A fiscal conservative who favors progress
The lone Roanoke County supervisor candidate in Vinton is a Republican — of the old school.
1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County
2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day
3. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys
4. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping
5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football
6. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen
7. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust
8. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible
9. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli
10. Man's drowning is 5th in Lynchburg area
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Jason Peters is running unopposed, thus far, to represent Vinton on the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.
But Peters, a Republican, has an opponent of sorts: Al Bedrosian, the Republican running in the Hollins District.
Both men seek to replace long-serving GOP incumbents who elected not to run for new terms.
Peters and Bedrosian will not be going head-to-head in November, when county voters will choose supervisors by magisterial district. But the two Republicans’ opposing views on county spending for a new Vinton library is indicative of a philosophical split within their party at the national, state and now, unfortunately, the local level.
The county board wisely voted last month to finance construction of the library, an investment for the community and in the community, one that will bring a modern facility downtown as Vinton embarks on revitalizing its sagging commercial district.
Relocating the library not only is a good idea — 200,000-plus people patronize the existing building, outdated though it is.
Imagine getting that many people out of their cars downtown.
It is a good idea that the county can afford. As Peters, a Vinton banker, noted in a news profile this week, the county is retiring more debt than it has been taking on. “To stop all capital improvement until you have no debt just doesn’t make any sense. . . . You can’t stop projects and what the community needs.”
Not if you want your community to remain a desirable place to live, send your children to school — and invest in businesses.
The library shouldn’t be an issue in the election. The board approved an $8.2 million bond issue for it last month.
Bedrosian showed up at that meeting, though, to speak against it — drawing an inapt parallel between federal deficit spending and county capital projects that require taking on scheduled debt, which is quite different in that the county can and does pay for its obligations.
Peters talks like an old-style fiscal conservative whose ideas embrace progress.
He arrives in the nick of time in Roanoke County.
Larger fiscal challenges are rushing its way in the form of stormwater regulations.
1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County
2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day
3. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys
4. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping
5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football
6. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen
7. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust
8. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible
9. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli
10. Man's drowning is 5th in Lynchburg area
THE ROANOKE TIMES
