The Roanoke Rambler

02/05/2025

Recent crackdowns on Roanoke restaurateurs have resulted in an influx of owed taxes to the city, plea deals and dropped criminal charges. About $150,000 in delinquent meals taxes have been recovered, with more businesses complying after some owners faced criminal prosecution.

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02/03/2025

In our latest issue, we present we present “The Science of Falling Things,” a poem by Christiana Doucette. The writer based in South Carolina reflects on the effects of Hurrican Helene. Link in comments.

01/31/2025

What's happening in Roanoke this weekend?! Don't miss out on the only events calendar you'll ever need. Sign up today to get it FREE to your inbox, every Wednesday:

We scoured 30 disparate community calendars (yes, 30) so you didn’t have to.

01/30/2025

Battle lines are being drawn over who will fill the remaining two years of Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb’s vacant City Council seat.

Behind the scenes, the fate of reforms that ended exclusively single-family zoning is at least one political hot potato at play.

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01/29/2025

Developer Ed Walker has stripped the former Roanoke Industrial Center of junk cars, scrap, chemicals, waste and unwanted tenants.

The number of tenants he asked to leave before redevelopment begins was “significant,” he said. The number of court cases it took to get them out was 28.

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01/27/2025

Roanoke property owners are seeing an average 8 percent increase in their real estate tax bills this year, a historically high but downward-trending assessment since the pandemic.

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01/24/2025

What's happening in Roanoke this weekend?! Don't miss out on the only events calendar you'll ever need. Sign up today to get it FREE to your inbox, every Wednesday: Link in comments.

01/23/2025

In this week’s edition of Ramblings — our collection of short items that have caught our attention — we report on:

🚌 New electric buses for Valley Metro
📝 The 11 applicants for a City Council vacancy
🏭 Old industrial sites rezoned to be urban centers

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01/22/2025

Roanoke is seeking to seize and sell a downtown parking garage that the city has deemed unsafe and which owes thousands of dollars in delinquent taxes. The garage, one of the first sights to greet Amtrak travelers, owes $44,569.39 in unpaid real estate taxes. Learn more: Story link in comments. Only in The Rambler.

01/21/2025

ICYMI: Crews plan to significantly expand the trail system on Mill Mountain this spring, adding four miles of new pathways for hiking, running, biking or any non-motorized use. The mountain has at least 10 miles of trail, but has room for more — just not enough volunteers to build them.

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01/16/2025

In this week’s edition of Ramblings — our collection of short items that have caught our attention — we report on:
🏛️ Valmarie Turner being sworn in as Roanoke’s new city manager
🗳️ The competition for a City Council vacancy
💆 A refurbished spa at Hotel Roanoke

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01/15/2025

SCOOP: The head of the Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission submitted his resignation last week, saying he felt stymied in the work by local government officials. Frank Maguire, Greenway coordinator, cited what he said was a lack of regional cooperation. Learn more: Link in comments. Only in The Rambler.

01/14/2025

Some exciting news! 🥳 We’re hiring a Managing Editor to advance our journalism and support our growth as a hyper-local and investigative news outlet. It’s all thanks to reader members that we can continue our mission of providing Roanoke with more and better local news:

This journalist will be a critical member of our team, overseeing and reporting journalism that informs the community and holds the powerful accountable.

01/13/2025

For nearly two decades, The Rescue Mission of Roanoke has owned a swath of long-vacant land at the gateway to the city’s Southeast quadrant. Now, an affordable housing developer proposes building a 155-unit apartment complex on the properties between Bullitt and Jamison avenues.

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01/10/2025

What's happening in Roanoke this weekend?! Don't miss out on the only events calendar you'll ever need.

Sign up today to get it FREE to your inbox, every Wednesday: Link in comments.

01/09/2025

In this week’s edition of Ramblings — our collection of short items that have caught our attention — we report on:

🍴 New ownership at Fork in the Alley
🏓 Pickleball courts going indoors
📝 Applicants sought for Roanoke City Council and school board

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01/08/2025

Valley View and Tanglewood malls are taking divergent approaches to dealing with the seismic changes in shopping habits in the age of Amazon: one doubling down on being a regional retail mecca, the other dramatically remaking itself.

Local officials think that both approaches, as different as they are, just might work for each mall. Ralph Berrier Jr. reports.

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