Paul Lancaster: Candidate for Town Council

"Blacksburg's vision is to be a dynamic, sustainable, livable community fostering environmental stewardship, economic opportunity, technological leadership, and the arts."

In 20 words, the Town of Blacksburg's new vision statement offers a comprehensive overview of what we are achieving, and what we hope to achieve.
It would be great if I could simply wave my hand, or copy-and-paste from the Internet, to make this happen. But the means to this end involve hard work, attention to detail, consideration of the big picture, and decisions that take into account the desires of all the citizens of the town.

To achieve this vision, I have been working on a wide variety of projects and ideas in my current term as a member of Blacksburg's Town Council. Some examples:

• As the Council representative to the Town's Environmental Management Advisory Board, I have worked to turn ideas into action. This summer, we will complete the conversion of the Town's diesel vehicles to biodiesel. We are working on a comprehensive policy to encourage tree preservation, 'greening up' the town code, incorporating LEED certification into Town buildings (a major component of the Blacksburg Motor Company building), and establishing an environmentally preferable purchasing policy.
• As a member of the Comprehensive Plan Task Force, I helped write and design major portions of the new Plan. This plan offers a detailed framework for achieving the Town's vision.
• I also worked on the Town's mixed use development ordinance, which offers developers another way to bring growth to Blacksburg in a manner that complements the existing community.
• I am the chair of the Old Blacksburg Middle School Transition Committee, which will soon begin a national competition to find a buildable that will enhance Downtown and provide new life to the 20-acre site.
• When the Toms Creek sewer was the hot issue back in 2004, it was I who took on the task after the election of revising the Comprehensive Plan and other Town documents to reinforce the community's opposition to the project. Those changes make it tougher to resurrect the issue.
• When the Town first received Community Development Block Grant funds, I worked on the two committees that selected the Valley Interfaith Child Care Center to provide affordable day care, and the Women's Resource Center to prevent the slide into homelessness that many victims of domestic abuse face.

The work continues. Among my projects for the next four years is a comprehensive cost analysis of what it would take to substantially complete the Town's greenway system. With that information, I'd like to pursue the best financial avenue for accomplishing that task.

I also want to work on a comprehensive tree program for the Town: recognizing Blacksburg's remarkable trees, discouraging poor tree management practices such as 'topping', and encouraging the planting of more trees.

I'm also interested in expanding the Town's access to bicyclists. To this end, I have already been working with Town staff to inventory bicycle racks in the Downtown area, with a goal of making it easier for bicyclists to come Downtown.

And that is just one small part of the efforts we need to continue to make Downtown more vibrant. The College Avenue redesign, a new Virginia Tech performing arts center, and incentives to bring in a wider variety of Downtown businesses are among the efforts that will achieve this.

There are other issues as well. We need a dog park, a new rescue squad facility, more affordable housing, more activities for our children, thriving neighborhoods, better parks and recreation facilities, and new businesses that seek out and enhance our way of life here.

And if you really want to know what I think, read the whole Comprehensive Plan: It's all right here.

My four years as a Blacksburg Town Council member have been a privilege for me. I remain indebted to the voters who elected me. I think I have done a lot of good; I hope you will let me do more.