Technology today is amazing. While some people are still struggling to find their way around a keyboard, others make designing brilliant graphics or building complex databases look easier than peeling an apple. An entire generation has grown up surfing the internet on personal computers, blithely jumping from one platform or software program as effortlessly as learning to crawl, then walk, and then run. Computing, communications and internet are now totally mobile and interconnected.
During the Jan. 6th Christiansburg Town Council meeting, several members appeared stunned when hearing an event was already scheduled at the aquatic center. This facility's opening date continues to fall back, from one year to the next, from first quarter to second. While the business plan was something council members had long been asking for, the Town Manager indicated in August that all his files on this 12-year project were being turned over to the new director. Although the facility is slated to open in about 90-days, there hasn't been any apparent recent activity at the construction site. No work crews, contractor vans, lights on at night working double time to meet a deadline, but no one expects construction of the facility to be a job accountability of the aquatic director.
All that aside, some enterprizing sport enthusiasts have been waiting and planning. While surely physically training, too, they have been active on the internet. See the special logo design out for a new sport come to town:
That's the "graphics" part. For the "internet" part, check out this link and see everyone who has registered for the event thus far. The database lets you sort by any listed category. Ranging from age 11 up to age 60 and coming from six states, most participants are likely to be "day-trippers" or staying with family and friends. A swimming race, a bike race, and a foot race, back to back.
Sounds like pretty tough stuff, especially since rates and fees are not yet set. But that will all be worked out, we're told, along with the VT contract and getting the advisory board up and running. This event's participants probably expect fees to change a wee bit, and understand the date may be tentative.
Others queuing up to use the three pools include town residents of all ages, several local public school teams, private swim clubs, the Virginia Tech Swim & Dive Team and other extreme sport buffs. A "Maroon vs Orange" event is also scheduled for April 18th and being promoted. They are all ready. Let's hope the aquatic center is, too. It is time to move forward so other stalled projects can be put into action, including completion of the adjacent skateboard park and a trail system connecting our residential areas to each other, to local schools, and to the downtown area with government offices, a regional musuem and the Christiansburg Library. And to the town's two fine recreational facilities. Then it might be time for another citizen survey and new "Ten Year Plan" to be developed.