Photo courtesy: www.istockphoto.com
To build, or not to build: that was the question facing Roanoke City Council.
Last month, it seemed like the 4-2 vote shut down any possibility of seeing an amphitheater built in Elmwood Park. Many people in the area said they were sorry to see the idea go. Council members said adding the project to the five-year capital improvements plan would add unnecessary stress to the budget during an already difficult time. But that all changed at this week’s council meeting. With a vote of 4-3, and a lot of wordy banter, the amphitheater is officially back on the table.
Anita Price was one of the first council members to vote against the amphitheater, and one of the first to bring it back up for discussion. According to the Roanoke Times, Price sent an e-mail to fellow council members saying, “I have been a skeptic about the project, especially when compared with other more pressing capital improvements for our city.” However, she went on to say, “In hindsight, I have to be honest: my vote on July 20th has troubled me greatly.”
Why all the trouble? Perhaps the hesitation stems from the fact that one of the biggest amphitheater advocates was absent from the first vote. Council member David Trinkle was not present when council originally put the project on the back-burner. He expressed disappointment, not only with the decision, but with the vote in his absence. On his blog, he wrote, “I am disappointed that it won’t happen but I am also disappointed that my colleagues on city council who had promised me they would table it so we could ALL be present to debate it did not do so.”
While the actual amphitheater garnered a lot of attention in the past week, the real show was the dynamic of council itself. Between all the arguments, the raised eyebrows and frustrated sighs seemed to tell the real story. In an interview with WSLS, Trinkle joked that “one of the bigger challenges for the amphitheater is going to be coming up with better entertainment than us.” He called the ping-pong decision making “a little foolish.”
After all the arguing, the amphitheater managed to move back into the hearts of the majority of council. But don’t get your hopes up just yet. The next step—selecting a design—won’t happen until next year. That is, if the project survives the next meeting.
Comments
I hope they do the amphitheater. Parks and cultural activities are a critical part of any area. They make a city more liveable---i.e. more people want to live there, work there, play there, which in turn attracts investment. It's a win-win for everyone. "Man does not live by bread alone."
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