July 25, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5369 

TRIBUTE TO DEREK MILES 

∑ Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, today I 

wish to recognize Derek Miles of Tea, 

SD, who will compete in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games taking place in 

London, England. This will be his third 

consecutive trip to the Summer Olympic Games. Derek has a long history of 

success as a pole vaulter, including 

three U.S. National Championships, 10 

years ranked in the top 10 in the U.S.— 

4 of which he has been ranked No. 1, 

and 6 years ranked in the top five in 

the world. 

Derek is currently working as an assistant pole vault and jumps coach at 

the University of South Dakota where 

he graduated from in 1996 as a fourtime NCAA Division II All-American 

with a bachelor’s degree in history. 

Derek also earned his master’s in athletic administration at the University 

of South Dakota in 1998 and was inducted into the Henry Heider Coyote 

Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. In addition 

to his personal accomplishments, 

Derek has coached multiple conference 

champions and organized the Miles 

Pole Vault Summit bringing the 

world’s best pole vaulters to 

Vermillion, SD, in 2007. 

Derek should be very proud of all his 

accomplishments. On behalf of the 

State of South Dakota, I am pleased to 

say congratulations on another Olympic qualification. We are very proud 

and wish you the best of luck.

f 

∑ 

RECOGNIZING KENNESAW STATE 

UNIVERSITY 

∑ Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I 

wish to acknowledge Kennesaw State 

University’s annual Homelessness 

Awareness Week during the week of 

October 8–13, 2012, in my home State of 

Georgia. 

I appreciate that Kennesaw State 

University coordinates activities 

throughout the month of October to 

raise awareness about homeless individuals in our society with events such 

as Homelessness Awareness Week. The 

designation of Homelessness Awareness 

Week will help to increase our knowledge and understanding of those living 

without shelter and food. The activities during this week will also educate 

Georgians on how to address and combat this unfortunate problem in our 

State. Ending homelessness is critical 

to upholding the vitality of families 

and sense of community in the State of 

Georgia. Groups, organizations, and institutions such as Kennesaw State University work to address this growing 

problem. I support and applaud their 

efforts and urge all citizens to become 

more knowledgeable about this problem and seek out ways to help alleviate 

this problem and its effects in our communities.∑ 

f 

TRIBUTE TO ED WALKER 

∑ Mr. WARNER. The town of Big Lick 

was first established in 1852 and eventually became the city of Roanoke in 

1884. Since its early days as a railroad 

hub, Roanoke has been an economic 

and cultural focal point for the western 

part of Virginia. Today, the New York 

Times recognized Ed Walker for his efforts in revitalizing Roanoke. For more 

than 10 years, Ed has worked to improve Roanoke by investing in historic 

structures and renovating them for residence, dining, and entertainment. Ed’s 

work led to the creation of cultural 

programs, founded an innovative music 

center for young adults, and revitalized 

a once derelict downtown street. 

Ed’s investment in the community 

paid off. The hundredfold increase in 

downtown residents supported the 

opening of dozens of new businesses 

and increased demand for cultural attractions. By bringing residents and 

businesses closer together, Ed’s 

projects have helped spur the Roanoke 

economy and brought new energy to 

the city. 

Thanks to Ed’s work, Roanoke serves 

as a model to similar communities 

across the Commonwealth. Roanoke 

was recognized recently as one of 

‘‘America’s Most Livable Communities’’ by the nonprofit Partners for 

Livable Communities. Ed created the 

CityWorks (X)po to bring together entrepreneurs, advocates, and developers 

from across the country to share ideas 

about renewing and improving cities 

such as Roanoke. 

I would like to congratulate Ed 

Walker on his achievements and thank 

him for making the city of Roanoke a 

better place to work and live. I would 

ask unanimous consent that today’s 

New York Times article be printed in 

the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. 

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

[From the New York Times, July 25, 2012] 

VIRGINIA DEVELOPER IS ON A MISSION TO

REVIVE HIS TOWN

(By Melena Ryzik) 

ROANOKE, VA.—The Kirk Avenue Music 

Hall, a four-year-old club named for its 

downtown block here, offers an unexpected 

perk to its performers: an apartment. For a 

night or so, before or after gracing the stage, 

artists stay at no charge in a loft a block 

away, signing the guest book with notes of 

gratitude. 

