This post is about an isolated neighborhood and Virginia Tech home football games. You may think this is about the trashing of Blacksburg or complaining about students and drunk fans by a disgruntled townie. But just stick with me here. It’s more than that.
Pre-pre game
Back in 2007, a section of the Houston/Harrell neighborhood was rezoned to allow for a multi-family residential development called “The Legends of Blacksburg.” These were to be high-end, game day condos. To make way for this development, the apartments on Harrell Street were demolished. At the time, the apartments were rather inexpensive, but old. I had some friends who lived in one. Believe me, they were nasty, but cheap.
That company developing The Legends went under for various reasons. Then in 2017 came some new developers to create high-end student apartments called “Stadium View.” I was rather a big fan of this plan as it moved a lot of student housing near campus and away from the neighborhoods. The location may also have led to fewer parking issues on campus and around town – I say “may” while looking empathetically at my McBryde friends. Its closeness to VT and the fact that it is an isolated spot in the heart of downtown had me all for the project.
So why is there still a large empty lot there 14 years after the old apartments were torn down?
Emergency access.
See, part of the issue with being an isolated neighborhood is that emergency services need to be able to get in and out in case of an emergency. And whereas police and rescue vehicles can get in and out with no issue, a firetruck – most importantly a ladder truck – is more difficult. With multi-story housing, a ladder truck is needed to get to the upper floors in case of a fire. In this map, I drew the one way in and out of the neighborhood. What is difficult to see are the narrow streets with street parking. If you have ever driven down Harrell Street, you know you have to drive in the opposite lane to avoid the parked cars.
The developers came up with some options:
- Connect Center Street to Ingles Court. This would require getting right-of-way access and demolishing a building. Honestly, it doesn’t help access that much either.
- Widen Harrell Street, Warren Street and Green Street to town standards widths. New sidewalks, more right-of-way issues, and taking away from the Huckleberry Trail made this option not the best.
- Improve Sterrett Drive on Virginia Tech’s campus to a public street standard. VT said they would allow emergency access there. However it is often gated at the intersection with Harrell Street and requires General Assembly approval.
- Extend Green Street south at its terminus to connect to Sterrett Drive. This was my second favorite choice. It makes sense. Also the firefighters could come from the fire station on Hubbard Street and quickly be able to get to that area without having to go downtown. More on why this was not an option later.
- Improve the existing VT Trail adjacent to the property to allow for emergency service vehicles. You can see the trail on the VT map. This is my favorite option as it makes the most sense and is EASY. More on why this also was not an option later.
- Extend Harrell Street through VT property and tie into Southgate. This would take from the Huckleberry Trail, buy or get access to a home on Southgate, and require General Assembly action.
- Allendale emergency bridge connection. This is a bridge from the end of Allendale Court to Harrell Street. It would cross over the Huckleberry Trail, high enough for cyclists to still ride on the trail, and only be used by emergency vehicles. As you can guess, the folks in the Allendale area were not pleased. The streets in the area are narrow and not the best option.
The above information on emergency services are facts. What I have to say now is opinion.
The reasons #4 and #5 were not an option? Stadium Woods and Virginia Tech.
If you have paid attention to Virginia Tech news in the past few years, you are familiar with Stadium Woods. It’s a wooded area behind the stadium that came into the news when Virginia Tech was thinking of putting a football practice facility there. A grassroots group got together to prevent this from happening.
Virginia Tech has a masterplan for Stadium Woods and does not want any construction or access at all to happen there. Nope. Not going to do it. If you look at the Stadium View application, it says improving the VT trail is “not possible,” due to the plan for Stadium Woods.
And as for extending Green Street, it is also not an option due to Stadium Woods and Virginia Tech Police didn’t want the extra traffic in front of their building.
I also like option #3, but it takes an action by the General Assembly, and Virginia Tech doesn’t want to deal with the extra non-emergency traffic coming through Sterrett – which I get. When that area has been open, staff have to dodge traffic just to get from the offices to the garage.
The area zoned for Stadium View is currently an empty parking lot, except on game days where I believe the Lions Club charges for parking.
So why does this matter? Read on.
Pre-game
About a block away from the area mentioned about is Center Street – still in the Houston/Harrell neighborhood. The apartments here are cheaper and older than many in Blacksburg.
Here is what it is like on game day this year:
THIS IS CENTER – a documentary by NADIA DAWSON
Virginia Tech Tailgate Interviews – CENTER STREET NIGHT GAME
Yes, the police know about it. They go there specifically for crowd control. If they arrested every drunk idiot out there, they wouldn’t be able to deal with more serious emergencies. I am glad they are there to keep things less out of control.
