Where have all the businesses gone?

I have lived in Blacksburg all of my life and adore this town more than any place I've ever visited. Hong Kong, London, New York, LA they have served me well in my travel and professional life but Blacksburg is truly where my heart and soul are grounded. That's why I live here.

And to that, I feel I hold a fairly interesting perspective on the current moment of evolution in our town. Since I was a child - when we had not even an ABC store, one had to drive to Christiansburg to purchase wine or liquor (I use this fact merely as an example) - since I was a child I have seen this place grow. And with it has come periods of dirty, mucky, inconvenience. And after those periods came convenience. We didn't have to go out of town for excellent professional medical care, or to purchase home furnishings, or to catch a quick dinner at an Indian restaurant, we could have access to what many other communities have always had.

The University grew, world-renowned companies began to be founded at our growing research park and the professional and technical minds that create in those companies wanted to live here. More came and more came.

Blacksburg - to put it simply - began to grow up. And today, as more people have had their attention focused here through good times and bad have realized what a great place this is.

For that we should feel proud and thankful. But the reality is that with this accidental good-fortune more and more of our residents desire easy access to goods and services.

If one looks past the hype, much of the retail focus of Blacksburg began to wane post-on-line shopping. There were certain things offered on-line that didn't exist in even our local shopping centers. If they did, they didn't offer the selection that web based retailing offered. This decline began before the malls and big box stores.

In fact, for years, when Downtown Blacksburg thrived we already had "big stores" a.k.a. big box national and regional retailers, including Belk, KMart, and Roses. All in shopping centers and all part of a HEALTHY RETAIL mix.

It was online shopping that began to shift this. So, we all need to calm down from the First + Main Frenzy and get a little more real.

Downtown Blacksburg CAN + WILL BE THRIVING IN TWO YEARS. I guarantee this. Within two years downtown will hold:

The Lyric
The Black Box Theatre
Main Street Inn
Construction will be commencing on the VT
Performing Arts Center
An expanded and growing Farmer's Market
A downtown park
Possibly a national design competition winner will
have been decided for the Middle School site
Town Offices will have expanded
More Downtown Residential will have been built

With this emerging critical mass will come more appropriate retail space including

Professional restaurants (vs. college pubs)
Art Spaces
Additional retail

We will, through the emergence of a Creative + Cultural Downtown based in hospitality and residential consumers and we will see fully leased real estate, it will simply be of a different variety.

And part of that downtown health will be a busy South Main Street drawing NRV Metro residents to Blacksburg to shop in retail that is not available beyond Roanoke.

It will put people into town for shopping and the arts, and the arts + university will draw even more local and national visitors to our downtown for the arts + more.

Out of that Downtown Cultural vision and South Main retail expansion will come the need for growth downtown to restore the health of downtown.

I am not here to debate Wal Mart, Wal Mart in this moment is not being built and may never be built even it is ultimately proven to be one at all.

I am - as a life-long citizen saying that one thing that Blacksburg always held for me was an openness to change - an openness to dialogue that led to learning and experience.

So I find it hard to believe when people will fight each other tooth and nail over something as lame as a store-even a rumored Wal Mart.

The town, the citizens, whomever, screwed-up and didn't dot their i's or cross their t's (sorry for all of the cliches) - but what they did do was fail to negotiate to make the project better and they so far seem to have failed to learn from their sloppy ways.

I don't hold much sympathy for that faction. They have treated it through what seem to many to be rumor and scare tactic.

I seriously doubt anyone REALLY wants a Wal Mart, but if you don't scrutinize the details on the first go round you somewhat lose your right to complain.

Let's take the learning and make sure we develop 100% sound projects in the future, let's be nice to one another, let's debate but do so with a Virginia honor and let's get past this and work toward the future.

Best of luck, much love, peace and let's get Obama Elected in 2008!!!