Grundy demolition update

[VHSLhelper 571]

Jersey barriers are now in place behind town restricting traffic to 1 lane.

Expect the same to happen later this week going through town, since a new 1-lane stripe is in place.

Both "short-cuts" connecting the upper and lower levels have been closed.

Word is they'll start Monday with the Rife Chevrolet building.

[WaveFan09 50]

thank god..i wish they would hurry!

[Gman1986 10]

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Jersey barriers are now in place behind town restricting traffic to 1 lane.

Expect the same to happen later this week going through town, since a new 1-lane stripe is in place.

Both "short-cuts" connecting the upper and lower levels have been closed.

Word is they'll start Monday with the Rife Chevrolet building.

 

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I think they should give everyone in Grundy $10,000 and tell them all to move to Kentucky and then dynamite the whole town. Save us miliions in the end!

[BigD4VT 11]

Come on man. You're talking about people's homes. The place where they've lived, worked and raised their families. The town of Grundy had the guts to pull off one of the most ambitious projects I've ever heard of. And the people will benefit from it.

 

I wish the leaders of Richlands could see the problems we have and do something about them. Instead we get a shiny new town hall (which demolished a landmark), A Farmer's Market that nobody is using (despite constant begging), and new sidewalks that nobody is walking on. Plus the town has dug a financial hole for itself with an annexation.

 

Richlands tries to ignore their real problems. Grundy is doing something about theirs.

[WaveFan09 50]

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Jersey barriers are now in place behind town restricting traffic to 1 lane.

Expect the same to happen later this week going through town, since a new 1-lane stripe is in place.

Both "short-cuts" connecting the upper and lower levels have been closed.

Word is they'll start Monday with the Rife Chevrolet building.

 

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I think they should give everyone in Grundy $10,000 and tell them all to move to Kentucky and then dynamite the whole town. Save us miliions in the end!

 

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you are a very low person, but thats okay God will forgive you for your ignorance:)

[olewave 44]

After reading your other posts, I thought you were full of s???. Now after this post, I know you are full of s???.

[BigBlue02 11]

I agree it takes guts to move a whole town. This maybe a rebirth for Grundy in some form or another.Pikeville did the same thing with the mountain by pass and look they are growing by leaps and bounds down there. AS far as Richlands goes,its soon going to be a ghost town. Most the business is moving up Claypool Hill. Storefronts are empty,it makes me sick to go down in to the middle of town. Richlands has never looked this bad. Even in the 90's it has business but that business is going away.

[Gman1986 10]

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After reading your other posts, I thought you were full of s???. Now after this post, I know you are full of s???.

 

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$750 million to move THAT town....and I'm full of it?

One word...KABOOM!!!!!

[olewave 44]

Just off the top of your statistical head, how many millions or may I say billions of dollars has come out of this little town to support places like your town. I challenge you to sit at the top of shorts gap mountain and count the number of cars that come in here ever day to a job. Or, are you too busy bashing your baseball coach, your basketball coach for not have all seniors to start on senior night? I will quote Bear Bryant. " don't burn your neighbors house down, because it will not make yours look any better." By the way the blasting in town is over. There will be no more kabooms, everything will be moved by machine.

[BigD4VT 11]

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I agree it takes guts to move a whole town. This maybe a rebirth for Grundy in some form or another.Pikeville did the same thing with the mountain by pass and look they are growing by leaps and bounds down there. AS far as Richlands goes,its soon going to be a ghost town. Most the business is moving up Claypool Hill. Storefronts are empty,it makes me sick to go down in to the middle of town. Richlands has never looked this bad. Even in the 90's it has business but that business is going away.

 

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Well Richlands is digging it's own grave. A lot of money has been spent on thing's that may be nice but won't help bring in new business. And as long as only 500 people turn out to vote nothing is going to change.

[WaveFan09 50]

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After reading your other posts, I thought you were full of s???. Now after this post, I know you are full of s???.

 

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$750 million to move THAT town....and I'm full of it?

One word...KABOOM!!!!!

 

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in the words of Kenny Chesney "some say its a backwords place, but i make it a point to say THATS WHERE I COME FROM, and IM PROUD AS ANYONE!" ...seriousley please keep your rude comments to your self noone wants to hear them,

[BigBlue02 11]

I myself as soon as I'm done at SVCC will be moving away, to abingdon or Lebanon.

[cityofRaven 2,456]

yeah thats what i said, i want to leave and never come back well im back here and glad to, you dont know what you got till its gone.

[wavefan64 10]

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[ QUOTE ]

After reading your other posts, I thought you were full of s???. Now after this post, I know you are full of s???.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

$750 million to move THAT town....and I'm full of it?

One word...KABOOM!!!!!

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

 

in the words of Kenny Chesney "some say its a backwords place, but i make it a point to say THATS WHERE I COME FROM, and IM PROUD AS ANYONE!" ...seriousley please keep your rude comments to your self noone wants to hear them,

 

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If it weren't for Grundy, Bluefield, Abingdon, Bristol, those places wouldn't have a pot to piss in...Look at all the people that go shopping on the weekends in Bluefield, and how many people move to Abingdon etc. every year..I would guess other towns of "Finer Quality" would talk better about Grundy, we are what keeps them afloat

[total 12]

HA!!! now that's funny right there, i don't care who ya are. Grundy keeps Abingdon, Bluefield, and Bristol afloat... HA!!!

[RichlandsAlum 678]

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I agree it takes guts to move a whole town. This maybe a rebirth for Grundy in some form or another.Pikeville did the same thing with the mountain by pass and look they are growing by leaps and bounds down there. AS far as Richlands goes,its soon going to be a ghost town. Most the business is moving up Claypool Hill. Storefronts are empty,it makes me sick to go down in to the middle of town. Richlands has never looked this bad. Even in the 90's it has business but that business is going away.

 

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Well Richlands is digging it's own grave. A lot of money has been spent on thing's that may be nice but won't help bring in new business. And as long as only 500 people turn out to vote nothing is going to change.

 

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Actually, those things are far from "nice" enhancements. They are now fairly minimal maintenance-type items that most new businesses demand. Most developers come armed with a checklist of amenities that they expect to be in place. The more items on the list you can offer, the better your odds of attracting business.

 

The only huge problem with the revitalization effort in Richlands is that it's about 25 years too late to be significantly effective. In terms of population growth, 1980 represents the zenith of the town's development. Unfortunately, nothing was done to capitalize on the momentum at that time. (Granted, hindsight is a major benefit for purposes of this discussion.)

 

Municipal evolution is very cyclical. You have to spend money to make money, and to attract new development, a community has to promote the fact that it expects the development to take place. If Claypool Hill continues to be successful, some of that activity will eventually "spill over" back into Richlands. Besides, there are still some good "institutional" type businesses in Richlands -- and I'm thinking specifically of the hospital as an example. As long as the town is part of a sub-regional service center and it can identify just a couple of core specialties that can be offered there, it will survive. At this point, there's nothing to suggest that significant growth will take place, but Richlands really isn't in a bad position with regard to its future (particularly within the context of its location). The trick will be for the economy to diversify just enough to provide more opportunities for college graduates. That's actually not as challenging as it used to be.

 

Frankly, there isn't much for young folks in Richlands. But that's true of several other communities that are "healther" than Richlands on a pro forma basis. And while young people do tend to leave the area, there is an observable dynamic of natives coming back to settle down and raise their families.

 

Things could shake out either way, but it's probably too soon to get out the burying shovels just yet.

[RichlandsAlum 678]

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I myself as soon as I'm done at SVCC will be moving away, to abingdon or Lebanon.

 

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Uhhh..... Do Abingdon or Lebanon really qualify as "moving away?" The furthest points referenced are only 25 nautical miles apart in distance.

[BigD4VT 11]

You obviously know a lot more about this than I do but I can't see where Richlands needed to spend money on a New Town Hall and a Farmer's Market in order to attract business.

 

The town offices could have easily been located in the armory building along with the PD. They have plenty of extra space there.

 

As for the Farmer's Market, it would be a great idea if there was a demand for one... but it's very obvious there was no demand whatsoever. Just check out last week's Free-Press and you'll see Brian Wright practically begging people to come sell something, anything...except "Yard Sale items". We all know how much our town council hates yard sales.

 

Richlands has problems with drugs, theft, flooding and litter. If I'm a company looking for a place to expand those are the thing's I want addressed.

[RichlandsAlum 678]

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You obviously know a lot more about this than I do but I can't see where Richlands needed to spend money on a New Town Hall and a Farmer's Market in order to attract business.

 

The town offices could have easily been located in the armory building along with the PD. They have plenty of extra space there.

 

As for the Farmer's Market, it would be a great idea if there was a demand for one... but it's very obvious there was no demand whatsoever. Just check out last week's Free-Press and you'll see Brian Wright practically begging people to come sell something, anything...except "Yard Sale items". We all know how much our town council hates yard sales.

 

Richlands has problems with drugs, theft, flooding and litter. If I'm a company looking for a place to expand those are the thing's I want addressed.

 

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Actually, I'll concede that the Farmer's Market is a bust. I don't know a lot about the impetus for putting it in, but I'd imagine that it was based on more successful models in other towns. Salem's is the only one I know of that turns any kind of profit. Several other communities (including the one I serve) decided that they could do just as well. Unfortunately, what works well in one case doesn't necessarily work well every time.

