2008.09.23
Methinks I smell a rat
A "fall cleanup" at the market building?
Do City Manager Darlene Burcham and her communications crew at Roanoke city hall think we have "stupid" plastered on our foreheads?
I smell more rats in the cockamamie cover-up than the rodents scurrying around inside the 86-year-old building.
Did the attempt to keep the market building mice off the front page have anything to do with the November grand opening of the nearby $66 million Taubman Museum of Art?
Was the intent to protect vendors who said they did not want to jeopardize their businesses?
Will the fallout from this further erode public confidence in city hall's ability to be forthcoming?
Whatever the reason or reasons, this was not one of Burcham's finer moments.
Telling visitors that the market building was closed for a "fall cleanup" should have been the first tip-off that something more was amiss than just a few dust bunnies and some peeling paint.
Everyone knows that the market building is a dump, so the idea of any cleanup -- let alone a fall cleanup -- should have raised public suspicion.
Why not just tell the whole truth?
To anyone who has been inside the market building, news of critters keeping quarters there should not have come as a huge surprise.
Then why all of the ducking and diving, shucking and jiving about what is really going on with the market building?
Here's a news flash: There is no way to put a positive spin on rodents.
Rather than using their energy to spin the story, Burcham and staff should have told us what is going on and how it is going to be fixed.
That's what Superintendent Rita Bishop did with the school system when confronted with a similar scenario.
Only a month into the job, Bishop shuttered rat-infested Fairview Elementary School and began a full-scale eradication.
Her bold action came less than a week before 450 students were set to begin school after summer break. Bishop acted quickly to redirect Fairview youngsters to classroom trailers at another school.
And she didn't try to sugarcoat it.
"The first thing the parents need to know is that the priority of the superintendent and the school board is the safety of the students," Bishop said at the time.
That's what I'm talking about -- and so apparently is one of Burcham's bosses, Vice Mayor Sherman Lea.
"I just think that we need to be forthright on what we're doing and let people know about this," Lea told The Roanoke Times in response to questions about the market building.
"To say just cleaning, that's misleading," Lea added.
No, vice mayor, that's playing us for fools.
Ok so there are rats in the Market Square Building? And I suppose they choose to dine there over anyother location downtown? Hello?! Perhaps the Market Sqyare Building has seen it's day in the sun, and another $66 Jetson, SpaceShip, er I mean Museum, will be errected in it's place.
Comment by Dona Wheeler/Roanoke — September 24, 2008 @ 12:25 am
OK Roanoke....you have rats in your eatery downtown...shocking isn't it....NOOOOOO...NYC has the same issues and I am sure if we looked around other downtown RKE eateries we may find similar problems....I think it is a common in larger cities and towns...is it good for business?..of course not....is it healthy?...of course not.......will they erect a new...and i quote...."jetson, spaceship" in it's place?...of course not....I mean why not build yet another ugly parking garage like the one off of 581 fo rthe new biotech center...that looks as if it is falling down..that no one complains about....it is much better architecture than the thought out plans of Randall Stout!.....that makes much more sense, doesn't it Roanoke????
Comment by reed — September 24, 2008 @ 7:51 am
It was said that a pest control Co. was called in 5 months ago..Shouldnt they have irradicated the problem..I happen to like the Market Building...this ploy kind of reminds me of Victory Stadium..let it decay under City management and then say..oops too far gone..gotta tear it down..you know, come to think of it we could use a nice Soccer field downtown!!
Comment by Larry — September 24, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
There may be mice in the Market Building, but there is an old, wrinkled,vicious,crepuscular, arrogant,supercilious, treacherous, "RAT" in the Municipal Building. The ONLY hope is that Dandy Dave and Lightnin' Lea will run it out of town.
Comment by Percy Kution — September 24, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
Larry, that's quite telling. I wonder how bad the problem was at that time (5 months ago). Given what I've read of the health inspection reports on another article here, I'd find fault with both the owners and the city as the owner of the building.
I'm sure the owners hands were somewhat tied as the city owns the building, but do you really want to eat at a restaurant managed by someone who continues to operate it knowing there is a problem of contamination? If the inspection reports are as bad as they read, and this had gone on for more than a week, any respectable owner would have closed their own doors and moved. Or just closed.
Heck, I skimmed through the report for Zorba Restaurant and am surprised the license wasn't yanked before. Multiple repeats of pretty serious violations (IMO).
Glad I've never eaten there.
Comment by Ed S. — September 24, 2008 @ 7:40 pm
Dear Mr. Mayor: You won an overwhelming victory in the last election because the people of Roanoke were sick and tired of an arrogant, intellectually challenged screwball preacher and a tired old alcoholic hag paying NO attention to city council or the true wishes of the people. The slack-jawed sky-pilot puppet of the Roanoke City "elite" is gone thanks to YOU. Now what about the other one, Mr. Mayor? PLEASE tell us "Marketgate" is the last straw for her, get you a good thick birch switch, start her up the Turnpike and don't let up on her rear end with that switch till you run her across the Salem City limits. We did all we could for YOU, Mr. Mayor. You won't let us down will you?
Comment by Percy Kution — September 25, 2008 @ 1:28 am
If only we had saved the cockroaches from an eatery that was closed up the street a piece just a few years back. I heard they were bigger than the mice and could have run them right out of the market building. I think all of us would think twice about ever eating out again if we spent a few days working in the kitchens of even the finest eateries in town. Where there's food, there's going to be insects and rodents attracted to it. The city manager's attempt to put lipstick on this pig was shameful. Percy, you're on the right track, but maybe we should move her permanently into the market building as a deterrent to any form of life wanting to take up residence there.
Comment by Mike — September 26, 2008 @ 2:55 am