The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County is hosting a forum about revitalizing the downtowns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg. The Downtowns Re-Visioned will be held Mon., March 30 at 7pm in the Blacksburg Town Hall.
In planning this program, the League decided to invite expert panelists who have no connection to either town governments or anyone with a vested interest in either of the downtowns.
Panelists are:
- Angela Hamilton, Executive Director of Lynch’s Landing, a successful Main Street Program in downtown and river front Lynchburg (winner of the 2006 Great American Main Street Award).
- Chuck Houska, a commercial broker with the Meridian Realty Group in Winston-Salem, with considerable experience finding new uses for commercial real estate. Houska is also a former Town Councilman of Clemmons, NC and a former member of the Clemmons Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Clemmons Appearance Commission.
- James Littlefield is a professor of Marketing at Virginia Tech.
- Jack Steelman, also now with the Meridian Realty Group, was Downtown Development Director for Winston-Salem for 15 years. He is the recipient of the International Downtown Association Economic Development Award and is Past President of the North Carolina Downtown Development Association.
This program complements and extends similar attention to the downtowns of Montgomery County, as seen in the chamber's "Downtown & Retail Development Initiative" with a survey beginning Mar. 30. Contact Allison Long via email at along@montgomerycc.org or calling the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce at (540)552-2636. The Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg are also working on several initiatives in conjunction with Blacksburg, including wayfinding signs and as seen in the hiring of staff which focuses on street maintenance. Additionally, representatives from Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Radford recently worked with three VT marketing classes on branding concepts which could be applied in any or all three downtowns.
We hope you can come to the League's forum, but if you cannot it will be recorded for replay on WTOB (not available to county or Christiansburg residents) or via a website created by Carol Lindstrom for government information. The League extended special invitations to each member of the two Town Councils and Planning Commissions.