ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: A Cuppa Joe
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY
Beth Poff and I chatted over coffee Monday morning at Paul's restaurant on Franklin Road.
She's the director of Mill Mountain Zoo.
I'm the guy who wrote a column urging that Mill Mountain be preserved, in which I said: "Mill Mountain is the best thing the zoo has going for it. The zoo adds little to the mountain."
Poff wanted to tell me where the zoo stands and show me an architect's drawing of its expansion plans.
I wanted to explain why I had said what I said.
Poff said the zoo's ultimate goal is to expand to about 7 acres from its current 5, and to exhibit Asian animals, breed red wolves and conduct research.
That would take $7million, which the zoo does not have, and several years.
If plans ever arose to expand beyond that, she said, the zoo would have to move. But that's not in the plan.
Preserve the mountain's charm
My point was that the zoo is a guest on the mountain. It doesn't own it, and neither does the mayor, the City Council or the city administration. The people do.
When the zoo gets cozy with the mayor and the City Council, or when its proponents sit on the Mill Mountain Development Committee, I get suspicious. Whose interests are being served?
Poff said a bigger zoo might draw as many as 240,000 people, up from its current 70,000 - many of whom come off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
(That proved my original statement, I thought.)
She said some means of accommodating them would have to be found - more parking, mass transit or something else.
I didn't like the sound of that. Relative freedom from cars and crowds is one of the mountain's charms, according to the people I heard from.
Roanokers respond
The column drew about 70 letters, phone calls and e-mails.
All but a half-dozen people said keep the mountain as it is; a few said the current size of the zoo, including the recent addition of 1.5 acres, is OK. And a few said they didn't like the zoo.
Most of those who supported the zoo - four or five - were involved with it in some way.
Only two or three people said yes to a restaurant; the vast majority abhorred the idea.
Joe Davis moved from Roanoke 26 years ago, but he still visits.
"The one thing that has remained the same has been the Mill Mountain Star," he said. "The view is as breathtaking as ever, and has not been tarnished by the creeping menace of development."
Wendi Richert said the trees, the wildflowers and even the snow on the mountain cure her periodic homesickness "when I can't drive to Norton myself."
Charlotte Scott Myers called the mountain "our landmark, our symbol of specialness, our source of strength and inspiration," and asked, "Where is our environmental vigilance committee?"
Rebecca Ross, a Roanoker who works at Virginia Tech, offered to organize a Mill Mountain stewardship committee for people who oppose its development. It's needed. Call her at 345-8353.
Even outsiders felt the spell.
Mark Vitello said he, his wife and four children took a "fact-finding" trip to Roanoke last summer because they might move here from Rochester, N.Y. Mill Mountain and the zoo were their favorite sites.
"Expand the zoo," Vitello said, "but don't spoil the mountain."
I'm not sure that's possible.
Vitello's final observation ought to be tattooed on every would-be developer:
"It really is a rare jewel, and no one suggests cutting the Hope Diamond into many pieces to make it more marketable."
What's your story? Call me at 981-3256, end e-mail to kenn@roanoke.infi.net or write to P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB