ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230141
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
After a three-hour public hearing in which members got an earful about unrepresentative government in Roanoke, City Council on Monday night told the city administration to form a citizens task force that would prepare a modified ward election plan that could be put to referendum.
The 6-1 vote, on a motion from Councilwoman Linda Wyatt, came after a robust give-and-take hearing on the current at-large election system that was attended by about 50 residents from all of Roanoke's four quadrants.
Council told City Manager Bob Herbert and City Attorney Wilburn Dibling the task force shall be composed of representatives chosen by neighborhood organizations that have elected leaders, adopted bylaws and regular meetings.
Wyatt said that would ensure a "grass-roots, bottoms-up" process allowing every community an opportunity to play a role in devising a new election system.
But her motion did not set deadlines for convening the task force or bringing a modified ward plan to council. Nor did it state when - if ever - the plan would go to city voters on a ballot.
In all, 16 speakers sided with changing Roanoke's current at-large election system to one in which at least some council members are elected by defined districts. Two people argued for retaining the at-large system, but even they agreed there are serious communication problems between the public and City Hall. Another said the city should survey residents.
"The question is not why, but how we can have representative government for all citizens?'' asked Southeast resident Ray Barbour, noting that his part of town hasn't had a representative on City Council in 30 years.
"I moved into 1328 Melrose Avenue," thundered the Rev. Vater Colbert, pastor of Maple Street Baptist Church in Northwest. "I have not seen one council person come up that street. I see drugs; I see crime; I see houses that - oh my God - should have been torn down long ago."
"We need somebody to lead us," Colbert added.
Northwest resident A. Byron Smith accused council of paying attention to his part of town only when members needed votes.
"Oh, yes, when an election comes up, you go to Northwest with your toothpaste smiles slobbering all over [the people]," Smith said to loud applause from the crowd.
But Raleigh Court Civic League President Tony Stavola argued the at-large system gives every neighborhood seven votes on council instead of only one - and nobody would necessarily be better off with the latter.
"The real issue is not modified wards, but communication" with residents, Stavola said. In some respects, it's not good, he added.
Council took the course it did after Dibling said that state law prohibits cities from holding an "advisory referendum" in which residents would vote simply "yes" or "no" on whether to switch election systems. The law allows a referendum only after residents are presented with a specific election plan, he said.
Gary Waldo, chairman of a liberal coalition of blacks, gays and union members, lauded the unusual back-and-forth dialogue among residents, council and staff members that lasted for much of the hearing.
"The good news is, this is probably the most interactive meeting I've ever attended with Roanoke City Council," Waldo told council. "The bad news is, it seems to happen only before an election. This should happen more often, and I hope it does."
But not everyone left happy with the course council chose.
Beth Brooks, an at-large system proponent from Raleigh Court, argued the task force would give the same weight to neighborhood organizations with 40 members as it would to Raleigh Court, which has 700. In that sense, she said, it perverts the principle of "one man, one vote."
The Rev. Charles Green, a ward system advocate and leader of the Roanoke NAACP chapter, asked, "When do we get started doing it?''
And the lone council person to vote against Wyatt's proposal - Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles - said the motion limited the task force's options, rather then letting it choose between retaining at-large elections; a modified ward system in which some council members are elected by district and others at-large; or a straight ward system in which every council person is elected by district.
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