ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606170095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
FOR THE FIFTH TIME, Roanoke has been named an All America City. Three civic projects had a lot to do with bagging the title.
Move over, Cleveland.
Roanoke - which bills itself the "Star City of the South" - captured yet another All America City Award in Forth Worth, Texas, Saturday night. The city tied Cleveland as the only other community in the nation to take the honor five times since the National Civic League began handing out the award 47 years ago.
"Shine, Roanoke, shine!'' 5-year-old Samara Cotton of Northwest Roanoke shouted into a microphone in front of 800 civic leaders from across the country as the city's 33-member delegation crowded onto the stage at the Worthington Hotel Grand Ballroom to accept the award.
Minutes later, city officials ordered the Mill Mountain Star lighted in red, white and blue. It will remain those colors through Aug.31.
"Actually, I'm speechless - the people back home aren't going to believe that," an elated Mayor David Bowers said in a telephone interview shortly after the presentation. "We're very honored to be bringing back Roanoke's fifth All America City Award. ... The honor, glory and credit for this award goes to the citizens of Roanoke, who have a tradition of working together to solve problems."
"We are all so happy - this had to be the most exciting night of our lives," said Mitzi Cotton, Samara's mother. We're ecstatic. Our hearts have been pounding for two days. We just can't wait to get back to Roanoke."
In all, there were 105 entries in this year's competition. Roanoke was one of 10 winners among the 30 finalists represented in Fort Worth. Some of the others are familiar, such as New Orleans and Buffalo. Some, you may have never heard of: Westminster, Calif.; Quincy, Fla.; Hays, Kansas; Holland, Mich.; Fosston, Minn.; Hartsville, S.C.; and McAllen, Texas, the home of softball-size "Texas Trophy" sweet onions.
Roanoke also beat out some much larger and better-known cities, such as St. Petersburg, Fla.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Boston, Mass.
The awards ceremony capped a three-day celebration of civic pride that began Thursday, when delegations from the finalist cities began arriving in Fort Worth.
Designation as an All America City doesn't mean that a community is perfect. Rather, it's a recognition of effective problem-solving by residents, businesses, government and nonprofit organizations.
"Communities working together is obvious here," said Roanoke Planning Commission Chairman Carolyn Coles. "We're all going to take that back to our communities."
Roanoke trumpeted three recent projects as evidence of community problem-solving.
One was picking a site for the valley's trash transfer station after the region's old landfill closed. A panel of residents developed criteria for where the station should go, its design and hours of operation.
Another project was the successful redevelopment of the Hotel Roanoke.
The third was the restoration of the old Jefferson High School on Campbell Avenue Southwest into the Jefferson Center, a multipurpose cultural center that also houses offices for some city agencies and nonprofit organizations.
The Fort Worth event included a trade show-style civic fair, in which the cities paraded their wares, and a competition before 12 judges. Presenting the city's case for the award were Bowers; Warner Dalhouse, vice president of the Jefferson Center; and Cynthia Bryant, a Hotel Roanoke employee who served on the Gainsboro Coalition.
The city won its first All America City award in 1952. In 1979, a joint "All America City" award was bestowed on the Roanoke Valley after the city, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton entered the contest together.
The city won again in 1982 and 1988. In 1989, Roanoke County became the first county in Virginia to win the award.
The city's delegation also included City Manager Bob Herbert; police Officer Frederick Pledge; City Councilwomen Elizabeth Bowles and Linda Wyatt; Jefferson Center Executive Director Jane Stephenson; Renee Roper, director of the Jefferson Center's day care center; Raymond D. Smoot, vice president for finance at Virginia Tech; the Rev. Kenneth Wright of First Baptist Church in Gainsboro; Anntwine "Too-Too" Lee, a housekeeper at the Hotel Roanoke; and Cheryl Manning of Norfolk Southern Corp.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff City officials ordered the starby CNBlighted in red, white and blue after news of the award reached
Roanoke. Color