Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 22, 1992 TAG: 9202220231
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS WARNER DALHOUSE'S IMPACT ON THE CITY?
Musser: "The only time I have seen his impact was on the consolidation issue, and I think he would probably have been better off not to have gotten involved in that. [An effort by Dalhouse and the Roanoke Valley Business Council to use a consultant's report to show that city-county merger would have saved tax money backfired because the report contained errors]. Some people think that Dalhouse and Dominion Bankshares run the city, but that is not true, just as the Norfolk & Western Railway never ran the city like some people used to think. Dalhouse and Dominion are vital to this city and he has a right to express himself like anyone else. As taxpayers and city officials, we need Dominion. But he does not control the city. That is a myth. The only time he ever called me was on the request for the city to help pay for the Christmas decorations for downtown. I don't think he has tried to influence me, but I can't answer for other council members."\ Bowers: "I think Warner has obviously been a behind-the-scenes leader in municipal government over the last 10 or 15 years. I'm not the person who goes to Warner and borrows a lot of money. My credit is good but I don't deal in those business circles. I don't socialize in those circles too much. I run into [business] people at public functions, at Center in the Square, the symphony, things like that. So I don't know some of these people except through my connection on council. In some ways that's been very fortunate for me because council has given me a key to reach out and meet, visit with people, get to know people that I would never have any other way. I would say to Warner Dalhouse, I welcome him into the office of mayor when I'm elected. And on the first day of my election as mayor, I'm going to invite him in advance to sit down on July 1, 1992, at the Roanoke Economic Summit with the leaders of the business community, working trades community, all contractors, and some of the civic leaders, and I even got a letter from a prominent minister in town. I'm going to try to bring all these people together so that we can ask the bankers and the bakers to help chart the economic future of our city.
Have you ever been a guest at the Shenandoah Club? What pressure, if any, should city government bring to bear on the club's admissions policies?
Musser: "I think that we handled the admissions policies last year when we adopted an ordinance banning discrimination in the membership of such clubs. I've been a guest at the Shenandoah Club only twice and that was in connection with my position as chairman of the Roanoke Valley Cable Television Committee. I was a guest of Bernie Langheim, manager of Cox Cable Roanoke, the cable company. He told me about changes they were planning to make in rates and service. I'm not a member of either the Shenandoah Club or the Jefferson Club. I can't afford either. I think our adoption of the ordinance banning discrimination in admissions policies for such clubs shows that [council] considers it to be an important issue."
\ Bowers: "Yes. I have attended my brother's wedding [reception] and I think that was the last time - oh, golly, it was '85 or '86. It was put on by my his wife's family. I did receive a recent invitation, and I told them I would have to respectfully decline. I don't think we should bring any pressure, but . . . let me tell you, it would be an honor for people like [Mayor] Noel Taylor and [funeral home operators] Lawrence Hamlar and Marilyn Curtis and [school board member] Sallye Coleman and some of the other accomplished minorities [to be able to join]. They ought to be able to participate in life on their economic, social status, not just because of their race."