Who are Cox Paving and Taylor's Paving and Sealing, and why are they parking their big trucks and trailers with heavy equipment behind the Recreation Center in Christiansburg? Has this land somehow been quietly rezoned to allow heavy equipment storage, adjacent to residential and commercial neighborhoods?
The trucks and trailers, loaded or not, have been parked in the gravel along Cambria Street behind the Rec Center off and on for about 2 weeks.
Having these trucks parked at this location overnight appears to be important to Taylor's and Cox. Since the equipment is marked as to who owns it, this "product placement" also provides free marketing for the multitude of cars traveling by.
Why doesn't the Town of Christiansburg charge a fee for them to park? The Town needs more revenue. These companies want to park behind the Rec center. It's a perfect market - where
supply equals demand. (Me, myself and I figured this out. Since we're not elected officials, it didn't count as a meeting.)
If this is related to the town's construction of its aquatic center, that's where the equipment should be kept.
And, if you haven't noticed,
the paving downtown isn't finished yet. Cox and Taylor's may be doing paving jobs in the vicinity. Maybe the Town could trade parking fees for having a firm that knows how to pave in this "poor weather" and finish Main Street. Remember, "weather" has been the excuse
du jour for not finishing that project.
Come to the Candidates Forum on April 27 at noon. The event will be at the Coffee Depot, 41 West Main St. We can ask the candidates (some of whom have already come out in favor of increasing user fees instead of real property taxes) about this possible revenue source, or as a viable contingency plan for getting pavement on our downtown streets (which have been in horrid condition for FIVE (5) years!).