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

DATE: SUNDAY, October 16, 1994                   TAG: 9410180032
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: G2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

URBAN EXAMPLE

FOR TWO summers in a row, Roanoke city officials have noticed a decline in youth violence and crime. Can that be attributed to the city-sponsored midnight-basketball program, or to other upgraded parks-and-recreation activities that the city offers young people?

Oh, if only it were that simple. Build a few more basketball courts and swimming pools, and eliminate the need for jail and prison space? It doesn't work that way.

While improved parks-and-recreation programs are one way to try to reduce juvenile crime, they are only a piece of the puzzle. City officials believe that a full array of efforts, government-sponsored and otherwise, is the required response to crime and urban decay. And so is, particularly, a strong, new sense of community involvement in issues affecting children and youth.

City officials believe several hopeful signs - a reduced overall crime rate, the city's incredibly low murder rate, generally good race relations - are testimony to progress engendered in part by a variety of initiatives fostering citizen activism here.

On that score, Roanoke would appear to be years ahead of many Virginia cities. Recently, for instance, the authors of a research book, ``The Rebirth of Urban Democracy,'' suggested that a reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot need travel no farther than to Roanoke to find exemplary programs of citizens' participation in problem-solving.

Indeed, Roanoke's Neighborhood Partnership programs, its Community-Oriented Policing Effort (COPE), its commitment to neighborhood schools and children's health, and various planning initiatives that have teamed government, citizens, businesses and non-profit organizations have been recommended by consultants to other cities as successful models they might want to observe and follow.

Obviously, Roanoke doesn't have all the answers - not to juvenile crime, not to teen pregnancy, not to urban decay, not to racial frictions, not to city economic development. But those in this community - this newspaper included - who are quick to criticize local governments for screw-ups and failures should give credit when it is due.

It's not pure happenstance that Roanoke does not have many of the problems and turmoil associated with many inner cities. The city's leaders are in there plugging away, making efforts to prevent problems from worsening if they can, and to find workable solutions where possible.

But the primary lesson from Roanoke's experience is that it can't be all government fix. The community must come together, with all residents and neighborhoods and institutions doing their share for the city's betterment.

by CNB