ROANOKE, VA (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The recently announced pact between Red Light Management and the city of Roanoke may not be quite a done deal, it turns out.
Roanoke Mayor Nelson Harris and city Councilman Sherman Lee joined several other city council members at a press conference to downplay the agreement, calling the notion that it was a done deal erroneous. According to Harris, the council has not signed off on the construction, merely approve a feasibility study of the site, The Roanoke Times reports.
"For them to suggest that the city has $12.6 million earmarked for an amphitheater is false," Harris said.
The issue appears to have arisen due to election year politicing. Nelson, who is running for re-election was taken to task by his opponent, independent mayoral candidate David Bowers, who questioned the earmarking of funds for the shed when they might be used more profitably elsewhere.
Councilman Brian Wishneff has also questioned the apparent lack of transparency that the meetings have been conducted with. He went on to assert that meetings violated the "open meeting law, a charge that the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council says is not accurate.
What has been confirmed however is that Red Light has been given $120,000 by the city to conduct a 12 week feasibility study of the former Victory Stadium site – anything more than that may well have to wait until the elections are concluded. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
