Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 25, 1994 TAG: 9404250034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ At most City Council election forums in Roanoke, the candidates get just one minute to answer questions. So they have to talk fast - and say a lot in just a few words.
There are three words that Linda Wyatt never fails to get in: "for 23 years."
As in: "I've been a teacher for 23 years." Or: "Being a teacher for 23 years, I . . . "
Wyatt believes her experience as a teacher in Roanoke's public elementary schools is a key qualification: She says just about everything - from crime to jobs to quality of life - is intimately tied into education.
"We're living in a complex, changing world," she says, a world where most people will have at least five different jobs in their lifetimes.
"It's what our community builds on. It's what our children build on. I believe in a strong public school system that educates all our citizens."
It has to start, Wyatt says, with "at-risk" preschoolers and go all the way up to adults who need job retraining. The Hotel Roanoke conference and educational center with Virginia Tech "is a wonderful example of the kinds of things we ought to be doing."
But the city needs to find more resources for education. In her elementary school classroom, she has one computer - "and I'm lucky to have that. . . . How many do I really need? About five more."
Where will the money come from? New taxes?
"I'm not in favor of raising taxes," Wyatt says.
She believes the money could come from shifting dollars from other parts of the city budget. The city's spending on education has increased, she says, but the proportion of education spending in the city budget has decreased in the past decade.
She says, however, that she has not been through the budget to determine what parts could be trimmed.
Besides, she says, it doesn't have to be "an either/or proposition." For example, the city may be able to save money by consolidating some services with neighboring governments.
Wyatt says Roanoke has to work to bring in "more jobs and more industry."
She doesn't agree with those who say more growth would ruin Roanoke's quality of life.
"Things don't stand still - they either grow or they die," she says. "The young man who has a wife and two kids and no way to feed them and no roof over their heads - that's a quality of life issue."
On other issues, Wyatt:
Favors a "modified ward system" of City Council elections. She'd like to see a council member elected from each of the city's quadrants: Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and Southeast. Under her proposal, the mayor and two other council members would be elected at-large. This way, she says, there would be a balance between representation of neighborhood interests and the interests of the city as a whole.
Believes some parts of the city have been neglected. The main part of Southeast Roanoke hasn't had representation in many years, Wyatt says, and it suffers from housing problems and a lack of economic development. She says also that, over the years, the city has broken many of its promises to Northwest's Gainsboro neighborhood.
Favors developing a public university in Roanoke. "A lot of the components for a four-year university are already here. I think it's a matter of pulling some of those pieces together."
Would like to see the city expand COPE, the Police Department's neighborhood-oriented policing program. She also would like to raise salaries for police officers.
Keywords:
POLITICS PROFILE
by CNB