ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996 TAG: 9603250130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Profiles of the Candidates
Second of three parts
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 26, 1996. Carole Loghheed, not
Mamie Vest, is the local campaign coordinator for U.S. Sen. John Warner.
A story Monday was incorrect. Vest is a Warner supporter.
On May 7, Roanoke voters will elect five City Council members, the largest block of seats up for election at any time since 1976.
Here is a brief look at the six candidates who are running for three four-year council terms: Linda Wyatt
During the 1994 special election to fill the unexpired term of former councilman Beverly Fitzpatrick, longtime city school teacher Linda Wyatt was regarded by some as the closest thing to a wild-eyed radical in the candidate field.
Perhaps they'd seen the "Support the Rich - Vote Republican" sticker the diehard Democrat sports on her car bumper. Or maybe it was the endorsements she garnered in 1994 from teachers, gays and other liberal segments of the city Democratic Party.
Wyatt, 47, acknowledges that she is liberal on social issues. At the same time, she calls herself a fiscal conservative.
"You don't spend money you don't have," she said. At the same time, "I see the needs of the people as a priority when we're looking at how we spend our money."
Despite her reputation as a "radical," most of her votes on City Council were routine and unanimous.
Still, Wyatt has shown a streak of independence. Key issues on which she has broken with the majority include:
* Raises City Council gave top administrators last year, which were higher than average pay boosts for other city workers. Wyatt said it was unfair.
* Turning health care at the city jail over to a private firm. Wyatt, who sits on the board of the National Education Association, voted against doing so because she's skeptical of the cost savings and believes it gives municipal workers the shaft by transferring their jobs to low-paying private industries that offer fewer benefits.
* Efforts to give voters a say on whether Roanoke's at-large election system should be scrapped. Wyatt led the charge for a referendum on a modified ward system, although she was outvoted, 5-2. James Trout
James Trout, a 65-year-old former boxer, is Roanoke's political equivalent of the Energizer bunny: he just keeps on running and running and running.
Although Trout has lost more elections than he has won in a city political career that spans 30 years, the longtime Democrat also has more experience on council than anyone else in the candidate field.
He has lost six council elections, won four, and served 16 years on council in two 8-year stints: from 1968-72 and 1982-90.
In one of the losing contests, Trout ran for mayor against Republican nominee Noel Taylor. Because the Democratic party wouldn't give him the nomination (they nominated nobody that year), he ran as an independent.
This year, he is running on a platform that highlights his experience and what he calls "the vision we need." It includes:
* Encouraging development of high-income housing to expand the residential tax base. "Our boundaries are frozen," Trout told a crowd at a March 14 debate in Raleigh Court. "We need to increase our population and our tax base. This removes some of the burden from you, the homeowner."
* Accelerating city improvements and keeping "on top of the job as the seasons demand."
Trout says the city needs to improve its delivery of basic services, such as snow removal and trash pickup.
"Having seen the experience with weeds and junked cars that go on year after year, we need to make sure that municipal hall hires qualified people that can enforce a good, strong code," he said at the Raleigh Court debate.
As of March 13, Trout noted, there were still four Christmas trees outside his house that city crews hadn't picked up. He took pictures of them for use in his campaign.
Trout also is pushing an urban renewal project in Old Southwest that would replace dilapidated homes with expensive condominiums, an office building and a parking garage. Carroll Swain
Carroll Swain is no stranger to public service. It's something the 68-year-old Democrat has been involved in his entire adult life - first as a decorated Army officer in the Vietnam War and later as a school system administrator. He says he would like to cap those 42 years of service with a term on council.
He returned to his native Roanoke after retiring from the military in 1971 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. For the next 21 years, he worked in the city school system, first as a guidance counselor, then as an assistant principal.
He retired four years ago as director of school plants, which is the boss of construction, renovation and maintenance at all the city's public schools.
"I've got the time" for a council seat, Swain says. "It's part of my dream."
The Northwest resident acts like the military officer he was. He's direct, frank, and he doesn't mince words. But unlike a good soldier, he says, voters shouldn't expect him to take orders from anybody but them.
"You're getting a candidate that cannot be controlled by anyone," he told 85 Democrats at the party's Feb. 29 nominating convention.
One of Swain's pet issues is discipline in city schools. More resources, personnel and greater parental involvement are needed so serious students aren't distracted by disruptive ones, he said. Through a Police Department reorganization, he says he would establish police precincts in high-crime neighborhoods.
One of the things Swain says he wants to see is greater involvement by residents in everyday affairs of city government. He has served on a couple of panels - the Citizens Advisory Committee for Parks and Recreation Facilities, and the City Recycling Task Force - and says their volunteer work helps save tax dollars. Joseph Nash
Joseph Nash, 40, is the only independent in the City Council race. What that means to voters, the pony-tailed U.S. Navy veteran says, is no person or political party will tell him how to vote on city issues.
"Being independent means I will have the flexibility to work with whichever [political party] best represents the goals set forth by you, the voters," he said at the Raleigh Court debate.
A truck fleet supervisor for a local construction company, Nash got his feet wet in community affairs as chairman of the Wasena Crimewatch, a neighborhood group.
He made a splash before City Council a year ago, when he appealed for the city's help in fighting a growing drug problem in the middle-class community off Main Street in Southwest Roanoke.
