Jim Politis

For nearly a decade, the old Blacksburg Middle School stood as a vacant, decaying and unwelcoming eyesore at the southern gateway to downtown Blacksburg. The brick structure that served the town well for a half century as a place for education had become a health and safety hazard, with toxic asbestos, lead paint, molds, water damage and structural issues.

In spring 2010, hope for the future sprang anew when the 20-acre property was deeded from the public schools to Montgomery County to market for the benefit of the schools.

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Politis is chair of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.

Last week, plans for the old Blacksburg Middle School property were supposed to crystallize into a coherent, detailed proposal after years of fuzzy visions and fluctuating intentions.

After some last-minute fumbling, developer Fiddler’s Green Partners finally filed a rezoning application and development proposal on Wednesday for Blacksburg Town Council to consider.

But that milestone was overshadowed by growing uncertainties about the project’s future and finances.

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On Monday, developers are expected to release their latest proposal for the former Blacksburg Middle School property, premium land that has lain fallow for too long.

Montgomery County and Blacksburg officials need to crank down the heated rhetoric a notch, or even several notches, and start making serious progress toward a compromise that will benefit both.

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After Salem and Roanoke County passed ordinances last year allowing chickens in residential neighborhoods, there were no headlines squawking “Chickens gone wild in Salem” or “Roanoke County supervisors have egg on their faces.”

There’s been nary a peep out of Salem, although county officials say they’ve heard some complaints. Overall, though, the aftermath has been pretty subdued, even dull.

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The Roanoke Times

Christiansburg residents eager to stretch their legs in the great outdoors have found the town lacking in adequate recreation space. But that’s changing as town leaders have begun to think more proactively about their constituents’ current and future needs.

The Christiansburg Aquatic Center and skate park as well as improvements to Depot Park are testaments to their efforts.

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The Virginia Education Association and state Republicans have not exactly been best buds in recent years. The GOP-controlled House of Delegates’ obstinate refusal to raise revenue has hit schools particularly hard. Tack on measures that divert funding away from public schools and hit teachers’ pocketbooks, and resentment blooms.

But there are the exceptions, and perhaps the biggest is Blacksburg Republican Del. Joseph Yost, who has become a darling of the VEA. Last year, the group named him Legislative Rookie of the Year, and now he is the 2013 Legislative Champion of the Year.

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Speaking of open government, if you took advantage of your right to attend the Feb. 26 Blacksburg Town Council meeting and stuck around to the end, you would have heard Mayor Ron Rordam reveal that I am leaving The Roanoke Times. Let that be a lesson that one never knows what surprises will pop up during a public meeting.

My last day was Friday, and this is my final signed column. A few editorials about Sunshine Week that I left with my colleagues will appear in the coming days.

Some friends and coworkers suggested I devote today’s column to my departure, but Sunshine Week really is more important than one editorial writer. Besides, I’m not a big fan of such journalistic navel-gazing.

It has been an honor and a pleasure to get to know many of you and to share my opinions in the pages of The Current and now The Burgs. Thank you all for reading these last eight years. Whether you agreed, disagreed or some of both, my goal was always to encourage you to think about the issues in new ways, especially the ones important to a region with so much potential.

Best of luck wherever life takes you.

— Christian Trejbal

Twitter: @ctrejbal

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A once rural county becomes urban, but its leaders have not accepted the fiscal realities that entails.

Few Montgomery County residents will like county staff’s recommendation that supervisors increase the property tax rate by 2 cents and the personal property tax rate by 10 cents. “The taxes are too high,” some will shout. “This doesn’t go far enough to fund basic public services,” others will declare. Goldilocks will be scarce.

Everyone in the county should have seen this coming after supervisors last year approved the largest property tax increase in decades, but one that still was not large enough to meet needs. Last year’s increase of 12 cents per $100 of assessed value brought the rate to 87 cents, and most of the new revenue went to pay for schools.

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Taxpayer grumbling recently resurfaced in the pages of The Burgs. A story by reporter Mike Gangloff highlighted Montgomery County residents who are concerned about local debt burdens and want local governments to hold public referenda before taking out new bonds (“Bond referendum a mode of the past, or primed for return?” Feb. 24).

Readers of this paper needed to wait only a few days to see why that is a terrible idea. Gangloff last week reported on county supervisors’ authorizing money for schools, and his story illustrated the pitfalls of a county trying to come together behind specific spending (“Montgomery County School Board granted discretion over reserve fund,” Feb. 26).

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Montgomery County (Va.) Schools 2013 CIP Project Planning

Montgomery County (Va.) Schools Capital Maintenance List