ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608120150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
ALTHOUGH CELEBRATING the city's fifth All-America City award, a dozen Roanoke-area residents still see room for improvement.
When Roanoke officials prepared their application for the 1996 All-America City and Community Award that they brought home in June, they emphasized three projects that benefited from valleywide support:
The reopening of the Hotel Roanoke and construction of its conference center; the transformation of the old Jefferson High School into the Jefferson Center for arts and community service organizations; and the placement of the Roanoke Valley Trash Transfer Station.
Last Tuesday, city officials recognized the cooperation behind each project and announced a week-long celebration that will culminate in a festival Saturday on the Roanoke City Market for people from all over the valley.
In winning for the fifth time, Roanoke tied Cleveland as the city with the most All-America designations from the National Civic League. While praising Roanoke success stories and providing Roanoke's promoters with a hook to use in their marketing campaigns, the award does not tell the complete story.
To find out what life in Roanoke is really like, The Roanoke Times asked 11 city residents, and one from Roanoke County who works in the city, to come together and brainstorm answers to two questions:
"What's good about Roanoke?" and "What needs to be improved?"
They produced 17 group and individual positives about the city and 24 group and individual negatives. Many of the items appeared on both lists - as things that are good but ought to be better.
Perhaps the most notable was the item city officials underscored in Tuesday's news conference - cooperation among residents and officials in the city and across the valley. It drew the most discussion, both during the session and in follow-up interviews.
The brainstormers were particularly aware of Roanoke's obligation to provide more social services than other governments in the region and of the social and financial hardships its independent-city status imposes.
They said city leaders can't make cooperation on such a broad, ongoing issue happen alone - that leadership must come from other valley governments and their residents, as well.
They differed about the openness of city government.
"This is a place that divides people up," said Elliott Hipp, pastor of Belmont Presbyterian Church in Southeast. But Bittle Porterfield, an investor from South Roanoke, cautioned against going to a ward system for City Council elections, saying Roanoke is too small and that tit-for-tat games among council members would impair council's effectiveness.
The participants met at the newspaper July 31. They spent 21/2 hours silently writing their thoughts on paper, grouping them into related topics and then writing a summary statement for each group.
They ranged in age from 18 to 78, had lived in Roanoke from eight to 69 years and resided in the Williamson Road area, Southeast, Northwest and Southwest. They included retirees, a marketing director, lawyer, mental health counselor, graduate student, teacher, sales representative, minister and a Virginia Tech student who is working for the city this summer.
The participants produced a tidal wave of ideas that demonstrated numerous shared perceptions and a keen knowledge of the city. Perceptions often varied with neighborhood, income status and age - as, for example, on the extent of job opportunities the valley provides.
"It seemed that several people in the room felt there was a lot of opportunity," said Kelly Graham, who at age 26 is the marketing director for CMT Sporting Goods. "But I didn't exactly feel that way."
Leroy Parson Jr., a mental health counselor, agreed with Hipp that Roanoke needs more diversity - economic as well as racial - among its elected and appointed officials.
"The Roanoke [that some participants] talk about is not the Roanoke a lot of people I know talk about," he said later. It is time, he said, to "let everybody have a place at the table."
Those issues notwithstanding, the brainstorming generated wide agreement on many of Roanoke's positives, not a few of which made the improvement list as well.
* For example, the heading "Roanoke is a beautiful place to live" was countered by "Improve aesthetics and beautification."
* ``Government is effective and accessible" clashed with "Many neighborhoods are under-represented in city government."
* ``People care about each other" contrasted with "Respect and encourage diversity."
* And "Roanoke has excellent public, private and higher educational opportunities" contrasted with "Bring a college downtown."
The city received other high marks for scenic beauty, mild weather, balance between urban and rural living, shopping and entertainment facilities (especially the City Market), good infrastructure, adequate transportation facilities and location central to other major cities.
Suggested areas of improvement included an expansion of employment and business opportunities, more activities for youths, "firm but sensitive law enforcement," increased marketing to draw tourists and retirees and additional capital projects such as a library upgrade, renovations to Patrick Henry High School, a Victory Stadium fix-up, flood-control work, enhancement of overlooked neighborhoods and expanding the city's technological infrastructure.
Jane Callis, a Raleigh Court resident who grew up in North Carolina, said Roanoke Valley schools must work together if the area is to thrive.
"Most of the good things were very Roanoke-specific," said Craig Fifer, an 18-year-old junior at Virginia Tech who has spent the summer creating a Web page for the city government. "Most of the things that needed improvement were common to every major city."
He added, "Most of the negatives would not have kept us from winning the award."
Porterfield noted that there was consensus around the notion of Roanoke as a good place to live where people care about each other. Others said that was not enough. They want change.
"Discourse is vital. And doing that, we can have change," said Marcia Moss, a schoolteacher who was born in Panama and grew up in New York. "We can start somewhere."
"What we really ought to be doing is thinking about cooperation and consolidation at the individual level, at the neighborhood and community level," said William E. Callahan Jr., a county resident and lawyer who spent six years as general manager of Valley Metro. "If we're all interested in making the valley a good place to live, we all have to be mini-leaders."
Here's what some Roanokers have to say about their All-America City.
Ora Belle McColman
``One thing I'd like to see done would be a regional cooperation - one central government in here some way or some how.''
Marcia Moss
``I want to see Roanoke get a little more cultural for the kids ... I met a gentleman today and he was an intern for the Roanoke City Schools for the summer, and he said there's nothing to do here.''
Elliott Hipp
``We've got such a great urban core and old neighborhoods where people can live and blend together close to downtown, an infrastructure that most cities have bulldozed down years ago. We're not quite living up to the potential
Jane Callis
``We are running 20 years behind other cities with consolidated schools.''
The Participants
These are the people who took part in The Roanoke Times community conversation about Roanoke after it was named an All-America City.
Elsie Beer, 72, Garden City. Retired.
Elliott Hipp, 37, Old Southwest. Pastor of Belmont Presbyterian Church.
William E. Callahan Jr., 43, Southwest Roanoke County. Lawyer.
Ora Belle McColman, 78, 10th Street Northwest. Retired.
Marcia Moss, no age given, Northwest. Teaches in Roanoke.
Della Millner, 69, Northwest. Retired.
Bittle Porterfield, 52, South Roanoke. Investor.
Leroy Parson Jr., 36, Northwest. Mental health counselor.
Kelly Graham, 26, Old Southwest. Marketing director at CMT.
Billy Bova, 36, Southwest. Graduate student.
Craig Fifer, 18, Southwest. Junior at Virginia Tech.
Jane Callis, 45, Raleigh Court. Sales representative.
LENGTH: Long : 164 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Ora Belle McColman, Marcia Moss, Hipp,by CNBCallis {HEADLINE}