Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 26, 1994 TAG: 9404260114
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
There have been few, if any, fliers and advertisements. A couple of the candidates say they might do a little door-to-door work and handshaking, but they seem almost embarrassed when they admit it.
Their reluctance to appear crass is understandable - and also surprising, for this year's election has the potential to be notable and perhaps even historic. There's a chance for change because of an articulate and impassioned young challenger on the ballot.
And though the campaign so far has been anything but contentious, the fact that voter turnout in Christiansburg usually measures only in the hundreds means the race may be tight.
This year's election features three likely suspects, incumbents all, and a surprise, 19-year-old Virginia Tech freshman Ben "Chip" Capozzi.
Ann Carter, Ray E. Lester and Jack Via are running for re-election. Their challenger, Capozzi, is the son of Main Street innkeepers and could benefit if residents who raise their voices periodically in protest and complaint coalesce behind him.
Two-term Mayor Harold Linkous is unopposed for that seat. Because three council seats are up for election, each voter will have three votes.
Voters will get a chance to meet the candidates Wednesday at a forum at 7:30 p.m. in town hall. Lester, an accountant, says tax season has kept him too busy to attend, but the other candidates and Linkous say they will be there.
This year's election scenario is similar to that of two years ago, when Roxie Novak, a Radford University professor, was drafted by dissatisfied neighbors to run against three incumbents. She received more than 400 votes, but her opponents each received more than 600.
This year, Capozzi stands ready to ride what may be an incipient groundswell of resident unhappiness, exemplified by the Friends of Christiansburg, a group of gadflies who may be about to re-emerge. Perhaps paradoxically, however, Capozzi's campaign has been minimalist, with door-to-door canvassing all but ruled out.
His style, though, matches that of the other candidates.
"I have always taken the position that serving on Town Council is not a political issue but a community service," Via said recently. Indeed, none of the candidates has aligned themselves with a political party.
The 68-year-old Via, chairman of the Planning Commission and a five-term council member, said one of his biggest concerns is spending money prudently.
He knows that council "can spend your money faster than you can make it," and he says "I do not have any plans to remake Christiansburg or remake government."
Describing Christiansburg as "middle class" and "almost a bedroom community," he said "what [residents] are looking for is consistent, fair, economical government."
"I think my main goal is seeing to it that we have what we need at the best possible cost," said Lester, a 55-year-old two-term representative. Water, sewer and street service, especially to the large areas the town annexed in the past two decades, "are things we have to stay on top of."
All three incumbents say that how Christiansburg spends its money may be its most defining characteristic. They say they are attentive to providing infrastructure, sometimes at the expense of more glamorous and visible projects, Via said.
The wisdom of focusing on basic services was made clear this winter, all three incumbents say, when neighboring communities suffered in ice storms but Christiansburg fared relatively well, especially its water service, which was not interrupted.
"We put a lot of time and money into infrastructure that people don't see," Carter said.
Council members say three downtown buildings scheduled for demolition next month to make way for a parking lot are virtually unsavable.
Capozzi has made these buildings central in his criticism of council and downtown planning. He was scheduled to spend part of Monday afternoon downtown with a television crew from the student station at Tech, showing them the condemned buildings and parking areas.
In earlier interviews, Capozzi says he felt compelled to enter the race because he sees the downtown as "dying."
"I think that [critics] are narrow in their views," said Via, who was chairman of the town's 1992 bicentennial celebration and who is a retired teacher and concrete company executive. "If you don't do as they see it, then you're not doing what the people want."
Via said "a handful of people want those three buildings saved" and that their criticism "is not unexpected at all."
Lester said a parking lot for town hall, located next door, is needed if town offices are to remain downtown.
Moreover, he says, "downtown is basically full," and the lack of aesthetics that some people might perceive is because of devastating fires years ago.
"We lost that continuity of buildings. We lost a lot that we couldn't control," Lester said.
Council has recently taken up the issue of the town's appearance by forming of a visual enhancement committee. Much of council's work is done in committees, a system that allows council members to "rely on each other because we know that everyone has studied their issue and their committee's problems," Lester said.
"That's one of the reasons that council appears to be so agreeable," Via said.
"Having spent most of my life in Christiansburg ... it troubles me to see what has happened [to the downtown]", Carter said. But, she said, "it hasn't happened to just Christiansburg. It's happened to all downtown areas. ... We just don't have the foot traffic" of Blacksburg.
Carter said her tenure on council "has been a learning experience for me, and I'm still learning."
She took over the council seat vacated by the death of her husband, veterinarian J.D. Carter, five years ago. The daughter of former Mayor Joe Hornbarger, Carter, who says she is "old enough to vote," describes herself as a "neighborhood person."
"We've got to in the future look very carefully at our zoning, because we can only expand in so many different ways, and I don't want to expand into the neighborhoods."
All at-large representatives, Carter, Lester and Via say they try to keep in mind the concerns of everyone in the community, a tightrope that is sometimes difficult to negotiate.
A council member needs to know how to say both "yes" and "no," Via said. The incumbents mention a new rescue squad building and a revitalized recreation program as projects for the future.
"I think we have excellent recreation properties, we just don't have the facilities," Lester said.
Linkous, 67, spent four terms as a council member before taking over the mayor's seat from Hornbarger in 1986. A retired 38-year postal service employee, he said, "I consider [being mayor] a public service. Certainly I'm not doing it for the money."
Council members are paid $25 for every council meeting or committee meeting they attend.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB