Letters to the editor
Langrehr doomed First & Main
Steve Cochran questions the intelligence of voters by saying they were swayed by a deluge of literature (The Burgs, Jan. 22, “Outsiders paid for Yost’s election”).
Does he think no one in the House of Delegates 12th District needed or wanted a job that did not offer top wages and benefits? Town council members spent taxpayer money blocking an already-approved business that could have provided jobs, competitive prices and additional revenue in Blacksburg. They doomed First & Main by refusing its anchor store and forcing the developer to abandon the project half finished.
How did Cochran expect us to vote for one of those council members to represent us in Richmond?
I bought two of the same item, one at a store in Blacksburg, the other in Christiansburg. The mark-up was more than 200 percent in Blacksburg. I can’t afford to shop in Blacksburg.
I live on a small, fixed income and often think of town council when driving my old, gas-guzzling clunker to Christiansburg. I could not vote for anyone who is completely oblivious to the needs of so many people in this district.
I wish Del. Joseph Yost well and hope he considers all of his constituents, not just the most vocal, while in Richmond.
JACKIE COLLINS
BLACKSBURG
Oliver’s Woods vs. Stadium Woods
I recently received a newsletter from the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Botany and Microbiology. I graduated from the department in 1966 with an undergraduate degree in botany.
To my delight, there was an article in the newsletter describing ecology research projects being conducted by undergraduate students in a location adjacent to the campus known as Oliver’s Woods, now officially called Oliver Wildlife Preserve.
I also was involved with field trips in ecology and mycology classes to Oliver’s Woods when I was a student. I met my future wife, Pam, on one of the mycology field trips. So the realization that this area was still being preserved for research and field trips has considerable personal and professional meaning to me.
The woods’ website (bit.ly/oliverswoods) describes the history and research that has been conducted in Oliver’s Woods over the last 50 years. They truly speak for themselves as to the value of preserving and sustaining small islands of natural habitats.
I am indebted to the professors and students over the years who helped to preserve this treasure for future generations to study and enjoy. I can only hope those making the decisions regarding Stadium Woods at Virginia Tech leave the same legacy.
DAVID ORCUTT
BLACKSBURG
Clearing the air about Celanese
I write regarding the Jan. 28 news article “DEQ regulators again cite Celanese.” As an hourly maintenance employee of the plant since 1978, I would like to mention some facts that were not included in the article.
The Celanese plant has been in operation for nearly 75 years, and there is not enough space in this letter to list the benefits and contributions the plant has made to this community. During the 34 years I have been employed, I have seen all the efforts and many millions of dollars this corporation has spent to protect our environment.
At one time or another, every heavy industry in the United States is going to have these issues, not just the Celanese plant. This industry has been a good neighbor in Giles County to our schools, local merchants and many others. And they didn’t leave this country like so many other U.S. corporations did during the past 25 years.
Shouldn’t we do everything possible to save what few U.S.industrial jobs we have left?
JOHN KINNEY JR.
NARROWS
Take a pound puppy for a walk
Almost every Saturday afternoon, I walk abandoned dogs that are kept at the animal control center in Christiansburg (the pound).
For the most part, these animals are picked up by the animal control officers. The purpose of the center is to care for these animals until homes can be found for them. I find that 90 percent of these dogs are sweet and loving. They live in indoor/outdoor cages and get good food as well as attention.
Anyone can give up an hour or so on a Saturday afternoon and take one of these dogs for a walk. It feels rewarding.
THOMAS FINK
BLACKSBURG
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I’m sorry Jackie Collins has to go to Christiansburg to find appropriate shopping, but it is absurd to blame Don Langrehr for the problems of First and Main. Ms. Collins should have said that the proposed anchor store was in fact a Wal-Mart, to be located right next to an elementary school. Also, the lack of foot traffic causing the current problems would not have existed if the developer had stuck to the original plans submitted for approval. The original plans proposed residential units and offices as well as retail space. before the developer did a bait-n-switch and put in the Wal-Mart, with the residential and office units no longer in the picture. For these reasons many of the citizens of Blacksburg supported efforts to prevent the construction of the Wal-Mart.
I want First and Main to succeed, and use it quite a lot, but I’m grateful we don’t have an immediately adjacent Wal-Mart making life intolerable for the students and staff at Margaret Beeks elementary school.
Comment by Kenneth Surin — February 6, 2012 @ 3:32 pm
Not sure how a Wal-Mart would have made life ‘intolerable’ for the students and staff of an elementary school. It’s not as if staff/students are coming and going from the school through out the day, and there are things called Traffic lights.. they are generally used to help ease traffic issues in congested areas. As it is, First and Main is slowly but surely losing tenants, and I will not be surprised if in the end the only long lasting tenant will be Bull and Bones… at least patrons will have plenty of parking options.
Comment by Tim — February 8, 2012 @ 12:46 pm
@Tim:
How many more traffic lights can be placed on that section of Main Street? There are already 4 sets of lights between the Country Club Rd and Marlington intersections, a distance of about 600 yards. Let’s ask the staff and students at the elementary school if they prefer your argument to mine. I’m pretty certain what the reply will be.
Then there are the well-documented uncounted costs of having a Wal-Mart in any town. Overwhelmingly the jobs pay substandard wages with meager benefits and job security (Wal-Mart workers rely disproportionally on public assistance programs subsidized by taxpayers), employee discrimination (Wal-Mart employee attrition nationwide averages an eye-opening 33-35%), local ‘mom and pop stores’ get driven out of business, there’s environmental and quality of life degradation (proof: surrounding property values tank where a Wal-Mart is built).
First and Main needs our help, but Wal-Mart is not the answer.
Comment by Kenneth Surin — February 9, 2012 @ 3:46 pm
Actually, a cineplex and possibly a bowling/fun center was part of the original plan at First at Main. The lure of theater traffic brought many tenants initially into the retail development, and most of those left when the theater was shelved and thus expected foot traffic never materialized.
I would agree that First and Main doesn’t need a Wal-Mart or similar big box store in that space, but the town council and other local politicians have not been very open or receptive to bringing tenants into the complex that would actually drive traffic into the complex (in the name of keeping retail in Blacksburg not like Christiansburg, worries about transportation infrastructure, complaints from nearby homeowners about possible noise/traffic, etc.).
For example, Sonic was ready to build a restaurant in First and Main and the council forced them to pull out due to restrictive noise & lighting rules that would make having a Sonic there impossible. Ask many of the retail tenants in First and Main if they wouldn’t like hundreds, possibly thousands of extra customers coming to the property each day. A Sonic would have attracted VT students who inevitably would have spent some extra money at other stores once having made the trek down south Main Street.
Why a big box store is not the answer, town council (and local residents) need to take a more business-friendly approach if they want First and Main to thrive (or even survive). First and Main is far enough from downtown where any retail presence there is not really going to directly impact downtown retailers (assuming no Walmart or similar store).
Comment by Homer J — February 9, 2012 @ 11:42 pm
Agree that a cineplex at First and Main would be a great idea since Blacksburg does not have one. But why is the onus to ‘save’ First and Main now suddenly on the residents and council members of Blacksburg? Surely there would have been more foot traffic if the developer had not replaced the office and residential units in the original plan with the Wal-Mart option, in what looked to neutral observers to be a crafty last minute bait n switch? You don’t have to read too deeply into the judgment delivered by the VA supreme court to see that this is pretty much their verdict. Also, why has the developer been sued by several tenants at First and Main for not fulfilling key conditions in their original leases? Let’s look at these issues before we say things like ‘Don Langrehr sank First and Main’. The developer would like us to believe this, but the credibility of the developer is a serious issue.
Comment by Kenneth Surin — February 10, 2012 @ 10:06 pm
Much has been made of the proximity of the rugby field to an elementary school. The local NEA guild is costantly agitating for new and more grand vinues to ply its trade, abandoning useable structures. Does anyone seriously believe this school will be exempt from this wrecklessness?
Comment by Tom R — February 11, 2012 @ 5:53 am
Mr. Surin,
I don’t believe ” Mom n Pop” stores pay any more than minimum wage to their employees and I can say most if not all do not provide any healthcare. Walmart does. Their employee retainage exceeds those percentages that you conveniently pulled out of your, well, wherever you pulled them from. Walmart employees 2.2 million people in 20 plus countries around the world and contributes $350 million to charitable causes globally. Either you are a union member attempting to bad mouth one of the most stable employers in the world , or you are a government employee or teacher sucking off the taxpayer for your living or one of the 60% of the Parasite Party living off the 40% in this country who don’t expect handouts form the government. First & Main will will turn back into the blighted collection of vacant buildings that the property previously was for decades without a strong and stable Apparently Don Langrehr knows more about retailing then the developers. Maybe he should invest some of his own personal money into the project rather than dictate his idiotic beliefs of his utopian world from his commune on how others should invest their money!! Langrehr has made his living off of the backs of the taxpayers. Maybe he should try ti live without a public sector paycheck for once.
Comment by Buckeye Jim — February 11, 2012 @ 9:41 am
Mr. Surin is obviously an expert in the retail industry. If only Books-A-Million, Rack Room Shoes , Steger Creek and other closed tenants of First & Main would have spoken with Surin, surely they would have stayed based on his vast knowledge of what it takes to make a retail development successful!!
He lives in Don Langrehr’s utopian world of how business works! For First & Main’s tenants to survive they need foot traffic. The volume of foot traffic a major anchor, like a Walmart, can bring to the project. Maybe Bull and Bones and Sal’s can survive when the vagrants move into the vacant retail spaces like they did for the old blighted motel that once graced the property.
Here is the simple fact Mr. Surin, without a MAJOR anchor for the First & Main Blacksburg development, the project can not survive.
Comment by Buckeye Jim — February 12, 2012 @ 11:13 am
@ Buckeye Jim
For what it’s worth, I work for the private sector.
Please read what I said carefully. I said that Wal-Mart was not a suitable choice for the anchor store at First & Main, I did not say no to an anchor store there period.
Please tell me how Wal-Mart can be ‘a stable employer’ when 70 % of employees leave within the first year? (http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html)
The fact that a corporation gives money to charity does not preclude it from activities that harm citizens. Shipping jobs to China? If Wal-Mart were an individual company it would be China’s 8th largest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Canada, and Australia (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-11/29/content_395728.htm)
Wal-Mart’s policy of paying substandard wages means that many of its workers rely on taxpayer funded public assistance. A 2004 University of California Study showed that Wal-Mart’s wage policy “cost California taxpayers about $86 million annually in public assistance to company workers” (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0803-05.htm)
I could go on about Wal-Mart’s unacceptable business practices, since the available evidence is vast. Thankfully, the majority of the residents of Blacksburg share my opinion that Wal-Mart was not a good option for First and Main, something borne out by the fact that the council members who were courageous enough to take a stand on this issue have been re-elected.
Comment by Kenneth Surin — February 13, 2012 @ 5:32 pm
Correction. I should have said: “If Wal-Mart were an individual economy it would be China’s 8th largest trading partner…”
Comment by Kenneth Surin — February 13, 2012 @ 5:34 pm
Mr. Surin,
Relying on information from PBS is kind of like thinking MSNBC, Media Matters and President Obama don’t lie everytime their lips move? PBS is a liberal mouthpiece for Obama and his union cronies. The unions can’t touch companies like Walmart, as hard as they try, because of the companies employee retainage. Maybe Don Langrehr and some of his liberal university types can open a Hemp Superstore as a major anchor for First & Main. Oh wait, I am sure they can’t do anything without a Federal subsidy or relying on the taxpayers for their living!!
Comment by BuckeyeJim — February 19, 2012 @ 6:39 pm
I am a non-traditional age female trying to return to school but I’m trying to do it without loans. I went to school a few years ago and at the time was not qualified for anything but loans, so now I have debt to start out with. I am returning to school to pursue a degree in Film for directing and screenwriting. Now that I qualify for financial aid again, I can’t really find grants and scholarships that I am qualified for. Instead what I’ve been facing in my research for them is what I DON’T qualify for. I’ve come across many for recent high school graduates. Besides that, everything I’ve found for women are for either single mothers, or for pursuing different kinds if degrees other than my own. The field related grants are for things like nursing, engineering and the like. The religious based grants are for Catholic, Lutheran, all the larger branches of faith which I don’t belong to. Some require merit which I’m pretty sure I don’t qualify for. Some are for certain schools that are too far away from me and don’t leave room for you to choose your own local schools. The grants and scholarships that ARE offered in my field of interest want you to go to places like California to school, which I’m in no position to do at this time. And most that I come close to are only offered to students going full time, which would be impossible for me to do because I have to help my husband work for a living to keep the bills paid.What is the big deal about entities with educational funding, that they can’t just offer it to people who need it and let THEM decide how best to use it, within reason, of course? I don’t understand why people and financial entities supporting educational opportunities can’t just make the funds available fir people who are trying their hardest just to survive! And those people in the hardest place for a college degree are NON-TRADITIONAL aged students. People with very strong work ethics who will do a great job in their courses and hands-on experiences. Am I the only one that this frustrates? And where are these grants and scholarships at? Please let all of use that this upsets know where they can be found. We desperately need it!
Comment by Unfrazzledwriter — February 22, 2012 @ 1:29 pm
Wow, I can’t believe the silly nonsense on this blog about the First & Main project. If one would take the time to read the Va Supreme Court decision, one would become well aware of the facts of the case, not the nonsense posted and reported from both sides of the controversy prior to the court ruling.
The simple truth is that the developer did present one plan to Town Council and then push it through due to time concerns and then change the plan, significantly, after receiving the approval.
Secondly, the developer knowingly attempted to manipulate the process so that when it went to the court, the Town would have inadvertently made some decisions or taken some steps that would have supported the developers position.
From the very beginning, the process was being circumvented and ‘gamed’ so the developer could achieve its desired outcome regardless of what the local government and citizens wanted. Tear yourself away from the ‘Voice’, ‘American Idol’, ‘ Survivor’, or some other silly ‘reality show’ and read about what’s going on in your backyard.
Question 1: If a locality wanted to site a NEW school next to a big box retailer, would the locality and its citizens really even consider it? Probably not. So why is okay to put a big box retailer next to an ES?
I’d like to see First & Main succeed. Unfortunately, once the developer wasn’t able to do exactly what it wanted to do, without any compromise, it walked away. The court ruling did not say that a big box retailer could not be located there; it only said that the Town had right to review the revised plan prior to approval. The developer didn’t try to revise and move forward. Instead, like a spoiled child, they took their ball and went home. That’s where the true failure of the F&M project lies, a bank has been stuck managing a retail development.
From some of the posts here, evidently economic development equals citizens being steam rolled by whomever has the most money to push their agenda and vision. Sad indeed…
Comment by StanZ1987 — February 26, 2012 @ 9:18 am
Wow! I am thrilled that so many people are in fact talking about First and Main! As a tenant there I sometimes wonder if the community even knows there are still stores open in this BEAUTIFUL. Center. As a buisness owner in the First and Main shopping center, I would have loved to see Walmart move into an anchor position here. The amount of people it would have brought would have been unimaginable to my store. However, as a mother of 4 I am not sure how comfortable I would have been with that when it came to the safety and well being of my child attending that elementary school. I think the fault lies with the initial developers. They made a lot of promises that they just did not keep. Not only to the tenants but to the entire community and town council. It has effected us greatly as my husband owns Sals in the First and Main as well. Luckily, Blacksburg and the surrounding communities have embraced us both as an established buisness and as a new one. I personally chose to add my store Piccolini to the struggling shopping center because it holds so much potential. Potiential I feel will eventually be fulfilled. The town is working hard for us and that is what keeps me motived. The continued support of Blacksburg citizens choosing to shop and buy locally. There are lots of ideas,events, and the Hokie nation to hopefully draw a big name to the center to keep that foot traffic moving- and although it may not be walmart- I am sure it will be a perfect addition not only to First and Main, but to Blackburg!
Comment by Meg — March 1, 2012 @ 1:00 am