The conversation was fun. See you Monday.

I did a little research and I found several cases where a community kept Walmart from building in their town. Maybe that will happen here as well. That remains to be seen. I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to how it will all play out. I honestly don’t have an opinion one way or the other. I just enjoy the spectacle of it all.

The hearing on the injunction won’t happen until June 7th but as the plans to build were approved before proposition 1450 was passed I think it will be an uphill battle to keep Walmart out of Blacksburg.

Ah, loaded language of the internet, how I love thee.

Anyway, what you are saying is that anyone who is near the construction has ulterior motive and therefore can’t speak without their position being suspect. Lovely. The truth of what I say is independent of my geographic location in spite of the fact that people have no ability to distinguish meaningful dialog from shrill rhetoric.

The truth is that high traffic areas in fact are NOT family friendly. The fact that this causes property values to go down is practically self evident. Why would you move to a more dangerous neighborhood when you could afford to live elsewhere? But the price of real estate is not the issue here, at least not for me.

As far as Walmart having done this in other towns and the residents of Blacksburg not saying anything this is the first I’ve heard of that. I don’t know of a Walmart that was build behind a school. I certainly have never seen one. People have been complaining about Walmart for a long time. Haven’t you ever seen the “Walmart kills small towns” bumper stickers?

And I’m not saying this to say that Walmart is evil. I’m simply point out that your argument is wrong. I’m sure that there are excellent economic reasons for dropping a walmart behind Beeks elementary school but is that what Blacksburg residents want in the middle of town? Some of them yes and some of them no but I’m not sure that democracy has anything to do with this issue at this point. I’m pretty sure this is now a legal issue and not a legislative one.

Oh, and we aren’t a democracy we are a republic. We elect representatives and they do what they want, not the will of the people.

My point was your relative proximity to the First & Main project is very likely going to make you biased, or at the very least, others will perceive you to be regardless of your protests to the contrary.

I have a friend that lives just off County Club and she has been rallying against the Walmart project as soon as she heard about it and given her situation I can understand why she feels that way but I do not support her position.

What I can’t get her to understand is why I, and I am sure many others, do not care. She did not not care about Walmart building next to the homes of others until they decided to build next to hers. Having done a little research on this it is not the first time Walmart has done this, build so close to a residential area. She didn’t care then so why expect others to care about her cause now.

Now, I do not own property near the project so it is easy for me to play devil’s advocate but the area that they are building in was, and always has been to my knowledge, zoned for commercial use so this was bound to happen sooner or later.

So what do I tell her when she asks why people don’t care. Well, not to be glib or to belittle her feelings in any way I will borrow and at the same time change a line from a Star Trek movie…

The cares of the many outweigh the cares of the few. Or the one.

Welcome to a democratic society.

As to where I live, while you are are correct, I’m not sure that it is relevant. If this development were put down on South Main as soon as you get off the highway I would have less objection to it. The buffer between that development and the residential area is much greater down there and the traffic load would be less because of the proximity to the highway. Of course there is a greater chance of having a plane fall in the parking lot but that is a separate issue.

The family friendly comment was not meant figuratively, I was literally talking about and environment which is family friendly. High traffic areas are not family friendly, that is why property values are lower than in comparable ares on dead end streets. That is why we zone separately for commercial and residential. That is why neighborhoods are build with limited entrances.

I believe you are correct that this is a done deal and there is nothing that can be done about that. I just hope the traffic does in fact stay on main street and not bleed onto Hubbard and Airport.

P

Second, I believe you are taking me too literally. The reason the original statement was in quotes meant to imply I was speaking figuratively not literally. Basically you could replace the statement with “not near my home”.

Your notion of “family friendly”, I hope you weren’t speaking figuratively :), is a little subjective. Lot of families raise their children near that kind of commerce and traffic. Whether out of need or necessity. The line between residential and commercial zoning is just that. A thin line. I am sure home owners would love to have a 10 mile buffer between their residential area and commercial zoning but this doesn’t happen, anywhere to my knowledge. I believe that is was is often referred to as the price of progress.

Lastly, if this is who I think it is your argument against Walmart would be more convincing if you lived across town. Living approximately 1500 yards from this development takes a little air out of your complaint because it almost is in your back yard. I truly sympathize with you, and I mean that, but I believe the Walmart is a done deal. In the end I think things will be better than you think.

‘I find it very hard to believe these people have never shopped at Walmart and they were fine with it being near someone else’s home in Christiansburg but now that someone wants to build it near their homes here in Blacksburg, suddenly it’s “Walmart is the Evil Empire” and “they will destroy our town!”’

That isn’t actually what happened. When Walmart was built in Christiansburg there was _NOTHING_ there. People did eventually build houses near it but that came later. Walmart didn’t build “in someones backyard”. In fact I can’t recall having been to a Walmart that was “in someones backyard”.

So the argument isn’t that these people don’t want to shop at Walmart but rather that they would rather shop at Walmart where it is today.

As you point out the shopping center they are building there is going to be huge. I’m not sure that South Main is designed for that much traffic. That is probably my biggest objection to it. You take a residential area where children play and go to school and you increase traffic by a large amount. Doesn’t seem very “family friendly.” Must be those damn liberals at work again.

Of course most of the people who object do shop at Walmart but that is a completely separate issue. Except for the people who work at Walmart I’m not sure that you really create American jobs by shopping there. Sure you line the pockets of the CEOs and the shareholders but do you really “help the economy”? Maybe, maybe not. Not very Pro-USA. Must be those damn liberals again.

And the answer to your other question is, “No, I don’t shop at Walmart.*”

*Unless I can’t find the item any where else.

P