The answer is buzzing in the neon on the mountain.
Posted on December 25, 2007
What if we put an observatory on top of Mill Mountain? There’s already a big neon star up there. You’ve got the zoo and a discovery center already there. An observatory would be the perfect complement to the natural enjoyment of the mountain.
Maybe we could even relocate the Science Museum of Western Virginia to the top of the mountain and make the observatory the big drawing card for the museum. Some terrestrial telescopes to take in the views wouldn’t be a bad addition either. Even a restaurant or coffee shop or something wouldn’t hurt.
But wait, what if you rebuilt the incline going up the side of the mountain. You could make the base station of the incline the terminal for the new trolley running down Jefferson Street. You could tie that in with the new amphitheater and riverwalk. It could all funnel down to a completely renovated market building, a new art museum, a square with outdoor dining and sculptures and a grand stairway to the landmark hotel. And, maybe you could even pick up a public access bicycle and hop onto the greenway for a ride. How cool would that be?
If one person took credit for all of these ideas, he would probably be run out of town on a rail, if there was one. Ironically, all of these ideas have been proposed, maybe with the exception of the observatory. But we might as well revive that idea too if anyone has every thought of it. The point is that Roanoke is a city full of potential and ideas to make the most of it. What we lack is a structure to get everyone rowing in a single direction so we can stop going in circles.
Public debate is a fine thing to have. But putting everything to a vote or, worse yet, allowing the “vocal minority” to silence anyone with a vision will doom any city to mediocrity. The big, looming question on everyone’s mind is, “Who’s running this place?” What leader is strong enough to inspire cooperation among the visionaries and promote calm among the naysayers? More importantly, from what seat of authority could anyone in the Valley promote a vision that the other leaders would adopt and support.
Sometimes that power lies with individuals who invest the most money into their ideas and simply make them become a reality. Other times it lies with the leaders whose signatures appear at the bottom of the most paychecks. And sometimes the power of the media is powerful enough to give a voice to its owners’ vision. If that leadership comes from government, it has to come from someone who can build the trust and relationships it takes to earn political support. That can sometimes take a lifetime.
So who will be the next leader to bring the Valley together? Maybe the answer is glowing in that Star. In 1949, the Roanoke Merchants Association decided that a huge neon star on Mill Mountain would be a great way to celebrate the Christmas season. Sure enough, by Thanksgiving that year, the 88-foot star was built and installed on the mountain. That would never happen today. Just imagine if the downtown merchants got together today and proposed the same thing. It would be stuck in city council committee for one year, studied by the city manager’s office for another year, then debated ad nauseum in the Roanoke Times until everyone was sick of hearing about it.
Sure, we can say 1949 was a simpler time. It was a time of optimism after the war. There was a baby boom in full swing. But maybe the biggest difference between that time and this was the way that small group of merchants handled themselves. From the time the idea was presented until the time the star was lit that same year, not a single person took credit for the idea. There was not a big press conference to shine the spotlight on the president of the merchants association. There was no long, drawn-out debate that gave politicians a stage. There isn’t really any evidence of letters to the editor from star haters.
It must have been the spirit of the time. In the same year the star was erected, President Harry S. Truman was quoted as saying, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” That may just be the answer we’re looking for today.
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