FSU
Houston
UNC
Alabama
Clemson
Notre Dame
FSU
I could see Mook in the Kyle Fuller role when we played down at GT a few years ago. However, when we play teams like Pitt and Duke, I could see Shegog getting more PT since they are a more traditional offense.
I did like what Foster said about really being able to disguise things with Mook in there as a LB since he is a corner. That could really make things difficult for the offense.
As TKP's official Beard Correspondent, I can give my official highly regarded opinion that the Bearded Eagle, whilst a good idea in theory and one that conjures up a variety of badass images to the imagination, is, alas, a complete failure in practice. As punishment, it is my recommendation that we beat them by at least a score of 70-0.
We do owe them an ass-whuppin' though
Houston
North Carolina
USC
Clemson
Notre Dame
Ole Miss
Hoping to pick up something from The Veil today to take to Blacksburg for opening weekend
Houston
North Carolina
Alabama
Clemson
Notre Dame
Florida State
Oklahoma - Big Game Bob shows up
Georgia - Chubb plows the Heels
Bamma - PPAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLL
Clemson - Somehow Dabo is legit, SMH
ND - Irish cover or Brian Kelly's head will literally explode in a purple mushroom cloud
FSU - With the NCAA infractions pendi..oh wait nothing will happen. FSU still covers 'cause they're just better.
Blacksburg needs to do 2 things: 1) Grow some balls
Aaand we're done. Blacksburg wants Blacksburg to stay Blacksburg. I mean, they raised the speed limit on 460, reduced the ability to drive through town by having crappily timed stoplights and taking out much needed traffic lanes, and are content to let Christiansburg develop to meet all the students' shopping needs. Downtown is doomed. Makes me sad because we used to walk down there with our kids every friday in the summer and hit up the mainstays and listen to music. Now there's one less mainstay
We are already seeing changes to security at Lane with the new bag policies. VTPD also just got a new explosive dog and added some more officers. I would also expect to see more local and state officers in the area and inside during games.