Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070123
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The city's public information office was hardly flooded with such requests, but there were a few after people around the country heard a National Public Radio report Tuesday about Roanoke's remarkably low murder rate. There have been four so far this year, well below the annual average of 14.
It feels good to hear the city get national recognition for something it is doing right - many things it is doing right, actually. The free advertising won't hurt economic development efforts, either.
So what's the secret? What's the magic that creates a kinder, gentler city at a time when violence spawns surging fears on streets across America?
There's no magic here, only people living in a community.
As NPR correctly reported, one manifestation of that sense of community is the city's community policing program, COPE. Pitching horseshoes with elderly residents of Lincoln Terrace? Clearing high weeds? Walking a 90-year-old lady a half block to the store and carrying her groceries back? This is police work?
One might not expect a police department to initiate such a crime-fighting strategy - and Roanoke's didn't. COPE grew out of a recommendation by a community task force appointed in response to friction between city police and black residents. Distrust of outside authority, which helps crime flourish at great human and financial cost, is gradually giving way to trust and understanding in targeted neighborhoods, as officers join with law-abiding residents in a partnership to prevent crime.
This effort has been combined, NPR noted, with hard-nosed police work that put a core of established criminals in jail and attacked the drug trade. But, pretty clearly, COPE has contributed to the decline in crime.
Less easy to pin down are reasons for that sense of community that made COPE workable in the first place. In part, a city government that goes to neighborhoods and asks about needs and solicits ideas for solutions has helped create an atmosphere in which people believe they can change things they don't like - and they do.
The city has benefited from skilled leadership. It is still enjoying the legacy of visionary strategies to revitalize the downtown, foster neighborhood organizations, make schools attractive and retain middle-class families. Roanoke also has one of the best anti-poverty efforts of any metropolitan area in the country.
At the base, though, supporting government and leaders, are the people of Roanoke. There are good people everywhere, and Roanoke's may be no better than those of any other city. But they share an unusually strong connection to the community.
Success may be partly a matter a scale. Roanoke is small enough that people can have an impact, can spend time in their community rather than on highways or commuter trains. Problems are more manageable, not so impossible here.
But success isn't won by resting on laurels, and livability can prove a transitory virtue. Keeping favorable publicity coming, and urban ills at bay, will require sustained vision and effort. Fortunately, to the credit of many, we have strong foundations on which to build.
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