ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607180047
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
A NEWLY reconstituted Roanoke City Council heard some good ideas this week, in the mayor's annual "State of the City" address and in a speech by the chairman of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.
But more important than the ideas themselves, none of which is radical, are unstated barriers to their successful implementation. It is these barriers that most need addressing.
Mayor David Bowers recommended, for example, a series of "summits" to spur discussion of community assets, quality of life, the future of Mill Mountain, and youth activities and crime. All well and good, except that, at the start of his first term in 1992, Bowers also grandly convened an economic summit - the tangible results of which we can't recall.
Inviting input always is helpful. But to make successful use of such input, Roanoke has to overcome (1) the suspicion that city officials are more interested in pursuing their own agendas and aggrandizement than in truly broadening participation in decision-making, and (2) a continuing failure to work hard enough to apply regional perspectives to issues requiring regional responses.
The barriers to participatory and regional leadership may be eased a tiny bit, in this case, by Bowers' willingness to partner with others in organizing the first summit, and by the prospect that some of the discussion may later be folded into efforts to promote a more positive identity for the entire region. But Bowers would have done better to suggest ways for the city to help make the New Century Council's citizen-based area-wide planning efforts more effective.
The mayor also proposed initiatives for sprucing up access-points to Roanoke's downtown: in the historic Gainsboro and Old Southwest neighborhoods, along Salem Avenue and on Williamson Road. Improvements are badly needed, if only because some visitors form impressions before arriving at the City Market. But the city's long-term wish list is packed with good ideas like these. The problem is the lack of a clear plan for prioritizing and packaging them.
This hurdle may be lowered a bit by planning efforts such as that of a regional greenways committee and an attempt, called "Outlook Roanoke," to chart a future for the central business district. But with better understanding and agreement on how things fit together, city officials and residents could better assess various projects and the order in which to undertake them.
Robert Glenn Jr., chairman of the chamber of commerce, urged in his remarks to City Council (excerpted on the opposite page) that the city and business community become closer partners. He said government could benefit from private-sector advice in looking for efficiency improvements. He said small business wants better communication with City Hall.
Here, too, a better working relationship confronts barriers, mostly re-lated to inadequate breadth of view. The business community needs to understand that the chamber doesn't represent all interests, that government is in some ways not like a business, and that this particular city government is relatively well-run. City officials need to understand that they can't simply offer a choice between reduced services and higher taxes - when efficiency improvements, including many obtainable by regional cooperation, remain untapped.
The business community needs to understand the importance of promoting a progressive agenda beyond the easing of regulation and taxation. City officials need to understand they can't win support for such an agenda unless they break free from defensive, controlling and bureaucratic attitudes.
Five members of City Council are newly elected. They should have found Monday's speeches instructive as much for what wasn't said, as for what was.
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