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Roanoke, City Of The South

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Roanoke, VA is a valley located in Southwest Virginia. Our history began in the 1700’s when Roanoke was then known as ‘big lick’ due to the many salt licks in the area. It is a little valley about 43 square miles surrounded by mountains. It has also been referred to as the star city of the south due to our large star atop of Mill Mountain.
It is a very diverse community; it has a population of over of over 200,000. With the “estimated median household income in 2015: $39,835 (it was $30,719 in 2000)” (City-Data, 2017), we have low crime rates and many tourist attractions of which many are historic sites. We have local airport, shopping, restaurants, top of the line medical facilities, entertainment venues and lots of outdoor activities. …show more content…

3). When one of the major companies Norfolk & Southern moved its headquarters last year to Norfolk, VA, Roanoke was able to hook up with Amtrak to make our valley one of its stops so that will bring tourists to the area. Also with Deschutes choosing Roanoke to build their east coast brewery in 2019 that will also add a boost to the local economy.
While Roanoke is lost much of the industry type jobs, it has ventured into other areas expanding more into a knowledge-based area. The local economic development commission developed what they refer to as the Vision 2001-2020 plan to boost the economy in this area by developing a strategy plan do to this. One of the projects that is a part of it is that of the Citywide Brownfield Redevelopment project. This is basically making use and/or the recycling of unused land in the city. Having the ability to recycle the unused land offers many benefits economically for the city a few of which are:
“Creation of green space, and mixed residential and commercial development along the Roanoke River corridor.
• Better utilization of other industrial and commercial zoned property.
• Opportunities for new jobs and housing stock.
• Increased tax base
• Correction of environmental issues that may otherwise remain uncontrolled” (Carr et al.

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