May 29 is Decision Day on Ordinance 1450
Let's make history on May 29! Plan to attend the joint Planning Commission/Town Council public hearing and vote on Ordinance 1450. Wear your BURG t-shirt or just throw something green on. If you've never done anything like this, now is the time. And if Town Council has never heard from you, your voice carries more weight, really. Prepare a 3-minute comment personalizing the issue. And come early! The meeting starts at 7:30, but the room will fill up much earlier.

Also, don't forget the Town Council meeting on Tuesday, May 22, at 7:30. They will not be discussing Ordinance 1450, but there will be a Citizen Comment in which you can express your support for the ordinance, and your support for the Town Council -- they're being sued too.

Good News from Your Town
Members of the BURG steering committee have met with town staff, and are pleased to report that the town has hired a top-notch land use attorney, and is preparing a strong response to the May 10 lawsuit. Whatever disappointments we have had with the handling of the S. Main project, we fully support the town in this dispute.

We also have learned that at the time the lawsuit was filed, the town manager and staff were actively pursuing a compromise with the developers. Contrary to rumors of the town's inflexible stance, the town had presented a number of creative ideas for making the S. Main development viable without a big box store. These included the establishment of a "Community Development Authority" that would allow the developer to use tax revenues collected from the site to finance improvements. The developers decided to end these discussions when they filed a complaint against the town on May 10.

Ring, ring... Hello, this is Citizens against Ordinance 1450
At least two, and possibly even more, of our fellow residents of Blacksburg have received scripted phone calls warning them that their taxes will go up if Ordinance 1450 passes. We can't imagine these calls will make a dent in the broad support for the ordinance, but we would like to know where they are coming from. Before hanging up, if you receive such a call, please ask the caller to identify themselves, and pass the information, including the message you received, on to us through the BURG listserv.

Petition News
We will be submitting the roughly 2500 signatures we have received thus far to the Town Council at their meeting Tuesday, May 22, in both paper and electronic form. But that doesn't mean we're done. We need to reach the remaining shady lanes and cul de sacs and get the numbers up even higher before the vote on May 29.

• If you have any completed or nearly completed petition forms out, please get them to Homebody (119 N. Main St.) by Tuesday, or as soon as possible.
• Tell everyone: even if you have signed the online petition, you need to sign the paper one — they are not the same!
• You can find paper petitions at the following locally-owned buisnesses:
  • Annie Kay's
  • Eats
  • Bollo's
  • Gillie's
  • Homebody
  • Fringe Benefit
  • UPS Store (yes, it is locally owned, and they support 1450!)
• Meredith is leading another neighborhood sweep on Wednesday, in the Giles Rd. - Bennett Hill area. We need canvassers! Meet at the Hand-to-Hand Park parking lot, on Turner St., at 5: 30. All the necessary materials will be supplied.

You can download and print PDFs of our newest flyers about traffic (2 to a page), and about retail size limits across the U.S.