Published: March 12, 2008 08:40 pm      

Officials: Downtown Bluefield suffers ‘perception problem’

BLUEFIELD — City officials are attempting to address a “perception problem” about downtown Bluefield.

City Manager Mark Henne released an artistic rendering Wednesday of the proposed Princeton Avenue Social Security office development, as officials continued to defend the safety of downtown Bluefield.

“People wonder when they see a vacant parcel, and have no vision of what it would be like,” Henne said. “I just thought I would take an opportunity to show what the building will look like. It will be a green building, which is the new wave right now. So it will be the first green building that we will experience.”

Bluefield Mayor Linda Whalen asked Police Chief J.W. Wilson Tuesday to clarify recent suggestions in a petition circulating across Mercer County that downtown Bluefield was unsafe. The petition seeks to stop the proposed relocation of the Social Security offices from its current location on Cumberland Road to a proposed new site in downtown Bluefield on Princeton Avenue.

With the exception of an incident at one business, Wilson said the police department has had no reported felonies in the downtown in recent months.

“We really haven’t had any serious crimes in our downtown,” Wilson said.

Whalen said some citizens predicted that the flower pots, banners and holiday reindeers placed in downtown Bluefield would be vandalized.

“Not one basket was damaged,” Wilson said. “The only banner where any damage was done to it was in South Bluefield. Not one pot was taken, and not one reindeer was taken. It’s a perception problem that is not accurate. Our downtown is safe.”

City Manager Mark Henne said he has an obligation to try to bring the Social Security offices back to downtown Bluefield.

“I have an obligation — I do as city manager and this board has an obligation — to respond when we have an opportunity to rebuild our downtown,” Henne said. “We have an obligation to bring our Social Security offices back downtown.”

Henne said a federal building such as a Social Security office will remain open through difficult times.

“They don’t go out of business,” Henne said. “They weather the storm.”

Henne said he and the city board will do “the very best we can” to bring jobs and foot traffic back to downtown Bluefield through the Social Security project.

Board member Jim Bailey said another positive for the city is the progress made by lawmakers in Charleston on the multi-purpose equestrian park project for Mercer County. The equestrian center is a joint project of the cities of Bluefield, Princeton and the Mercer County Commission.

The Legislature has agreed to provide line item budget funding of $100,000 for the equestrian park project.

“I would just like to thank our senators Chafin and Caruth,” Bailey said. “Anyone who has read the paper knows they worked really hard to come up with some money for us. We are in a unique position now to have both the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader representing Bluefield.”

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com