On Monday afternoon, Richmond Vincent, chief executive officer of Goodwill Industries of the Valleys, will present information about Melrose Plaza at the Roanoke City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting.
Melrose Plaza, a Northwest Roanoke community center that held its grand opening in late July, includes a full-service grocery store, Market on Melrose, with an extension called Henrietta’s Cafe serving ready-made meals. The Excel Center, the first adult high school in Virginia, will open Aug. 25 in the building.
Other pieces of this project include a branch of the Bank of Botetourt, the Melrose Branch Library and the Harrison Museum of African American Culture. Wellness on Melrose offers a number of opportunities related to health and wellness, like chronic disease screenings and flu vaccinations through community health nurses.
The second presentation coming to the council on Monday is a briefing centered around the Roanoke Police Department’s Operations and Crime Control Center.
The center, according to the presentation in the meeting agenda, aims to enhance public safety by “providing real-time intelligence, analysis, and support to law enforcement operations” in the city and surrounding localities.
Platforms that are used within the center include Motorola Aware, Flock and Flock OS Integration, Force Metrics and Avigilon cameras.
Roanoke police, according to the presentation, use Flock by capturing license plate and vehicle details on stolen vehicles, vehicles associated with wanted persons and vehicles of interest. This program connects with regional and national databases.
Roanoke’s website has a public transparency portal available for anyone to view Flock license plate reader usage and the city’s policies.
As of July 1, Virginia state code states that all LPR data is to be purged every 21 days.
Those interested can read more about either of these presentations and view the agenda for Monday’s meeting and public hearing here.
Monday’s 2 p.m. meeting and 7 p.m. public hearing will be held in the City Council Chamber, at 215 Church Ave. S.W. in Roanoke. Those who cannot attend the meetings in person can livestream them on YouTube.
