ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 21, 1992                   TAG: 9201210288
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


TROUT MAKING BID FOR COUNCIL SEAT

James Trout says he wants to do it again.

He is trying to return to Roanoke City Council because he wants to help the city attract new industries and create more jobs, he says.

It's an effort he has some experience in dealing with. When he ran for council during a recession in 1982, city officials were looking for ways to expand the city's tax base and stimulate the economy.

Trout won a council seat and was appointed chairman of the city's Economic Development Commission, a 12-member group that helped attract new businesses and industries. The commission spearheaded the development of the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology, a city-owned industrial park that has provided sites for half a dozen industries that employ more than 2,000 people.

The city receives about $1 million a year in tax revenues from the industrial park off U.S. 460 East near the city's boundary.

Now, a decade later and in the midst of another recession, Trout is running for council again, and he is stressing the same themes: economic development and jobs.

"We will need in the 1990s a tax base that comes, not just from individuals and homeowners, but from business and industry, and that has to grow if we are to have jobs for our young people that will keep them in our area," he said.

"Economic growth and prosperity do not happen overnight - and they do not occur in a vacuum."

Trout, 61, said Monday that he will seek the Democratic party's nomination for one of the three council seats up for election in May.

It is the second comeback attempt for Trout, a retired Norfolk Southern Corp. industrial development engineer who has served on council for 16 years in two periods.

His first term was from 1968 to 1976, when he lost a bid for mayor. After being elected again in 1982, he served until he was defeated in 1990, running as an independent.

Some Democrats have questioned Trout's party loyalty, noting he ran against the party's candidates in 1990. But Trout pointed out that he has worked in the campaigns of Democratic candidates for national, state and local offices for more than 30 years.

Trout noted his background and experience on council, saying councilmen who are familiar with city operations will be needed in the next few years as officials try to cope with the recession and financial pressures.

Describing himself as an idea man, Trout cited several projects that he helped initiate while he was on council: the Franklin Road widening, the Second Street-Gainsboro Road realignment, Fire Station No. 14 and the Jefferson Street Bridge over the Roanoke River.

If elected, Trout said he will be a strong advocate for city schools because economic development and education are linked. A strong tax base provides the money to help pay for school programs, he said. In turn, a good school system provides a supply of well-educated workers for businesses and industries.

He said a misunderstanding over his railroad pension, which caused him to withdraw from and then re-enter the race for council two years ago, has been cleared up. He can serve on council without jeopardizing his pension, he said.

Trout is the second person to announce for the Democratic nomination for the council seats that are now held by David Bowers, Elizabeth Bowles and Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. Renee Anderson, a former executive secretary in the City Clerk's office, is also seeking nomination.

Keywords:
POLITICS



by Archana Subramaniam by CNB