‘‘We don’t have money, we don’t have 

fame, so hospitality is really critical,’’ said 

Ed Walker, the club’s landlord and a founder. 

It is hard to miss Mr. Walker’s brand of 

hospitality on Kirk Avenue. He owns nine of 

its storefronts, turning what was a forlorn 

block not long ago into a social destination. 

The music hall doubles as a microcinema 

and event space. There is Lucky, a restaurant run by a touring rock band that decided to stay put, and Freckles, a cafe and 

vintage shop with monthly craft nights, 

whose owner called Mr. Walker the town’s 

Jimmy Stewart, a favorite son and guiding 

light. 

It is hard to miss Mr. Walker in many corners of Roanoke, a valley town of 97,000 

about four hours from Washington. Ringed 

by the Blue Ridge Mountains and for generations a successful rail hub, it now has a median income of about $35,000 and is trying to 

reinvent itself for a different economy: a 

medical school opened in 2010, and a bike 

shop is planning to move into the massive 

old transportation museum. 

And Mr. Walker, 44, a former outsider-art 

dealer and a third-generation lawyer from a 

prominent local family, has emerged as a 

commercial developer with an unusual civic 

conscience. In less than a decade, he has 

bought more than a dozen disused historic 

buildings, renovated them and enticed people 

to live in them. 

Thanks to Mr. Walker and other developers 

who followed suit, Roanoke’s downtown has 

a livelier pulse, with nearly 1,200 residents 

this year, where once there were fewer than 

10. Mr. Walker has made his spaces welcoming, handpicking chefs for restaurants 

and furnishing a pocket park with his children’s swing sets. Coming attractions include a rock climbing gym. 

With his wife, Katherine, and two young 

sons, he lives downtown himself and evangelizes about it to any visitor. Last fall he 

started what will be an annual conference in 

Roanoke, CityWorks (X)po, billed as exploring ‘‘big ideas for small cities.’’ 

‘‘People think this is too good to be true,’’ 

said Chris Morrill, the city manager. ‘‘You 

have this developer who knows the finances, 

knows the law, knows how to do these historic renovations and is really committed to 

the community. It’s real.’’ 

Mr. Morrill added: ‘‘When folks from other 

communities come in here and I show them 

some of the stuff that’s Ed’s doing, they’re 

like, How can we clone this guy and bring 

him back to our community?’ ‘‘ 

Mr. Walker’s conference is intended to 

share his blueprint for urban redevelopment, 

a field known as placemaking; he will study 

it at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design 

this year, with a prestigious Loeb fellowship. 

But many towns already have their own 

version of Ed Walker, said Bruce Katz, a vice 

president at the Brookings Institution and 

founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, which focuses on 

cities. ‘‘This is happening across the country,’’ Mr. Katz said. 

‘‘What you’re seeing is a group of vanguard 

developers and vanguard businesspeople who 

basically spot a trend and then double down 

or triple down with their own resources’’ to 

buy property cheap, collaborating with likeminded leaders ‘‘on the placemaking agenda,’’ he said. 

Examples abound: Mr. Katz pointed to 

changes in Buffalo and Detroit and plans by 

Tony Hsieh, the Zappos tycoon, to remake 

Las Vegas. ‘‘It has been one or two people in 

particular cities taking the risk,’’ he said. 

‘‘There’s a profit motive for sure, but these 

are people committed to place,’’ Mr. Katz 

added. ‘‘This is no longer an idea or an aspiration. It’s an out-and-out trend.’’ 

In Roanoke, it started in 2002, when Mr. 

Walker began redeveloping Kirk Avenue. His 

first major residential renovation opened 

downtown in 2006, with million-dollar condominiums. 

Old-guard Roanokers were quickly convinced that downtown was livable when Mr. 

Walker sold one of the first to Warner 

Dalhouse, a retired bank chairman, and his 

wife, Barbara, who use it as a Southern pieda`-terre. At 4,800 square feet, it is larger than 

their lake house nearby. ‘‘We wanted it to 

look like a New York loft, and it does,’’ Mr. 

Dalhouse said. 

Mr. Walker’s company converted an old 

cotton mill and a department store into 

apartments, some at the low end of market 

rates and some at the top. The next units 

will be in a former ice house on the Roanoke 

River, where the city’s first waterfront restaurant will open. 

Last year, after a $20 million renovation, 

the company reopened the Patrick Henry, 


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