Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 28, 1990 TAG: 9004280332
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Joel Turner Municipal Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It seems strange that after all of this delay, they say they are going to close it three days after the election," said Macher, a Republican.
City officials denied the charge.
William Clark, public works director, said the city did not receive a notice from developer Henry Faison until Tuesday that he was ready to begin construction on the Dominion Tower - which requires demolishing the viaduct section.
"We had said it would take us 10 days to make all of the traffic changes once we got the notice. We felt we had an obligation to give 10 days' notice," Clark said. "Until we got the notice, we had no assurance he would proceed."
Even though City Council voted last November to close the section of the viaduct, city officials said then they would not close it until Faison was ready to start construction on the 20-story office building.
City officials said the project was delayed because it took attorneys longer than expected to draft the required legal documents.
The viaduct leg will be closed Friday at 6 p.m.
Macher, who sold the old A&P grocery building to the city for development related to the Dominion Tower project, said he understood that construction was to have begun in January.
Macher said he supports the tower project, but thinks the viaduct should have been closed earlier so there could have been more discussion about it during the campaign.
In other campaign developments:
Macher has mailed brochures to some city residents urging them to "vote single shot" for him and not to vote for two additional candidates for the three open seats.
Some council candidates have privately advocated single-shot voting in the past, but candidates rarely publicly urge their supporters to cast only one vote. "I am just doing what other [candidates] have done," Macher said.
Macher said he decided to urge single-shot voting partly because, he said, three Democratic candidates have been so partisan. The Democrats are Councilman Howard Musser, School Board member William White and former Councilman James Harvey.
"They have said vote for them as a ticket, so we are saying vote for the only Republican in the race," Macher said. Single-shot voting would increase his chances of winning because the three candidates with the highest number of votes will win under the city's at-large method for choosing council members.
Don Shelton, a financial contributor to prior campaigns by Councilman James Trout, charged Friday that Trout has "sold out the working people in the city" by aligning himself with downtown businessmen. Trout, a Democrat running as an independent, has received about $8,000 in campaign contributions from prominent businessmen and others who have traditionally contributed to GOP candidates.
by CNB