Before the group formed, hundreds of 911 calls to police had little effect, and Wasena residents were saying, "They love our city. They love their house, but they're ready to move,'' Nash told council. "We have been trying and trying. ... We're at the end or our rope."
Since then, an effort by neighborhood residents, police and building officials has managed to shut down one "crack house" in Wasena.
Nash is hoping he can bring his experience fighting crime in Wasena to other communities. One of the things he promises to work on are "competent" ordinances in building, zoning and safety "to protect our children and our neighborhoods."
He also wants a more responsive city government with timely answers to residents' concerns and questions.
Nash also has entered the council race in an electronic way - with a campaign home page on the Internet's World Wide Web. Alvin Nash
Alvin Nash made it clear at the city Republican nominating convention that he is running for more than a seat on council. He wants to be vice mayor. To accomplish that goal, he will have to out-poll the five other candidates running for a 4-year-term.
Nash's campaign manager is Mamie Vest, a local GOP stalwart and party moderate who's also head of U.S. Sen. John Warner's local primary campaign against Republican challenger Jim Miller.
Nash, 44, is a Roanoke native who directs housing programs for Total Action Against Poverty, a local community action agency. He's also TAP's deputy director and serves as Executive Director of the Blue Ridge Housing Development Corporation.
One of his chief concerns is a pattern he has seen in which the city develops plans for major projects in neighborhoods without involving the people who live there. That's been a primary complaint voiced by Northwest residents over plans to redevelop Henry Street into an entertainment complex.
"Our history [of involving communities] has not been a good one," Nash said during his February announcement for City Council. "There are too many instances of asking for community input after the plan has been formed. City Council must set policy on neighborhood infringement and provide a clear-cut process for involving the community in a timely fashion."
Nash also has borrowed the campaign theme of Roanoke's last elected vice mayor, state Sen. John Edwards. At the Raleigh Court debate, he said of this year's elections: "I think we can sum it up in three words - education, education, education. Economic education and, absolutely, technology, schools. It is time for us to make sure we stay on track in those issues." David Lisk
David Lisk, 67, traces his political involvement in city affairs back to 1954, when he joined the Young Republicans of Roanoke. That was one year after he moved here from upstate New York.
His political resume since then is long: stints on Virginia Republican congressional and gubernatorial campaigns; as advance man for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential race; and a decade on City Council from 1966-76, including a stint as vice mayor.
From 1986-89, he served on the School Board. He is coordinator for Roanoke's Sister City Committee, which forms relationships with similar-size cities in other countries.
One of the reasons Lisk is running is that two veteran Republican council members - Elizabeth Bowles and Mac McCadden - are calling it quits.
"I didn't want to get back into politics again. I wanted to stay outside," he said at the March 5 Republican nominating convention. "But I start to get worried when we leave ourselves with only one Republican on council."
He also said City Council seems to have lost touch with ordinary Roanokers.
"So often when we get on council, we become unavailable sometimes to the people who have concerns and problems," Lisk said during the Raleigh Court debate. "I've never done that."
"I was always willing to meet with people at any place and time, and if I couldn't tell them what they wanted to hear, at least listen to them," Lisk said in a March 15 interview.
Lisk said he would like to see the city finish renovating the east side of downtown's market area before it tackles new projects such as Henry Street and a downtown linear park along the railroad tracks.
At the Republican nominating convention, he called the $7 million downtown pedestrian bridge "a big mistake." LINDA WYATT
Democratic candidate for City Council
Address: 2543 Round Top Road N.W.
Age: 47
Occupation: Teacher
Political offices held: Served on City Council 1994-present.
Marital status: Divorced
Telephone: Home: 366-1420; Work: 981-2967
E-Mail: Councilwmnaol.com CARROLL SWAIN
Democratic candidate for City Council
Address: 3434 Kershaw Road N.W.
Age: 68
Occupation: Retired lieutenant colonel in U.S. Army; retired city school system administrator.
Political offices held: None
Marital Status: Married
Telephone: 366-8788 JAMES TROUT
Democratic candidate for City Council
Address: 2102 Stephenson Ave. S.W., #18
Age: 65
Occupation: Retired Norfolk Southern Corp. economic research analyst
Political offices held: Served on Roanoke City Council, 1968-1976 and 1982-1990.
Marital Status: Married
Telephone: 345-6353 ALVIN NASH
Republican candidate for City Council
Address: 1627 Lonna Drive N.W.
Age: 44
Occupation: Deputy Director, Total Action Against Poverty
Political offices held: None
Marital status: Married
Telephone: 562-2823
Voice mail: 966-7486 DAVID LISK
Republican candidate for City Council
Address: 909 Carrington Ave. S.W.
Age: 67
Occupation: Retired sales executive, current part-time coordinator for legal education programs.
Political offices held: Served on Roanoke City Council, 1966-76
Marital status: Married
Telephone: 342-5868 JOSEPH NASH
Independent candidate for City Council
Address: 1202 Kerns Ave. S.W.
Age: 40
Occupation: Truck fleet supervisor, Adams Construction Co.
Political offices held: None
Marital status: Married
Telephone: 985-0396
E-Mail: Internet Web Page address: http://www.rev.net/people/ratmfan/campaign.html
LENGTH: Long : 262 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshots of Wyatt, Trout, Swain, A. Nash, Lisk, J.by CNBNash KEYWORDS: POLITICS CITY COUNCIL PROFILE