ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
GAINSBORO RESIDENTS like one change for old Henry Street: The music center regained its identity as the Dumas Hotel. They wonder what replacing the neighborhood Revival Committee with one including some of them will mean.
Two important developments affecting Gainsboro's Henry Street occurred Monday, giving some black Roanokers reason for cheer but raising questions for others.
In both cases, some residents who have long felt neglected got at least part of what they've been pleading with the city for:
First, Total Action Against Poverty announced that the Henry Street Music Center will be renamed the Dumas Hotel Music Center on Henry Street in honor of the building's former longtime use as a black hotel and banquet hall.
Interested groups, TAP officials said, may share ownership of the building if they help raise funds for its renovation.
Second, after six public hearings over a controversial plan to turn dilapidated Henry Street into a jazzy tourist mecca, city planners recommended that redevelopment of the former black commercial center be taken out of the hands of the 12-year-old Henry Street Revival Committee.
Instead, planners said a new entity that includes residents should be formed to oversee any redevelopment of that neighborhood on downtown's northern edge. Those plans should include neighborhood businesses residents have begged for.
``We hoped we could bring closure to all these major issues,'' said John Marlles, chief of community planning. ``We haven't been able to do that because, frankly, the community doesn't trust us because they haven't been involved in the process. So what we're saying is, let's form this new entity.''
The music center's name change was announced Monday afternoon. It followed three days of picketing last week by black residents who want the building returned to the black community.
Its former owners say they were forced to sell the Dumas under threat of condemnation when the city decided it wanted the building and land in the late 1980s.
The city later broke an oral promise to sell it back, the family said. Instead, in 1990, Roanoke gave the hotel to TAP, which renamed it and invested a $600,000 federal grant and a $212,000 city loan into renovations.
Lingering resentments over those actions resurfaced in August, when residents learned City Council might forgive the loan.
Agency Executive Director Ted Edlich also said TAP would appoint a board of commissioners to oversee the building's use and that TAP was willing to share ownership with any group or organization that made significant headway toward helping raise an estimated $1million needed to finish renovations.
At the same time, he warned that continued community opposition to TAP's ownership threatens efforts to raise money to finish the second and third floors.
``As long as there are groups of people who are adamant this is a wrong project, it's very hard for us to seek any support in completing the project,'' Edlich said.
The announcement was met with cautious optimism by black residents who heard it, but they also had questions.
Maynard Law, a retired physician and father-in-law of the building's last private owner, wanted to know why TAP was agreeing to the name change after resisting calls for it for many years.
``It is a simple thing,'' Edlich replied. ``While I will say that TAP has done many good things, we are not perfect. We learned we could do better. Better late than never.''
The Rev. Lenord Hines, vice president of the Roanoke chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, asked exactly how much had to be raised by a group seeking part ownership and whether that group would be deeded a portion of the old hotel.
``We need to leave here knowing that we can have ownership if we do A, B, C or D,'' Hines said.
Edlich was vague on the answer.
``I'm not going to work out a legal agreement right here,'' Edlich said. `` If you come to the table with a half-million dollars or some amount that's significant, we will work out a satisfactory agreement with you.''
If TAP's announcement left some questions hanging, even more were left after Monday night's meeting at the Roanoke Civic Center about Henry Street redevelopment efforts.
Central to city planners' recommendations are that a new entity take over the job of Henry Street's redevelopment. Plans for urban renewal in that neighborhood have remained stalled for more than a decade.
Unlike the Henry Street Revival Committee, the new entity would include Gainsboro residents. The planners' recommendation could go to council Nov. 18. Mayor David Bowers said council was unlikely to act on it before January.
The committee would:
* Reconsider a controversial plan for a tourist hotel.
* Substantially alter a restaurant and entertainment district draft plan to include neighborhood businesses.
* Prepare an economic feasibility study to determine the most appropriate mix of businesses.
* Reconsider a much-maligned plan under which a single ``master developer'' would have control of the entire project.
Bowers, chairman of the current Henry Street Committee, says it's his intention to disband it and let the new panel take over.
``It's positive in that they at least are listening,'' said Evelyn Bethel. ``Yes, it's very positive.''
But the biggest questions remained mostly unanswered: Exactly who will serve on the committee? For how long? How much power and authority will they have?
Marlles said he didn't know the answers. He said he thinks City Council will appoint the entity, a comment that drew groans from the crowd of about 80.
Some speakers at the meeting said a new committee isn't enough. They called for apologies from the mayor, City Council, the city administration and the housing authority for years of urban-renewal efforts that have torn apart once-thriving black communities.
Others sounded suspicious.
``It sounds like another Wometco deal,'' said Dr. Walter Claytor, a retired dentist, referring to a grudge that Gainsboro residents hold after being forced to give up some of their neighborhood for expansion of the Coca-Cola bottling plant. ``Promises that aren't kept; promises that aren't meant to be kept.''
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER/Staff. Total Action Against Poverty Executiveby CNBDirector Ted Edlich describes renovations planned for the Dumas
Hotel Music Center on Henry Street, formerly known as the Henry
Street Music Center, on Monday. color.