It's happening all around Christiansburg, all across the country.
Buchanan, Blacksburg, Radford, Pulaski, Pearisburg, Galax, Floyd, Stuart. Montgomery, Roanoke, Giles, Pulaski counties. San Antonio, Asheville, Wilmington, San Diego.
Christiansburg's absence among peer its communities is striking and deserves discussion.
What's happening elsewhere? Local leaders working together to implement a comprehensive approach to stabilize their historic downtown business district, increasing economic viability and activity while celebrating local heritage and art.
This means property owners and community members and government officials. This means private investment and grant monies and local tax revenues.
Taking inventory of those other communities, all retained some historic structures, some government buildings. Some in good shape and some neglected. Some properties fully utilized and others not.
Collectively, these core areas represent and convey the values, traditions, heritage and character of each community. A failure to protect the heart of these communities, or allow further decay and misuse of these assets, was no longer an option for our neighbors. No sitting around talking about what the future should look like, who should be doing what -- rather, taking immediate action. Providing the leadership necessary for pulling all the scattered resources together and executing a plan.
Christiansburg shares many of these same "old town" attributes -- natives and newcomers wax poetic about our being a great small town and place to live. In our small town, there have been attempts to invigorate our central business district -- in fits and starts, pieces and parts. Looking back twenty years, it appears we've been long on talk and short on results. Why? No consensus, few incentives, disjointed vision and fragmented resources.
There has been significant private investment in our downtown and historic structures, while there's also been neglect by some property owners. There has been an alphabet soup of federal and state grant money to tap into -- CDBG, VDHCD, HUD, TEA, VFH -- yet it appears that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been forfeited or declined. Even with an expressed desire for rehabilitation to include more housing and some town government projects, funding has been piecemeal and slow. Without a cohesive approach, it has been difficult to reap significant results or get ahead of escalating costs.
No single stakeholder group -- property owners, private investors, community advocates or town officials -- can realize results on their own. A unified approach is the prerequisite for success.
An outstanding example of the type of leadership and collaboration necessary for results is showcased in an article published in the Roanoke Times, focusing on the small town of Floyd. Other successful projects in our region were also supported by CDBG funding, in addition to public and private investment. Christiansburg is an "entitlement community" -- automatically granted a portion of annual CDBG funds -- yet officials have chosen not to utilize them to enhance our town.
The talent and expertise needed is at Christiansburg's fingertips, from private investors to myriad university resources to development specialists such as Community Housing Partners and NRV PDC. The success stories around us have proud participants ready to share their experiences.
What Christiansburg doesn't have is a defined action plan and the necessary players grouped as a team. Town leadership is required for pulling all the individual pieces together -- historic preservation, public and private investment, tourism initiatives, and utilizing grant funds -- to refine the vision, and take action.
It is time to look forward. It is time to pull it all together, be progressive and take definitive action. Downtown Christiansburg is the heart of our small town -- and it needs the attention of our community leaders to restore it to good health.