This Could Last Through Christmas! Oh Joy!

Shadows on the snow on the studio deck

Looking out toward Bent Mountain

 Snow Shadows

Tuesday Mornin': Building the Arts & Rail Districts in the Downtown Model

Sunday Mornin': Moving ahead with the Downtown Model

Looking South from Wells Avenue

Sunday Mornin':Thinking about the Roanoke City Market

I think David Trinkle's idea of providing assistance to displaced vendors in the City Market Building is well worth  consideration by Council. Perhaps, the same consideration should be given to those businesses along Wall & Market Streets along the East & West sides of the Market Building.

Surely,  some time must be taken to understand the real cost of moving these businesses to wherever, including upfit requirements in temporary(?) space, and reestablishing the vendors in the Market Building a year later.  Was planning building systems items for renovation/replacement such as water, sewer, electrical undertaken with detailed input from the eventual building vendors?

How would that cost compare to conducting renovations to the City Market Building incrementally? What might the increments be? Half the building at a time, one quarter at a time, upstairs/downstairs, vendor-by-vendor?
With Twists & Turns and Claire V's expression of intent to leave the market due to Center-in-the Square's intent to sell the building next summer to reduce expenses and raise money to allow the beginning of their major renovation; thoughtful consideration must be given to the implementation of these "most public" of projects in an open design lab atmosphere (as compared to another "Town Hall" format).

The problem is arising from an obscure & archaic planning process.  It is no one's fault!

The confluence of an economy in a tailspin and increasing divisiveness/partisanship in our society demands change in our approach to designing, planning and building our future.

The process needs to be transparent, flexible and quickly responsive. Think monumentally; act incrementally. Think globally; act locally.

Think for The Heart of Roanoke: A forum for discussion of issues like these.

If Construction is scheduled to begin 8-12 months away,  the architects & engineers of the project are not so far along in the creation of construction documents and specifications that a review of the project's implementation would create a problem. In fact, such review or reconsideration of projects in this stage is normal in my experience.

Eldon L Karr-Architect