The Dawn

Southeast Roanoke has been the "also -ran" neighborhood of Roanoke for many years, never viewed as anything more than a place where workers live.

A bare-knuckled section of town, where people worked hard - played hard - and not much more than that. You either worked for Norfolk-Western or the Viscose plant for years - that is until they closed down, and Southeast began to falter.

The view of Southeast as crime and drug ridden, a place where you lived only if you had to, a dying section of town came about during the down times after the layoffs and closings at the plants.

But this is the 21st Century, and Southeast is proving itself to be a fine community - with no more problems than Northeast or Southwest - the housing stock is good, the access to services and retail is good enough - but should be better. The area is getting cleaner, home renovations are on the rise, people are taking an interest in the neighborhood again. There's pride, opportunity, and a growing sense of community throughout the entire Southeast area - including Garden City, the late-adopted sibling.

There are those of us living in Southeast Roanoke who believe in the future of the area. We are joining together on this blog/newsletter to share news and information, ideas and concepts - in short, to keep everyone appraised on the rebirth of Southeast Roanoke.

Citizen journalists will be joining from all over Southeast Roanoke and Garden City, banding together to inform and enlighten anyone curious about the transition of Southeast Roanoke from 'also-ran' to 'front-runner'.

We invite you to come along for the ride. Also, if you live in Southeast Roanoke and wish to contribute to this, e-mail roanoke.foundATgmail.com and I'll be happy to add you.

Welcome back, and welcome home.