ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 11, 1997 TAG: 9703110073
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
For years, park maintenance in Roanoke has been a low-priority stepchild in the city budget. The result of the neglect is all too evident.
TO IMPRESS distinguished visitors or industrial prospects, Roanoke officials might lead them to Mill Mountain Park to take in the view of the valley below, or to River's Edge to show off that top-notch athletic complex, or to downtown's Elmwood Park, venue of the annual Festival in the Park.
But officials of this five-time winner of the All-America City award might well panic if visitors asked to see the neighborhood parks - the kind closest to residents' daily lives.
In which of the neighborhood parks would visitors not confront scraggly near-dead trees, weed-choked grass, used condoms, trashed soft-drink cups, cracked sidewalks, broken picnic tables, decaying shelters and toilet facilities so filthy they should be condemned by the State Board of Health? Roanoke joggers, picnickers, bicyclists, ballplayers, mothers and toddlers confront such sights daily.
The condition of parks in some sections of the city is worse than in others. In park acreage per resident, the southern half of the city is better-served than the northern half. But none of Roanoke's neighborhood parks is in prize condition.
As noted by Roanoke Times staff writer Dan Casey in his articles, ``Problems in the Parks,'' parks in this All-America city have a very low priority in the allocation of taxpayer funds. Roanoke's spending on parks and recreation - $29.27 per resident - is 35 percent below the state average for cities, and downright miserly compared to Salem's $91.18 per person.
This and other evidence suggests that the heart of the problem does not lie in the parks department itself, but higher up - in the basic funding decisions made at the level of City Council and top management.
Perhaps part of the difficulty has been too little community support for adequate parks funding for parks. If so, the situation may be changing, what with agitation for greenways and the emergence of complaints from throughout the city about the condition of existing parks.
Well-tended parks are among the amenities that make city life worth living - even if it does mean city tax rates are a few pennies higher than those of its suburban neighbors.
Roanoke needs to expand its parks with a system of greenways. And it needs to be a better steward of the parks it already has.
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