 

Town offices probably could have been located within the Armory building, and that would have been appropriate. But aside from my opinion that the new Town Hall is a poor architectural substitute for Mattie Williams, I don't have a lot of heartburn about the decision to locate that use on that lot. From a design standpoint, Washington Square is the most prominent development site in Richlands, and it makes sense for it to host a prominent civic structure designed to represent historical character and project future vitality. The structure that was built doesn't accomplish that goal, IMO. Unfortunately, it would have cost a lot more money to either build an appopriate structure or renovate the Mattie Williams building, and the political will obviously didn't exist to do either.

 

Aside from flooding, the other factors you mentioned could be described as symptoms of the "broken window syndrome." Most famously espoused by Rudy Giuliani, it's the notion that neglected public spaces (particularly downtowns) breed sociological problems of the type you listed. Once these become widespread, it then negatively impacts the economy. Basically, the idea is that one broken window that goes unrepaired in a building will lead to more, then to abandonment of the individual structure along with others....ultimately culminating in undesirable (or even threatening) public spaces.

 

It takes some political will and capital, but many communities that have chosen to reinvest in their public areas have actually seen turnaround in their demographic indicators -- with Manhattan being the best known example. Of course, there are no guarantees of success (the Farmer's Market being a really great example) and a few street trees, brick planters, and park benches aren't going to transform a community's economy overnight. But if things are ever going to turn around, there has to be a starting point. And people have to be willing to invest the time and money necessary to effect change.

 

My opinion is that each community has to make a corporate decision that it wants to prosper, realistically identify one or two things that its community can offer at a high level of service, and then commit the capital necessary to fund those activities.

 

In the case of Richlands, I know that the hospital is a recognized leader in oncology services. Although admittedly it's an odd marketing angle, promotion of the town as a regional cancer treatment center (not a real stretch) would bring people in. And once the bodies are physically present, it just becomes a matter of the market finding a way to supply their needs (such as food, hotels, shopping, etc.).

 

That's a very simplistic notion (and obviously one that I haven't hashed out to any great degree), but it's one example of how Richlands might choose to position itself to move forward.

 

Grundy's progressive leadership is to be applauded. The decision to invest in the law school will prove to be the salvation of that community, IMO.

 

Every community can have its own example of something that works very well. Grundy has the law school. Salem has the farmer's market. Richlands has something.... it's just a matter of figuring out what that something is and what its measurable return might be.

 

There's nothing to this economic development stuff....at least on paper.

 

; )

 

I doubt that I do know any more about this stuff than you or anyone else. I just spend a lot of time thinking about these type of issues, and I've come to the conclusion that they really aren't as complicated as they seem once we render them into as many individual elements as possible.

[BigD4VT 11]

Great post! If you ever move back to Richlands and run for council you'll have my vote.

 

When the idea of a Farmer's Market came up I seem to remember them pointing to the one in Tazewell. But really, the one in Tazewell is the reason we didn't need one in Richlands. All of the farming communities in the County have easy access to Tazewell. That's why the county seat was placed there to begin with.

[RichlandsAlum 678]

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Great post! If you ever move back to Richlands and run for council you'll have my vote.

 

When the idea of a Farmer's Market came up I seem to remember them pointing to the one in Tazewell. But really, the one in Tazewell is the reason we didn't need one in Richlands. All of the farming communities in the County have easy access to Tazewell. That's why the county seat was placed there to begin with.

 

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Thanks, BigD! I would have really liked to have come back to Richlands after college. Unfortunately, there just weren't any opportunities to do so. Now the farther I move along in life, it seems that any chance of ever coming back home grows smaller and smaller....

 

My own angst notwithstanding, there are plenty of good folks still there in God's Country who can get things going again. And maybe a couple of them even post on this board (present company included).

 

I believe that the best days of Richlands are still in front of it, if for no other reason than it's a community worth caring about.

[BigD4VT 11]

I can think of one person in particular on this board who I would love to see run for council. It would be a landslide victory.

[BigBlue02 11]

I'm not saying lebanon is all that far,and I'm just putting another one out there but it just seems like Russell county is putting everything out there to recruit business.

[RichlandsAlum 678]

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I'm not saying lebanon is all that far,and I'm just putting another one out there but it just seems like Russell county is putting everything out there to recruit business.

 

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Just giving you a hard time, fellow Blues supporter.

 

I know that there have been some recent announcements of activity in Russell County, but I'm not sure that folks there are really doing anything any differently than officials anywhere else (including good old Tazewell).

 

This economic development business is a lot like fishing. Sometimes you can have the best spot with the best bait and the best equipment and still come away empty. But it's no cause for despair. In fact, the really good days and the really bad ones are both the kind that keep you coming back.

[BigD4VT 11]

I don't know for sure, but I get the impression that Russell County and the towns within it are trying to do what's best for the entire county, whereas Tazewell and it's towns are competing against each other. Hence Richlands building a farmers market because Tazewell has one. Or Richlands annexing a huge chunk of the county in order to gain more land that can be developed... despite the financial strain those new areas are putting on the town. Also Richlands and Cedar Bluff have been bickering over one thing or another for years when they should be working together as one.