ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 16, 1996 TAG: 9607160075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
Mayor David Bowers opened his first term in 1992 with a call for an economic "summit" involving Roanokers from all walks of life. With only two weeks in his second term under his belt, the mayor is doing it again.
In his annual State of the City address Monday, Bowers proposed three meetings over the next few months that he hopes will spur open-ended community discussions on quality-of-life issues, Mill Mountain, and youth activities and crime.
The first summit, which Bowers has titled "Community Voices/Listening to Roanoke," will be held Aug.14 in Fitzpatrick Hall at the Jefferson Center.
He called it a "general discussion" that will be open to all residents. Invited guests will begin the discussion, but others will have the opportunity to speak.
The second summit will actually take place on one: Mill Mountain. The date is not scheduled, but the mayor said he hopes it will take place in the fall.
It will "deal with improvements to the mountain, set for the year 2000 and beyond, and will also address some additional environmental issues, such as mountain viewshed protection," he said.
Bowers said he has just begun to plan for the third summit, on youth activities and crime, and doesn't yet have a place or date.
The mayor also proposed several initiatives for sprucing up the downtown area and historic neighborhoods:
A streetscape improvement program in the historic Old Southwest and Gainsboro neighborhoods. Envisioned as a 10-year effort, Bowers said improvements would "return those neighborhoods to a more historic look" with sidewalk improvements - benches, new lanterns, buried utility lines.
Additional city assistance for facade improvements along a stretch of Salem Avenue downtown near Warehouse Row. Those would include the fronts of the warehouses, where the city will begin building a $2.3 million railwalk this year, and trees and landscaping in adjacent parking lots on Salem Avenue between First and Second streets.
Bowers said the buildings along Campbell Avenue - the backs of which are opposite Warehouse Row - also ought to be eligible for facade improvement grants, something that would require council approval.
Improvements to the downtown's northern entrance along Williamson Road, including tearing down the remaining unused section of the Hunter Viaduct.
"This should be a beautiful approach to our downtown, and we should work with landowners in the northeast section of the City Market area and encourage them to improve the vacant and somewhat dilapidated buildings in that portion of the historic market area," Bowers said.
Council members generally lauded the call for the summits.
"Anything like that provides an opportunity to get together with clear and open minds," Councilman Jim Trout said.
Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt called sprucing up Salem Avenue ``a logical progression from the railwalk."
"Really, what we want is for the city to grow economically," Councilman Carroll Swain said. "We're losing people, and we want to keep them here."
However, Councilman Jack Parrott noted that the list of desired projects is getting pretty long. "We've [already] got a lot of things we've got to do," he said. "This is sort of a surprise."
In other action Monday, council:
Cited 13-year-old Kristin Simpson, a ninth-grader at North Cross High School, for rescuing some fellow Girl Scouts when their tubes overturned during a expedition last month on the Roanoke River.
Rejected bids for a combination ladder and pumper truck for the Fire Department that is estimated to cost up to $500,000. Companies bidding on the purchase didn't comply with the city's specifications.
Reversed a previous vote and unanimously approved a rezoning for a 250-unit apartment complex off King Street in Northeast Roanoke. Approval was granted after the developer worked out a deal with Thomas and Linda Manns to buy their home adjacent to the proposed complex.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Mayor David Bowers gives his Stateby CNBof the City address
Monday. color.