Focus | Moving downtown forward
WDDI discusses work plan for 2010
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
With AFP Audio
The downtown-revitalization effort in Waynesboro has been teetering for the past couple of years with the clear shift in focus of economic activity in Waynesboro to the West End on the economic side and questions about ongoing commitment from City Hall to downtown improvements on the political side.
The good news on the City Hall front from the past week regarding the newfound interest of City Council in finishing streetscape improvements on Main Street qualifies as positive momentum against that backdrop, even if the project hinges on approval of a federal-grant request and wouldn’t get going until the spring of 2011 at the earliest with that approval in hand. Read more
River City 2020: We can get there from here
I remember going to the old A&N in Downtown Staunton around 1986 or 1987 to buy basketball shoes. It was a Saturday afternoon, and I was with my grandfather. I ended up getting a pair of Etonics, for those who care. I’d set out for Pumas because that’s what Ralph Sampson wore, but they were out of stock. The lasting memory isn’t of the Etonics but of my impression of what downtown was like then. I remember it being rundown, with some storefronts boarded up, others in need of being boarded up, and generally thinking that if I looked at somebody the wrong way on my way down the street that we might get mugged. Read more
No left turn?
A possible solution is in the works for the woefully inefficient stoplight at the corner of Main Street and Wayne Avenue in Downtown Waynesboro. You’re going to like it. Because it was supposed to have been implemented three years ago.
City manager Mike Hamp is recommending that left turns be eliminated at the intersection. He broached the idea with City Council last night to get the feedback of council members who have in turn been trying to get City Hall moving on some solution for several months. Read more
