ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512270024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WINFRED NOELL
IT'S THE season Santa Clauses everywhere sit patiently listening to little boys and girls drone on and on with perpetual lists of things they want for Christmas. Being shackled to a chair in a shopping mall for hours on end would be Chinese water torture to me.
In reality, though, there is great satisfaction in bringing happiness, joy and hope to children. Surely, when these Santas take off their sweaty red coats at the end of the day, the happiness, joy and hope they bring is the real compensation keeping them going.
I'm not a small boy anymore, but big boys and girls have Christmas lists. too. I would look silly sitting on Santa's lap. So I would like to present my Christmas list for Roanoke, hoping that after work Santa will kick back with his favorite newspaper and read this.
Santa, my list starts at the City Market Building downtown. This has become a very popular place, so for the market building, I would like some paint to repaint the name "Roanoke" on the roof. Historically this would be the thing to do. Besides, it would make for interesting conversation among air travelers, and remind the youth that everything hasn't always been high-tech computers.
On the subject of the market, Santa, how about a work crew to dig up all the asphalt in the historic downtown area. I would like to see this area returned to brick streets, the way it used to be. Santa, this shouldn't burden you much, because the bricks are already there. They just need to be uncovered and repaired here and there.
While I'm thinking old, how about bringing me a moratorium on tearing down 50-plus-year-old buildings downtown; especially ones torn down for unneeded pork-barrel road projects.
Moving right along, I need some road-crossing gates, not for my model train set, but for the closed-road crossing at Jefferson Street. Santa, we need this crossing open so downtown will not seem as if it ends at Norfolk Avenue.
A good gift idea, Santa, would be some money for the proposed linear park between Jefferson Street and the Virginia Transportation Museum. If this park could be built without closing Norfolk Avenue, it would be a better gift idea.
Santa, I need one N&W train station to be converted into one Amtrak station, and one visitors center for Roanoke, with a no-frills inexpensive walkway over to Salem Avenue. The physically impaired could use Hunter Viaduct or everybody could use Hunter Viaduct. I said inexpensive.
Next I would like a new chain saw to cut down most of the pear trees that were planted years ago where trees are not supposed to be because of space limitations. They have grown too big, attracting and encouraging more starlings to reside downtown.
Santa, please bring me one parking lot located between Salem and Norfolk Avenues, west of Third Street. The Transportation Museum should have this spot for the future.
Also throw in several historic-type markers up and down the railroad, labeling certain buildings where significant operations took place. Such as the East End shops, motive-power building, General Office Buildings, storehouse, bull-riveter building (many things of interest to rail fans). That's another way to push tourism and our railroad history.
There are many other things I would like to put on my list, but let's save something for next year. So I will end my list with two big items that have been suggested, and I think they are good items.
First item is a trolley-car set with real steel track, enough to go from the Civic Center to Mill Mountain. Lots of people would like to ride this trolley. After parking at the Civic Center, one could get on and go over to downtown or continue on to Mill Mountain, where item No. 2, an incline, would come into play.
Dig deep into your sack, Santa, and find an incline to ferry people up and down Mill Mountain. Don't misunderstand, Santa, I mean a genuine, authentic, full-size incline.
That's about it for this year, Santa. Many thanks, fly safely and have a very Merry Christmas. Winfred Noell of Roanoke is a truck driver.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB