Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 30, 1994 TAG: 9408300080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY REED
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
H.D., Roanoke
A: Those four projects come to about $50 million.
The most expensive is the hotel, at $27.5 million. The cost is borne by the $7-million public fund-raiser called Renew Roanoke, by a Housing and Urban Development loan and by a bank loan. These will be repaid by the hotel's owner, officially known as Hotel Roanoke LLC. (limited liability company.)
The conference center's cost is $12.8 million. It is financed by a $13.8-million city bond issue that also paid for $1 million of land around the site.
Sales taxes and meal taxes generated by the hotel and conference center are expected to cover the debt service on the 20-year bonds, with cash to spare.
Widening the two blocks of Wells Avenue will cost $5.78 million. Roanoke's share is $775,580. The other $5 million is state highway money from taxes on gasoline and new cars, licensing fees and a half-penny of the 41/2-cent sales tax.
The pedestrian bridge connecting the hotel and conference center to the First Union Tower is projected to cost $3.2 million, although the construction contract has not been awarded. The city's share would be $200,000.
The usual formula for projects such as the bridge is 80 percent federal money and 18 percent state funds, but that money comes from taxpayers, of course.
`Brady' singers
Q: Who performed the theme song for ``The Brady Bunch'' TV show? Was it really the cast? I know most of them can sing.
R.R., Roanoke
A: For the first season, 1969, the Brady Bunch theme performer was The Peppermint Trolley Company.
The Brady Kids sang the song the next four years for the show that won't go away, from the decade that won't die.
Cast member Maureen McCormick (Marcia) ventured into country music this year, and Barry Williams (Greg) is a successful actor in musical theater.
Vacuum power
Q: Why do vacuum cleaner manufacturers now rate the power of their appliances using ``amps'' (actually, amperes)? That's a measure of the electrical current it draws. Horsepower is the term for where the beater meets the rug, if you catch my drift.
R.L., Radford
A: This is more a change in advertising than in vacuum cleaners.
Upright vacuums are the best sellers now, and they normally are rated in amps, a manufacturers' association said.
Canister vacuums usually are rated in horsepower.
Uprights do two jobs - beating the dust out of a carpet and then sucking it away. The important issue becomes how much of the average 15-amp household circuit's capacity is needed for the vacuum cleaner, said Kathleen Parrott, an extension housing specialist at Virginia Tech.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.
by CNB