Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 30, 1995 TAG: 9505300003
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The scene was April 3, shortly after City Council wrapped up a special meeting marking the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center's grand opening.
Hotel General Manager Gary Walton was standing in the lobby with Mayor David Bowers, who only minutes before had given Walton a key to the city.
"Have you ever gotten a key to a city before?'' Bowers asked Walton.
"Never," Walton said, shaking his head.
"That was quite a thrill, huh?'' the mayor replied earnestly.
Keys to the city, which Bowers described during the meeting as "only given to very special citizens on very special occasions," aren't handed out freely in Roanoke.
But those who don't quite qualify for Roanoke's highest honor can take solace in the fact that plenty of other trinkets are available.
In recent years, the city has bought and handed out enough ornamental trinkets to stock a small souvenir stand. The gift-giving effort makes some larger Virginia cities look like tightwads in comparison.
All of the knickknacks are inexpensive. The most valuable - 8-ounce pewter Jefferson cups engraved with the city's seal - cost $19 each. The least costly - a "Virginia" lapel pin at 35 cents.
When you're buying and handing out thousands of baubles a year, it can add up. Records in the city clerk's office show that city taxpayers have paid more than $41,000 since 1990 for crystal stars, pewter cups, paperweights, welcome folders, paper clip holders, "executive glasses" etched with the city seal, and various kinds of cheap lapel pins with the Roanoke logo.
That's enough to buy 20 computers or two cars, or to pay the salary and benefits of a city schoolteacher for a year.
But it's a drop in the bucket compared with the $146 million the city will spend in the next fiscal year for general operating expenses.
Is the gift-giving getting a little out of hand?
"That's always an appropriate question to ask," said Bowers, who in the largely ceremonial post of mayor probably spends more time bestowing gifts than any other council member.
"But we're doing this in the same manner as the 11 years I've been on council," he said. "That seems to be supported by a clear majority of citizens."
City Councilman Jack Parrott said it sounds about right to him.
"That's $8,000 bucks a year, compared to $145 million," Parrott said. "A city, like any business, has got to be involved in appreciation efforts and public relations."
The city actually gets more requests for trinkets than it can possibly fulfill. Many come from national or regional organizations holding conferences or conventions here.
"Some people have complained that we don't have enough to give away," said Michelle Bono, a city spokeswoman.
Bowers calls the gifts a mark of Southern hospitality, "a sign that we're a friendly and hospitable people ... It's appropriate for us to be hospitable. It's a part of our nature as Virginians and Southerners."
There is a definite pecking order to the freebies.
The $17 keys are usually reserved for famous visitors, teachers who retire after 40 or more years of service in city schools, and residents recognized for extraordinary service to the community.
Broadcast journalist Daniel Schorr got one last October when he spoke at Roanoke College in Salem. Elvis Presley received one from then-Mayor Roy Webber when he arrived in town for a concert in 1972.
And Pearl Fu, the city's 1994 Citizen of the Year, has two. She received the other in 1992 when she was honored as Blue Ridge Ambassador.
Second in line are Jefferson cups, a favorite gift of former Mayor Noel Taylor. Bowers prefers to hand out crystal stars, which are patterned after Roanoke's best-known landmark. The city has bought hundreds of them since he was elected mayor in 1992.
"The star typifies our city. We think of ourselves as being a gleaming city," he said, comparing it to a miniature model of the Empire State Building, which New York City officials might give away.
Next come "executive glasses," which contain the city's logo. About 200 of the $2.50 glasses are handed out each year. Paper clip holders and paperweights come next on the list, followed by hot plate tiles imprinted with an iris (the city flower), photographs of the downtown skyline at night, and an assortment of lapel pins.
The list is long compared with those of some other cities in Virginia.
Alexandria Deputy City Clerk Susan Seagroves estimated its mayor and council buy and hand out about $400 per year in freebies: six to eight brass key rings, about 100 city pins, fewer than 10 coffee mugs and five or so paperweights.
"We don't do a lot of giving," Seagroves said. "Never having a lot to spend, we just haven't."
In Richmond, council spent $6,900 in 1992 on 100 Jefferson cups and 600 brass medallions - and it still has oodles of the stuff left.
Salem, which is much smaller than Roanoke and less of a convention destination, gives away less than $100 worth of trinkets a year, City Clerk Forest Jones said.
Norfolk's handouts are more in line with Roanoke's. It spent $5,800 this year on freebies, Chief Deputy City Clerk Sheila Wilder said. They include pewter cups, pins, books, photos, paperweights, coffee cups and neckties with a city insignia on them.
Sometimes, the handouts prompt jokes - especially when bestowed on comedians.
In 1994, Bowers gave a crystal star to humorist Garrison Keillor during his two-day stop in town.
"You're going to bankrupt the city with this," Keillor deadpanned in response. For good measure, the mayor also gave him a key to the city the next day.
When National Public Radio host Michael Feldman received a crystal star last year, he snapped, "Just throw that on the shelf with the rest of the stuff."
A key to comedian Mark Russell prompted the crack, "Mayor David Bowers gave me the key to the city - of Harrisonburg."
And when the mayor hung a key over the shoulders of Hotel Roanoke developer Henry Faison on April 3, Faison's response was, "I feel like a damn fool with this key here sitting on my neck."
by CNB