Headlines in the local news:

Historic district task force group - Christiansburg's Town Council did assign a task to its appointed Planning Commission two years ago, to report on historic district overlays.  Preservation can equal jobs and increase real property values according to federal sources, yet expect dismal response rates to a recent survey about existing historic districts because it has only received tepid attention from Council.    It is treated as something separate and apart from economic and tourism development and downtown renovations when it could instead be another component of those initiatives.

Capital plan work session - The Christiansburg Planning Commission is charged with creating and maintaining this 5-year plan for identifying and working toward large, future expenses.  Capital plans are one component of the overall, annual budgets that localities must adopt each year and which go into effect July 1.  During the 2009-2010 "preparation" of the capital budget, the chair of this committee is on record stating "I'm not really sure what we're supposed to do" with the numbers placed before the commission.  So the document was taken home to be studied by each member, and was then unanimously approved at the next meeting without discussion. 

So were these headlines relative to Christiansburg?  Nope.  

There have been a few vague references made during a couple of public meetings implying some financial information is being passed between some staff or Council members.  A past complaint, however, was not just that Council was called in two-by-two, but that a concise, consistent message was not provided to every Council member.  One primary responsibility of each Council member is to have a comprehensive understanding of public monies being collected and spent. 

Reading past these headlines, Christiansburg residents see it is just a tease as it is reporting what other localities have done to inform citizens and publicly engage those responsible in this annual process.  To defend this 11th hour approach,  Christiansburg Council and citizens have been told they "get a better picture by waiting."  Would you accept a once a year statement, from anyone else?  Why then can other localities proceed and refresh data as necessary -- keeping on top of financial conditions or changes all year?

Voters should have an idea of where the town stands financially, particularly seeing dire news from State and County levels.  Voters should know how well the current budget has performed and plans for the upcoming  year.  This should have started, in the open, well before the campaign season began.

Ever get an email from a sender you didn't know, whose own email address didn't say who they were?  And the sender didn't identify themselves in the body of the letter, yet they were making assertions and asking you to forward their message to your contacts? 

As one person circulating this email asked, "Who is this clown, how did they get MY email address and why are they sending it to a bunch of people I don't even know?"

Such an email is currently floating out there on the internet, originating from someone using Kipps325@aol:


Yep, sure appears there is indeed "false information and untrue statements being sent on the internet."  This email also gives the appearance of asserting some facts without providing any data to back them up, or partial pieces of information about broader issues. 

At the Feb. 2 Town Council meeting, three of the five voting members present signaled an interest in requiring sidewalks in new residential developments, and an expectation that such plans should come closer to providing 10% usable green space.  A review of public meeting minutes show this is not a new topic, and an editorial restated sidewalks consistently are the most frequently requested service or public asset.  So is the sender of that email saying the minutes or editorial are false? 

At the most recent Town Council meeting, the Planning Commission chair came back to Council seeking clarification for the task they were given.  A tentative joint meeting date of Thursday, March 25 was discussed; yet nothing currently appears as scheduled for either March 23 or March 25 on the town's web site. 

Community Development Block Grant monies have been available since the last U.S. Census, due to Christiansburg's growth.  These are known as "entitlement" funds, and all it takes to access them is an application backed by a related action plan.  Councilmen Stipes and Vanhoozier (serving as Council's Street Committee), pushed for Council to obtain this "free money" last year.  Due to a technicality (the action plan hadn't been updated), those funds were again forfeited. 

It is true grant money, with Montgomery County serving as the fiscal agent, is being sought to extend the Huckleberry Trail from the mall.  This is also being supplemented with donations and fund raising by the "Friends of the Huckleberry" and in-kind contributions from the town (in the form of  employee's doing some work and using town equipment).  The town's Comprehensive Plan, and the future trail map,  have long documented this vision.  This goal is generally known within the community, to the extent one person bequeathed a significant amount of money to support this initiative (the Last Will and Testament is a matter of public record at the county courthouse). 

Do most citizens know existing ordinances require business developments to either install a sidewalk or give the town an amount equal to what that would have cost?  These funds are to be held in an escrow account and used for maintenance or pooled with other funding sources to expand and connect existing sidewalks or trails. 

The Downtown Renovation project was conceptualized in 1998, encompassing Depot/Franklin, Depot/Radford, College/Hickok/Dunkley/Graham, East/West Main, Roanoke/First streets.  Since then, total grant amounts available have steadily gotten smaller, while costs have shot up and the number of applicants increased.  Like the concept for a community pool, the project has now extended over a decade and completion dates remain undetermined.  So the sender of that email is a master of the obvious, restating that grant administration is beyond the scope of the Mayor's responsibilities and is a staff function. 

If a citizen wanted to know about Federal grant money available  and inventory of low income housing in Christiansburg, where's the source data available?  Certainly "404: Not Found" on the town's website.  When was this tour conducted?  How many units, in what condition, at what rental rates?  Also dig a bit to find out why the NRV PDC Homes Consortium doesn't include any Christiansburg projects, with those entitlement funds going to other jurisdictions -- somewhere, maybe readers will be able to discern the metric which defines the difference between "low income" and "affordable" housing.

The statement that "accepting large grants means having to hire a grant or project manager and create a department" is debatable.  Many organizations, such as the public school system, do have dedicated personnel -- and they have a very successful track record in identifying and being awarded grants.  Other small organizations and many local governments assign these administrative tasks to finance, purchasing or public works personnel as a routine and fairly incidental duty.  It could be argued that hiring a grants administrator is an allowable expense for many grants, and so should have been given a higher priority than creating a new Public Information Office (which was NOT included in the 2009-2010 budget). 

These, too, are facts (true statements).  Please forward this information to your friends, and encourage them to do a little research instead of taking any information at face value, without question.  As we learn in grade school, cite your sources and sign your work.