WaPo: "2 cities share name, but 1 is in big trouble" (Bristol TN/VA)

NealMcCauley · Jul 9, 2018

Link.

I grew up in the area and thought it was interesting to see local stories covered by bigger outlets. This has been boiling over for the last year or two. Essentially Bristol, VA's been on the decline for years for multiple reasons, and now the city's attempting a Hail Mary with a broken arm. All the while, thanks to state legislation helping border cities, Bristol, TN has prospered beyond people's wildest dreams.

It started with a giant hole in the ground. The old city landfill in Bristol, Va., filled up about 20 years ago, and city leaders decided to build a new one in an abandoned rock quarry. It made sense — the quarry was a 20-acre pit, why not just fill it with trash?

But the limestone walls of the pit were porous. To prevent dangerous chemicals from seeping out, the city had to buy a new lining for the landfill walls roughly every two years, at a cost of $1.2million each time.

Fees didn't cover the cost of operating the landfill, let alone replacing the liners. Today, the city carries more than $30million in debt from the landfill and had to write off $22million siphoned from the general fund to cover expenses.

Bristol needed a break.

So just as city leaders had tapped an old quarry to stay in the garbage business, they tapped another old quarry and decided to go into the commercial real estate business. Christened The Falls, the city-owned development was going to be a $260million hub of restaurants and shops just off the highway.

But there was a potential problem: Less than 10 miles farther down I-81, an even bigger commercial development was underway. Across the line in Tennessee.

The Tennessee General Assembly passed a law aimed at helping its border cities compete with rivals in other states. Tennessee has no personal income tax, but it has sales tax of up to 9.75 percent — nearly twice Virginia's maximum 5.3 percent.

The difference tends to make people near the borders want to live in Tennessee and shop in Virginia. The new law allowed developers who built retail within 15 miles of a border to recoup some of the sales tax, making projects more attractive.

(Real estate developer Steve) Johnson, who had his eye on a 200-acre piece of property along the highway, pounced. His development was called The Pinnacle, and it was unlike anything else in the region: A million square feet of shops and restaurants, anchored by a Bass Pro Shop, CarMax, Marshalls and a Belk department store. The project would be worth nearly $250million.

In Bristol, Va., the reaction was near-panic. Local officials asked Johnson to consider developing The Falls instead. They rushed legislation through the Virginia General Assembly to create sales tax revenue rebates for project developers.

Johnson says he spent a month studying the site for The Falls and came to a conclusion. "It was undevelopable," he said. The quarry site would be expensive to level and grade, the roads were too small, the spot was just wrong.

But the city found another developer and did it anyway.

Today, The Pinnacle boasts about 70 merchants. The Falls, so far, has fewer than 10. Rather than help the city deal with its landfill debt burden, The Falls has made the problem far worse. It added nearly $48million to the city's tab, essentially maxing out its debt capacity.

It's a pretty long article and goes into depth on more issues besides the Falls catastrophe, but it's the elephant in the room. So much money has been sunk into it the city has no choice but to continue trying to make it succeed. Meanwhile the city manager has plans to make the city viable again, but he needs to get creative. Like possibly converting the closed mall into a cannabidiol facility.

perfectchaos007 · Jul 9, 2018

I like how the solution to saving the city revolves around weed.

bdwnfn99 · Jul 9, 2018

Local news stories like these are infinitely more fascinating to me than larger scale national stories (albeit not more important, however). Seems to be far more intrigue and bitter politicking on the local level with so many results like these.

DonShula · Jul 9, 2018

Read this in the WaPo app and couldn't get over the feeling that the VA side has been horribly mismanaged at the local level - it's just one mistake after another, and they're always playing catch-up. People say their votes don't count, yet here is a prime example of elected officials making poor decisions continuously.

sapien85 · Jul 9, 2018

Ron Paul said:
I like how the solution to saving the city revolves around weed.

The hot new growth industry

ejoshua · Jul 9, 2018

I am actually from that area, and worked in the GameStop in Bristol, VA. So many people would come from TN to shop there because of the sales tax, and then when they passed that 15-mile law, it absolutely killed us, considering there was a GameStop in TN 7 miles from us. I love that town, but the Tennessee side is definitely a far busier, booming, and thriving side.

That side, the Pinnacles are awesome though. Great little merchant area.

Kilgore Trout · Jul 9, 2018

I lived in Johnson City for many years (college) and the Bristol, TN side was always more happening. Though one should note, the TN side also has the NASCAR racetrack and that brings in tons of business. I remember traffic being absolutely terrible during race weekends.

Cloggerdude · Jul 9, 2018

I live in Kingsport, which is part of the Tri-Cities (Bristol, Johnson City, Kingsport) in TN, so it's pretty interesting to see an article here about this whole thing.

The only reason I ever really had to go to Bristol, VA was for the Tinseltown theater, but now the Pinnacle development has an even nicer theater. If it weren't for the fact that my job makes me travel to VA sometimes, I doubt I would ever make it to Bristol, VA anymore.

Chamaeleonx · Jul 9, 2018

I sometimes wonder when a village/town/city reaches a point where it would be better to just pack up and move on. =/

perfectchaos007 · Jul 9, 2018

ejoshua said:
I am actually from that area, and worked in the GameStop in Bristol, VA. So many people would come from TN to shop there because of the sales tax, and then when they passed that 15-mile law, it absolutely killed us, considering there was a GameStop in TN 7 miles from us. I love that town, but the Tennessee side is definitely a far busier, booming, and thriving side.

That side, the Pinnacles are awesome though. Great little merchant area.

