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Bristol, VA City Officials to Present "Year in Review" to Historical Association

June 07, 2011

The city manager and mayor of Bristol Virginia will be the upcoming guest speakers of the Bristol Historical Association on Monday June 13 to present a city “Year in Review” and will follow with an open forum with the city officials. The meeting will be held at the Bristol Public Library at 6:30pm. The meeting is open to the public.

According to officials of the City of Bristol Virginia the city continues to make aggressive improvements toward what is termed their “2020 Vision Plan”. To that end Mayor Don Ashley said the city is committed to setting priorities that can be monitored for their success. “Even though there are always challenges on the horizon we are working better as a city council”, according to Mayor Ashley. In their July 1 2010 meeting the council and City Manager Dewey Cashwell set five priorities for the upcoming year. These included the improvement of the financial situation of the city, the transition to the new school board office on Lee Street, issues with the city landfill, strategic planning and preparing the city for next year’s budget process.

Numerous strategies comprise these priorities, according to Ashley, including maintaining the current tax rate, job development and making proactive plans for land reuse due to restrictions on annexation. “There has been recent losses of jobs and closures of restaurants in the city”, but Ashley and Cashwell will also report on the strategic benefits of a parking garage in downtown Bristol, improvements to the economic development plan and the “Alpha Affect” that will benefit the city in upcoming years. Also, as would be expected, discussion on historic neighborhoods and property will be discussed with the members of the Bristol Historical Association. There will be a time for questions following their presentations.

For further details on this presentation or other upcoming events contact program chairman Tim Buchanan, 276-669-3885. You may visit the association’s website www.bristolhistoricalassociation.com for details on the work of the Bristol Historical Association. Isabelle Ladd currently serves as president.