The council race in Blacksburg has heated up considerably. Two blocs of candidates have emerged, and a few candidates are stuck in the middle. Voters may vote for four people this year to fill four open seats (one of which is a partial term resulting from a vacancy).
On one side are what can loosely be called the pro-development candidates: Frank Lau, Tom Rogers, Krisha Chachra and Greg Fansler.
On the other are the smart-growth candidates who largely fall in with the Blacksburg United for Responsible Growth (BURG) crowd: Susan Anderson, Cecile Newcomb and John Bush.
In the middle are Bryce Carter (who leans toward BURG), Michael Sutphin (in my opinion, the sharpest of all the candidates) and Paul Lancaster (who, unfortunately, is no longer actively campaigning).
The four pro-development candidates are facing criticism in town over a letter they distributed to homes. It contained more than 100 signatories who supposedly support the quartet. Only it's turning out that many of the names on the list did not know they were signing onto any letter and in fact only expressed support for one or two candidates, not all four. Indeed, one of them, Paula Williams, had a letter to the editor a few weeks ago supporting Newcomb.
Meanwhile, everywhere one looks campaign signs urge residents to vote for someone.
Well most of the signs support someone. There's a big banner in front of First & Main that appears to be against a candidate. (Sorry about the lousy quality of the photo, I took it last night with my cell phone in the rain.)
(If you can't make it out, it reads, "On Sonic - Susan Anderson Voted NO!")
Seriously? They're going after the Sonic vote? I didn't even know that was a constituency.
Besides, Anderson, the only incumbent in the race, voted for the Sonic after she voted against it. The drive-in eventually received unanimous approval to open from council, it just has not exercised that right. If Sonic fans want to blame anyone, blame Sonic. (Our editorial from the time, and my column.)
The banner was paid for by one Joe Turney. I'm still trying to pin down who he is. Rumor has it he is a coal mine operator from West Virginia. Maybe he's tired of driving all the way to Christiansburg for his Sonic fix.
There are a lot of serious issues confronting Blacksburg more important than whether Sonic opened at First & Main. If you are going to base your vote on having to drive to Christiansburg for a burger and limeade, that's your right, but you will severely disappoint the Founding Fathers.
Instead, think about what sort of development you want in town, what you want done with the Old Blacksburg Middle School, whether the town should seek an agreement with Virginia Tech to pay the meals and hotel taxes on some of their operations like the Inn at Virginia Tech. Then look for candidates who would take the town in the direction you want.
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