I am not saying for sure that more apartments in the area would make things better. But without the empty lots, not as many people can congregate in one area. We have seen in other parts of Blacksburg, that as more upscale apartments come in, older complexes are replacing their outdated buildings. The Hub replacing part of Terrace View, The Edge replacing Draper’s Meadow, and The Union apartments replacing Sturbridge Square are just a few examples.
But until there is a solution for emergency access to the area, we will see nothing new there. Just the old, rundown apartments, and game day shenanigans.
I love that the students and alumni are having a good time. But what I don’t love is what has been happening after tailgating.
Game day
Every few years, there is what I call the jerk class at VT. There is just something about a particular year where I see and hear of more fights, arrests, etc. Anyone who put thought to it knew this was going to be that year. People have been cooped up for a year and a half. Students have been paying full tuition for online classes while living with family. Of course game days this year were going to be insane.
So in addition to this, they started selling beer during the games. Yeah, people sneak alcohol in and beer is a money maker, but who thought this was a good idea after the past year?
Student seating is general admission – I guess so those who are lucky to get tickets can sit with their friends. Apparently this has been a thing for a while. It’s rather trippy to see an aerial view of the stadium before it starts. You can see a long line from Center Street to the student entrance. I used to love that view. Until this year.
I don’t know if it is staffing issues, lack of planning, or what, but students are getting in without a ticket. Crowds of students bottleneck at the entrance with some climbing over others to avoid getting crushed while others leave the game because of anxiety attacks.
VT says Lane Stadium crowds during the ND game were “managed as planned”….: VirginiaTech
“My 50 year old father ended up on the ground being trampled, luckily a buddy of mine grabbed him and pulled him up, but something has to change clearly.“
To the girl who pulled me out of the crowd at the game: VirginiaTech
“I was literally hyperventilating and having extreme vertigo because I (20f) lost my friends in the crowd and was being trampled by grown men who were forcing through that massive crowd heading into the North stands.”
Worst experience at Lane I have ever had: VirginiaTech
“I was able to stand my ground but I saw multiple people getting crushed, having anxiety attacks, etc.”
It’s hard to read about this, especially after I just listened to a podcast about the Hillsborough disaster which was caused by lack of crowd control. The events leading up to what happened at Hillsborough and what happens in the student entrance are eerily similar – with the exception of the lack of heavy drinking before the match at Hillsborough.
VT said that everything was “managed as planned.” However, Virginia Tech athletics has made some changes for the next game.
“A completely reworked gate entrance at Gate 7 will still allow the first 5,000 students to enter the North Endzone stands and the remaining students to move to the East stands. This route will go up the ramp all the way to the top of Section 21 and then students will move into their assigned areas from there.” It sounds good, but you need people with common sense and experience to deal with the crowd.
“Wristbands will still be utilized for entry into the North Endzone so students are encouraged to come early in order to be one of the first 5,000 students inside.” From what I have read in the above posts, many students did arrive early and still had issues. I also think giving a general time to enter – like 90 minutes before kickoff could help people understand what “early” means.
“Students – your seats are general admission within your assigned areas (North End Zone, Sections 1 and 3 above the portals, and Sections 21, 23, 25, and to the middle of Section 27 where the aisle splits), not anywhere else in the stadium.” I hate this last phrase. It is saying “don’t bother the grownups who give us money.”
The next game is Saturday, October 16 at 3:30 p.m. vs. Pitt. Let’s see how things go since the game is earlier than the UNC and Notre Dame games where most of the problems seemed to have occurred.
Conclusion
Alright, all of these things do not necessarily directly cause the other. But there is something in these three issues that I just can’t put my finger on that links them all together – other than location.
Part of what I feel is that there are those in decision-making positions that are so rigid and focused on their project’s long-term plans that they don’t see that maybe those long-term plans need some adjustments to help alleviate on-going, current issues. They also set goals without thinking about how it will affect the infrastructure outside of their realm. Too many students, not enough on-campus housing – let’s move them off campus into private hotels, increase the load on the buses, and travel on Prices Fork Road. Let’s be a sustainable campus and encourage less driving on campus by taking away parking – and then create higher bus loads which leads to more driving and parking in neighborhoods just off campus.
Maybe some of this can be solved with access to an isolated neighborhood.
Lisa Sedlak 