Time to gather mountain views
By Elizabeth Strother
Strother is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times.
Come February, it will be three years since Valley Forward first pitched a proposal for an inn and restaurant with a grand view atop Mill Mountain.
The loosely organized group of young professionals didn't want to build the complex or operate it, didn't want to make a dime off of it. Members just wanted to be able to go there -- a cool place, distinctive to Roanoke, that might entice more of their peers to make the Roanoke Valley their home.
I do not mean to reignite the ensuing controversy between proponents, who argued their vision was for an eco-friendly development amid an already built environment, and green opponents who wanted nothing more built at all. The idea, even the quickly scaled-back version minus the inn, is moribund and may well be dead. But -- this is classic Roanoke -- nobody really knows.
Read more.