Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 14, 1995 TAG: 9503140153
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The 5-2 council vote against a November referendum came after a nearly hour-long hearing punctuated by loud applause for residents who advocated change in the present at-large system.
As an audience of 50 people watched, seven speakers reminded council members that they all had pledged during past campaigns to vote for a referendum on modified wards.
After Councilwoman Linda Wyatt's referendum motion was voted down, the unusually large crowd left in a foul mood, vowing political revenge.
``We're going to be fighting against these guys from now until the next election,'' said the Rev. Charles Green, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
``As far as we're concerned, they are liars, they are deceivers,'' he said, ``and we don't trust them and don't want them representing us.''
The only council member to vote with Wyatt was Vice Mayor John Edwards. Voting against a referendum were Mayor David Bowers and council members Delvis ``Mac'' McCadden, Jack Parrott, William White and Elizabeth Bowles.
Gary Waldo, a key organizer in the Progressive Democratic Coalition and manager of Wyatt's 1994 campaign, predicted, ``I think this will energize a lot of people to vote out McCadden. There will probably a groundswell of opposition to [Bowers], even within his own party.''
McCadden defended the majority's action. He called Wyatt's proposal so vague that council members couldn't tell what they were voting on.
``They're saying, `We're committed to a referendum, no matter what plan is brought before us,''' McCadden said. ``I'm not going to blindly vote for this and take a chance the federal government will come in and take over if this [referendum] goes down.''
In the present at-large election system, there are no defined election districts; voters may cast ballots for any council candidates.
In a ward system, voters cast ballots only for candidates running from defined districts, or wards. Whoever wins represents the interests of those residents.
A modified ward system is a combination of the two. Under it, some council members would be elected by wards, and others would be elected at large.
Under Wyatt's motion, the city manager and city attorney would have had until June 12 to devise options for modified ward systems. After public hearings on the options, City Council would have selected one plan by July 31. Then voters would have decided in November whether they wanted that modified ward system.
``The question we are deciding tonight is, will we allow the citizens of Roanoke to make a choice?'' Wyatt said. ``Council members should be willing to let the citizens decide.''
``It's an issue that's not going to go away until it's presented to the voters. Let 'em vote it up or down, either way,'' Edwards said.
No resident spoke in opposition to Wyatt's motion. Speakers who lauded it came from both traditionally black and white neighborhoods.
They said a modified ward system would give residents a single council member they could go to with concerns. It would also open up council campaigns to working-class residents who don't have large campaign fund-raising networks, they said.
Each speaker also reminded council members of their past promises to favor a referendum.
``There is one thing that each of you can give and still keep. And that is your word,'' said Evelyn Bethel, president of Historic Gainsboro Preservation District Inc.
Councilman Parrott noted he promised last year to vote for a referendum. But Wyatt's motion would leave devising ward systems up to City Manager Bob Herbert and City Attorney Wilburn Dibling, he said.
``At the proper time and with the proper citizen participation, I'm willing to vote for a ward system,'' Parrott said. ``This plan does not allow for [citizen participation]. It tells [Herbert and Dibling] to get back to us June 12 and tell us what we're going to be voting for.''
He said Wyatt should have made her motion last summer, when residents would have had time to get involved at the beginning of the process.
Bowers, a former strong supporter of a modified ward system and a referendum, told the audience he had changed his mind. He noted he had also switched positions on whether school boards and judges should be elected.
The mayor said the city's Democratic Party leadership is against change.
And, ``I've seen the experience of some other Virginia cities with the modified ward system,'' Bowers said. ``A very good friend of mine who used to be the mayor of Norfolk told me it has been a disaster for that city.''
Northwest resident Henry Hale, a local Democratic leader, responded that the issue before council was a referendum, not modified wards.
And a referendum ``is citizen participation in the process," he told Parrott.
No other council members spoke for or against the proposal.
The issue, most recently raised last July, has dogged the city's political agenda for two decades. The last action on it came in July 1992, when council voted 5-2 to keep the at-large system.
The last word came from the Rev. Samuel Robinson, a Daleville minister who is chairman of the Baptist Ministers Conference, a coalition of 65 Roanoke-area black preachers.
He told council the issue won't die. He threatened to bring 40 to 50 ministers to council meetings twice a month if they voted Wyatt's proposal down.
``I don't think you want 40 to 50 ministers on your rostrum saying `We want this!' over and over again,'' he said.
by CNB