ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995             TAG: 9512040024
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: By KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER 

NEIGHBORS WANT TO FORM NETWORK

A fear that neighborhoods are becoming an endangered species has prompted residents of Christiansburg, Shawsville, Riner and Elliston to try to form a network of neighborhood groups from south Montgomery County.

"If we preserve the integrity of our neighborhoods, we preserve our investment," Christiansburg resident Gary Harkrader told about 20 people who gathered Thursday night at the Christiansburg branch of Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library.

Leading the 90-minute meeting was Mariam Alam, coordinator of the Roanoke Neighborhood Partnership. Thursday's gathering included many people who are neophytes at forming neighborhood groups, so Alam coached the gathering on big issues, like what neighborhood groups can accomplish, and small issues, like how to run a meeting. (Start on time and end on time, she said.)

"Slowly we've gotten away from working with our neighbors and working with each other," she said.

The Roanoke Partnership is a neighborhood network success story. Beginning as a group of concerned residents 15 years ago, the partnership is now a collection of 25 neighborhoods and three business associations, funded by community development block grants from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The partnership has cleaned up vacant and unsightly lots, painted houses, formed crime watch groups, and created neighborhood parks.

Christiansburg's Belmont neighborhood group was successful in getting the Virginia Department of Transportation to include sidewalks and bike paths in the plans for the widening of Peppers Ferry Road within town limits, said Ann Hess, a former chairwoman of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and central figure in the Belmont group.

The people at Thursday's gathering, though, have not come up with a purpose or goal, and that is their first task, Alam advised.

Settling on such a purpose will be the focus of their next meeting, on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. at the library. Along with the Belmont group, neighborhood associations also have formed in the Park Street area of Christiansburg, and in Riner, Shawsville and Elliston.

LENGTH: Short :   45 lines