Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 29, 1992 TAG: 9201290170
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
EVEN AFTER 16 YEARS, TAYLOR STILL LOVES TO SERVE
Being mayor has been a labor of love for Noel Taylor - a love of Roanoke that became a passion, almost an obsession.You couldn't blame him if he feels lost after he leaves the post in June.
He has enjoyed the job so much that he has spent 16 to 18 hours on many days tending to its duties.
As mayor, he has followed a hectic schedule that has included hundreds of City Council meetings, appointments, phone calls, speeches and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
He has been so busy on many days that he has used note cards to keep track of his appointments, meetings and other events.
If his calendar is free, he never turns down a request to make a speech, attend a ceremony or other event.
After nearly 16 1/2 years as mayor, Taylor said he was enjoying the job just as much as ever.
"The excitement of being mayor is still there. I haven't lost the joy of serving people," he said.
Taylor said he never expected to become mayor when he came to Roanoke 31 years ago to become pastor of High Street Baptist Church.
The first time he attended a City Council meeting in the early 1960s - before he got into politics - he asked council to repeal a law that required blacks to ride at the back of city buses. He also worked to help integrate lunch counters and other public facilities.
Nine years after arriving in Roanoke, Taylor won a council seat, becoming the first black elected to the governing body in 1970. He ran as a Republican because the Democrats wouldn't nominate him - some white leaders of the party said the party wasn't ready to nominate a black candidate.
Four years after winning a council seat, Taylor became the city's first black vice mayor because he was the top vote-getter in the council election in 1974.
A year later, he became the first black mayor when Roy Webber, a Democrat, died in office. He was selected by council to finish the remaining eight months in Webber's unexpired term and then was elected in 1976 to a four-year term.
A rare politician
Taylor did not expect to be mayor this long. Indeed, when he ran for his first term in 1976, he told a reporter he expected to serve only four years.
But the job fit him. The more he learned about the post, the more he liked it. And city voters and political leaders liked having him as mayor.
After he won his first term, the Democratic Party never nominated a candidate to run against him.
He was challenged only once - by former Councilman James Trout, a Democrat who ran as an independent in 1984. Taylor won easily.
Taylor is a rare politician in that he has few, if any, political enemies. Few people will say anything bad about him, even off the record.
"God made only one Taylor," said the Rev. Carl Tinsley, chairman of the city Democratic Committee.
Former Councilman Robert Garland, a friend and political ally, often said that Taylor could remain mayor as long as he wanted to because no one could beat him.
Taylor's popularity crossed political lines. Several Democratic council members have a close working relationship with him and wanted him to seek a fifth term.
Vice Mayor Howard Musser, who is expected to seek the Democratic nomination, said he wouldn't have challenged Taylor if he had sought a new term.
Councilman David Bowers, a Democrat who wants to succeed Taylor and is seeking the Democratic nomination, has described him as "a Goliath on the local political scene."
Taylor brought to the mayor's job a unique work ethic that he learned growing up in a family of five children on his parents' farm in Bedford County.
Taylor worked his way through college, taught school several years in Bedford County and became a principal before he entered the ministry. He earned a divinity degree at Virginia Seminary College in Lynchburg and a master's degree in religious education at New York University.
Taylor sees similarities in his job as mayor and his ministry. The city has, in effect, became a second parish for him. He often said that he considered the mayor's post to be an extension of his ministry because both involved helping people.
He turned the mayor's post, a part-time position with a salary of $15,000, into a second full-time job.
An eloquent and skilled orator, Taylor never tires of talking about the city and its people, often in emotional tones that evoke standing ovations.
16 years of change
In recent years, Taylor has taken on the aura of an elder statesman, having served as mayor longer than anyone in the city's history.
His conciliatory style has been a moderating influence on council, particularly in recent years after populist, tax-cutting Democrats gained a majority.
Taylor works quietly, behind the scenes to forge coalitions for projects and programs. He is unfailingly courteous; he never attacks, criticizes or derides a political opponent.
He has built a coalition that stretches from poor black neighborhoods in the city's Northwest quadrant to affluent areas in South Roanoke.
Since Taylor became mayor, there have been dramatic changes in the city:
The downtown skyline has taken on a new look with more than $300 million in private and public investment.
The City Market has undergone a renaissance with the opening of Center in the Square, Campbell Court, the downtown transportation center and several parking garages.
Valley View Mall, a $100 million regional shopping center, was built in the mid-1980s, and is now the centerpiece of extensive commercial development around the Interstate 581-Hershberger Road interchange.
A new $25 million terminal has been built at the Roanoke Regional Airport.
The Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology, a 450-acre industrial park, has been developed and half a dozen industries have moved there, employing more than 1,500 workers.
The Roanoke Neighborhood Partnership, a coalition of neighborhoods working to improve housing, parks and other facilities, has been a established to give residents a stronger voice in city government.
Plans have been developed for a $12 million conference center, to be built as part of the Hotel Roanoke renovation project.
Roanoke has won the All-America City award three times.
Dominion Bankshares Chairman Warner Dalhouse once said of Taylor:
"Some people might do things differently than he does, but, by, golly, at the end of the day, he's been effective."
Former City Manager Bern Ewert had a similar assessment:
"I can tell you that he is the best mayor I have ever known, anywhere, anyplace, anytime," he said.
Taylor has been successful because his personality and style tend to bring people together. "I try to lead by cooperation. I don't try to lead through confrontation," he once said.
Working with the system
Without him, council politics won't be the same, insiders said. There almost certainly will be more conflict and debate.
Taylor's skills as a consensus builder often were tested in recent years after the Democrats won a majority on council.
When he became mayor, the GOP had a majority; but now Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles is the only other Republican.
Taylor has strong support in the business community, but he said he never has considered himself to be the representative for any particular or special-interest group.
Although he made history as the city's first black councilman and mayor, Taylor has been a moderate on racial issues. He has worked within the political system to improve economic and social conditions for blacks.
For some in the black community, he has been too passive in working for black causes. But he thinks that more can be accomplished now by working within the system than by protesting in the streets.
Taylor persuaded council to adopt an affirmative-action plan in 1977 to get more blacks and women into city jobs, particularly in middle- and upper-management positions. The city had no black departmental managers when he became mayor. Now there are a half-dozen black managers and a black assistant city manager.
In recent months, Taylor has been more outspoken on racial issues, particularly in urging city officials to hire more black police officers.
Taylor uses an analogy to describe his approach and philosophy on racial relations:
A city is like a piano, he has said. It makes the best music when the black and white keys are played together.
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