In every long-odds venture there is one person who is the first to step up and take a chance. In Roanoke, Virginia it was Ed Walker, a 44-year old lawyer and developer who put his time, energy and money behind an effort to turn around his home town, a blue-collar city of 97,000 at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just over the ridge from West Virginia.
It seems to be working for both Ed and Roanoke, but it would take courage to put a lot of money into rehabilitating Warren on the scale being undertaken in Roanoke; and in addition to nerve and money it requires a person with vision. People like that aren’t easy to find. You can read the story of Roanoke’s revival in a recent New York Times article.
In the same day’s Times columnist Gail Collins (a Cincinnati native and brother of ex-Yankee Paul O’Neil) travels to Williston, ND, a town of 16,000 with 1% unemployment thanks largely to the shale oil boom. Perhaps this is a vision of Warren’s future? Median income in Williston has risen over 60% since the drilling started but there are no apartments for rent either. It’s an interesting (and short) piece which you can read here.
There were two good letters in the Tribune this morning regarding the One-stop building idea; one by Helen Hader, whom I do not know and the other by Josh Nativio. They are both opposed to the new building. I would be happy to publish letters or comments in support of the building but I have read and heard none.
I think Warren has a guy like this – D. Blank. You may have different talents and a smaller wallet but you have a vision that is starting to take hold. It only takes one to get the ball rolling. And it sounds like Warren has a few other like minded people who believe it can grow into a desirable town. Hope those voices are louder than others. And does Warren have oil? I hope not. Growing and increasing wages but not being any better off than before does not sound like a logical way to go.
A large wallet is a prerequisite for being this dude. Does Warren have oil? Does Carter have pills? Does Jay-Z have bling? You bet. Well shale oil (and gas) anyway, but we still have to see if they will go get it. It’s a long way down and natural gas sells at a 10-year low today.
Ah… Under my name, you seem to have linked that silly editorial that Guy wrote using the comic shop as an example of a shitty courthouse square building….
oopps. I don’t know how I did that but it’s fixed now. Sorry Josh.
Lets be honest here: perhaps that guy succeeded in Roanoke because he didn’t have the same “forces” (i.e. city and county admins) who have become used to exploiting the spoils of their positions. Until the old guard is gone, very little can change.
I appreciate your comment Sharon but I completely disagree. If history tells us anything it is that a small group of committed people can achieve almost anything. And while I don’t agree with every policy, plan or person working in local government they are not a dedicated force for blocking progress and development in Warren. There are good people in local government who will help people with good ideas; I’ve seen this with my own eyes. We must not allow ourselves to be shut down by the attitude that progress in impossible as that is the very definition of self-defeatism.
I am for the one-stop but I am also for some MAJOR restructuring of departments. This needs done periodically and was done in a major way back in the 80′s. The kind of restructuring I would like cannot be done unless everyone is together.
I think some of this is happening in Warren and is much easier because it is smaller. Dennis you weren’t in Warren then but lots of folks poo-pooed the amphitheatre. My friend call these folks ‘the unconvincibles’.
We have chatted often about the “unconvincibles” Janet and I can only imagine the opposition to the Amp. But the Amp was a very modest sum I believe and sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. I’d like to think I’d have supported it had I been hear. I’m also not unconvincible when it comes to the one-stop, but I am waiting to be convinced. So far the arguments for it have been pretty thin and this is in excess of $10 million — way in excess when interest costs are included. I doubt that and reorganization can justify that kind of investment but I’d be very interested to see the numbers behind it, or the numbers behind the utility savings, or a plan to deal with the buildings a move would leave behind. The citizens of Warren deserve to have a better case made for this idea than has been made so far.
1.6 million dollar bond payment that will balloon to 2.8 million dollars.
A year.
Do what the Wean Foundation did and renovate. They don’t get their brand-new building with the way the city is.
And if city workers want nice, new modern digs, they can all move to Green and get hired up there.
And I would love to hear Ms. Hazlette’s reasons for why this is a proper move for the city.
Her thoughts would be more than we’ve gotten from anyone else…