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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993                   TAG: 9303280083
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Mike Hudson
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RESIDENTS TO GET A LOOK AT OPTIONS

Last summer, Bertha Gilkey a nationally known tenants'-rights activist - visited Roanoke's public housing complexes and gave a sort of pep rally for residents who hope to take control of their neighborhoods.

Gilkey's housing project in St. Louis is one of dozens across the nation in which residents have taken over management or ownership. She has offered to provide a three-part training workshop for Roanoke public housing residents that would cost the housing authority $60,000 to $70,000.

It appears unlikely, though, that the housing authority will hire Gilkey. The cost is one factor.

But according to Rob Glenn, the housing authority's board chairman, agency officials also want to make sure residents hear from other experts and visit public housing complexes in other cities before deciding exactly how to go forward with new programs.

The agency is planning to take 10 residents to visit cutting-edge programs in Newport News, Hampton and Norfolk.

"I'd like for the residents to drive the process," Glenn said. "To do that, they need to know what the alternatives are."

by CNB