Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409140012
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Four people testified in favor of the current at-large system, and three were against. Residents of Southeast Roanoke and black citizens who had pressed the issue last month didn't show up at the hearing.
"It's in limbo right now. There's no clear-cut direction. The citizens haven't given us a clear-cut direction," Councilman William White said after an hour of debate.
Among those speaking against a change in the present at-large system was Southwest resident Bayard Harris, a local attorney. Proponents of a ward or modified ward system are few and are "clamoring without a sense of what democracy really is," he said.
"Our system as of today does not violate the law. We have recognized in practice the rights of all voters," Harris said.
But Gary Waldo, an organizer in the Progressive Democratic Coalition, called that argument "phony and specious," because it implies that a modified ward system would violate the law. That isn't true, he said.
"A ward or modified ward system gives the people of Roanoke the best and most democratic chance to be heard, regardless of race or wealth. The at-large system serves the few, the powerful and the affluent," Waldo said.
A majority of the current council has publicly supported a referendum on a ward system, something the city has never had, despite years of the debate on the subject.
However, at least two of those who support a referendum - Mayor David Bowers and Councilman Jack Parrott - have questioned whether a change in the at-large election method would be good for the city. White said last night he might vote against it, even though he has supported the idea in the past.
Parrott has said he fears council would degenerate into parochial turf battles under a ward system. While Bowers has supported a modified ward system in the past, he said council is broad-based enough now that one may not be needed.
In the present at-large electoral system, there are no defined election districts, and all voters can cast ballots in all council races. Winners represent the entire city, rather than only one geographical part of it.
In a ward system, all council members would be chosen by districts. In a modified ward, or mixed electoral plan, some members would be elected by wards and others at large.
The U.S. Justice Department has required ward systems in white-majority cities across the South where at-large systems stymied minorities seeking election.
That hasn't happened in Roanoke, where two of council's seven members are black. Together, Councilmen Delvis "Mac" McCadden and White make up 28.6 percent of the body, while the percentage of voting-age blacks in the city is 21.8 percent.
Rather, the discussion generally centers on equal representation for all geographic parts of the city and the possibility for residents to run for office.
For decades, council hasn't had a representative from the city's largely white and blue-collar Southeast quadrant.
Residents of Southeast teamed up with local members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to demand a council vote for a modified ward plan at a council meeting July 11.
Instead, council directed City Attorney Wilburn Dibling to investigate a ward system and how the city could go about changing to one. Dibling outlined those steps - which would take about four years - before the public testimony Monday.
by CNB