How would they even enforce that? Do you have to show I.D. when you purchase.....anything near the border?
Solution to that could be to bring one of your kids to make the purchase. kids under 16 don't have I.D's

Valiant · Jul 9, 2018

Similar things happen in KCMO and KCK. So far its at a stalemate.

jayhawk3r · Jul 9, 2018

Ron Paul said:
How would they even enforce that? Do you have to show I.D. when you purchase.....anything near the border?
Solution to that could be to bring one of your kids to make the purchase. kids under 16 don't have I.D's

What? The sales tax in Virginia was lower, so people from Tennessee bought stuff in Virginia. Tennessee lowered the tax for a zone around the border, and now people stay in Tennessee. Has nothing to do with where you live. Has to do with where you purchase.

NealMcCauley · Jul 9, 2018

DonShula said:
Read this in the WaPo app and couldn't get over the feeling that the VA side has been horribly mismanaged at the local level - it's just one mistake after another, and they're always playing catch-up. People say their votes don't count, yet here is a prime example of elected officials making poor decisions continuously.

Pretty much. Here's them trying to blame the state for the Falls issues.

Mayor Kevin Mumpower criticized the (Virginia) General Assembly for passing legislation to divert tax revenues to the city — to help create The Falls commercial center — a change that previous city leaders aggressively sought and lobbied for.

"They [lawmakers] had the ability to stop it, and they didn't. So the blood is on their hands on that one," Mumpower said. " … But they're just as responsible — if not more — for our financial situation as we are. Anybody that's got any sense can look at that Falls development and say, 'not only are we not going to allow you to do it because it makes zero sense commercially, it makes zero sense financially.' But they didn't do that."

"It's a shame VDOT — our tax money — can fix things that aren't broken but they can't pay for our jail, the debt on our jail, so forth and so on," (Councilman) Fleenor said. "But what do you expect from inefficient government? They tell us what to do and then they make us pay for it. That's real sad."

Fleenor said it's "a shame" the state couldn't pay to expand the existing city jail or help construct a facility, but state road funds could be used to create two roundabouts on a section of Lee Highway. Fleenor was also critical of the roundabout proposals at the previous meeting. On Tuesday, City Engineer Wallace McCulloch told the council that VDOT considers roundabouts a priority over signalized intersections.

Funds for VDOT's Smart Scale road projects come from seven sources, including motor vehicle license fees, sales tax on motor fuel, vehicle sales and use tax, retail sales and use tax, insurance premium taxes and vehicle rental tax — not from the state's general fund, according to the agency.

Contacted by the Bristol Herald Courier Wednesday, state Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Galax, said he was surprised by the comments.

"I'm at a loss for words at anything Fleenor or Mumpower say because I've never received a call from either one of them saying we need assistance with x, y or z," Carrico said. "I'm not going to interfere with city government's operations unless they ask for my help."

...

"My job is to put it before the General Assembly to see if there's an appetite to support it. I did what I was elected to do. They [city] came to me," Carrico said. "I don't know how it's any of the General Assembly's fault if a city or locality assumes the amount of debt Bristol has assumed without knowing what their capacity was to pay it back."

Drek · Jul 9, 2018

Bristol, VA charges absurdly little for their trash services, that's the real driver for why their landfill is a money loser. That and I'd have questions about their engineering design if they're replacing $1.2M worth of liner every 2 years.

DonShula · Jul 9, 2018

NealMcCauley said:
Pretty much. Here's them trying to blame the state for the Falls issues.

Wow, the mayor literally says someone from the state should have stepped in, then the councilman says state interference is wrong, then he complains about roundabouts.

Vault Boy · Jul 9, 2018

I lived in Bristol VA for a while, and I still reside in the area so I visit every once in a while. Drove through the Falls area about a month ago and it's pretty sad.

Also wouldn't have guessed we have multiple members from the area here.

Chie Satonaka91 · Jul 10, 2018

I live pretty close to Bristol. Yeah the Pinnacle has been a big thing around here. So many people are drawn to it for the movie theater, which is supposed to be pretty nice (haven't gone myself yet).

Bristol VA has a nice movie theater called Tinseltown. It used to be really popular, but after the Pinnacle came around it has become a ghost town. I actually went to Tinseltown last September because they were showing my favorite film: Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. A bunch of other people showed up to see it, but the theater was pretty empty besides people coming for that. I attended a pop culture convention that was held in a hotel convention center neighboring Tinseltown the following month and their parking lot was still empty the whole weekend. It was mostly people going to the con parking along the edge who were using it.

NealMcCauley · Jul 10, 2018

Didn't see this pic yesterday (article page was being weird for me) but this is the Falls.

And here's the Pinnacle as a comparison.

And remember, that is only "phase 1."

Vault Boy said:
Also wouldn't have guessed we have multiple members from the area here.

Chie Satonaka91 said:
So many people are drawn to it for the movie theater, which is supposed to be pretty nice (haven't gone myself yet).

Yeah the Marque. It's premium screens are great. Big screens, Atmos sound, and of course the reserved reclining seats. However, people I know still go to Tinseltown since the tickets are cheaper, no Pinnacle traffic, and they show a bigger selection of movies (art, classics, etc).

makingmusic476 · Jul 10, 2018

Fractured municipal governments fuck so much up across the country. We weren't meant to build around invisible lines.

This is a huge issue that's rarely discussed.

WaPo: "2 cities share name, but 1 is in big trouble" (Bristol TN/VA)

NealMcCauley

perfectchaos007

It's Happening

bdwnfn99

DonShula

sapien85

ejoshua

Kilgore Trout

Cloggerdude

Just tell me what you need.

Chamaeleonx

perfectchaos007

It's Happening

Valiant

jayhawk3r

NealMcCauley

Drek

DonShula

Vault Boy

Chie Satonaka91

NealMcCauley

makingmusic476