The Virginia Downtown Development Association is not an organization the Town of Christiansburg has a relationship or membership with. The VDDA works in tandem with the Virginia Main Street program, which has seen success both in our Commonwealth and throughout the USA.
Unlike the VML conference, the town has never sent a representative to the VDDA meeting. This year, VDDA conference topics include:
Keynote ' Uniquing' Your Downtown! (AIA 1.0/AICP CMI1.0)
Capturing The Recreational Market (AIA 1.0)
GIS to record Historic Properties (AIA 1.0, AICP CMI1.0)
Recruiting Downtown Lodging Facilities (AIA 1.0)
Trends in Parking Management and Design (AIA 1.0, AICP CMI1.0)
Managing Infill in a Historic Downtown (AIA 1.0, AICP CMI1.0 )
Note these seminars include continuing education credits and touch on several issues the town has stated it has an interest in; namely historic preservation, revitalizing the downtown, trends or best practices (several files of materials which have previously been provided to council members are available upon request, yet are too large to post here).
Another trend seen elsewhere in the NRV is tax incentives and community cooperation for investment -- see Pulaski, Radford, Floyd or Blacksburg.
Not so in Christiansburg. Are town leaders really interested in economic development in the county seat, and if so -- what are the constraints holding them back? Saying "we tried" 15 or 20 years ago doesn't cut it and records don't show a concerted effort was ever made to be inclusive to involve investors, property owners, developers or commercial tenants.