Is it a city or a town? Try the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the state of Virginia and the largest west of Richmond.
The article "Rockin' Roanoke" (Oct. 13) that appeared in Tuesday's Cavalier Daily painted the picture of Roanoke - a small town with some "big city" features. That picture couldn't be more wrong. Roanoke is a major political, economic and cultural hub and home to some pretty familiar faces.
The population of the Roanoke Metropolitan Area will exceed 300,000 in the 2010 census. Roanoke is the home to Advance Auto Parts, a fortune 500 company, Norfolk-Southern Railroad and the U.S. District Court of Western Virginia. Needless to say, the Star, Mill Mountain Coffee and Downtown Roanoke are the very least the city has to offer.
Cave Spring, a suburb of Roanoke, was ranked as one of the top 100 places to live by CNN Money Magazine. The Texas Tavern, a historical restaurant in Downtown, is ranked as one of America's top road-trip eateries. Roanoke's Firehouse #1 is the oldest operating firehouse in the state.
Famous University Alums and star football players Tiki and Ronde Barber hail from Roanoke. Wayne Newton, famous civil rights attorney Oliver Hill and Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash, Jr. all lived in Roanoke.
Littman's article didn't mention any of this. Her intentions were well-founded and all in all, she painted a positive picture of the Star City of the South. But it wasn't the complete picture, far from it actually. For a city as large and busy as Roanoke, a trip over fall break just doesn't cut it.
Matthew Moran & Olyvia Christley\nCLAS III
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