Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990 TAG: 9003280375
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bowers said the vote probably will be close in the county, but that he thinks proponents can persuade enough undecided county voters.
He said a survey taken for consolidation negotiators in the fall showed that county residents were split: 40 percent favored consolidation, 40 percent opposed it and 20 percent were undecided.
"We are talking about trying to win over the 20 percent in the county who are undecided," Bowers told the North Roanoke Rotary Club on Tuesday night.
The plan must be approved by voters in both localities before it can take effect.
The negotiators haven't released details of the survey, conducted by Virginia Tech's department of urban affairs and planning, but Bowers said it showed city voters favored merger by a big margin.
Bowers, a strong supporter of consolidation, said "conventional wisdom" often proves to be unreliable in politics - just as he said it will prove unreliable on the merger issue.
"To those who say that consolidation won't pass, may I remind them that in March a year ago, the conventional wisdom was that state Sen. Eddy Dalton would be elected lieutenant governor, Marshall Coleman was a political has-been who would never beat [former] Sen. Paul Trible and Doug Wilder would never be elected governor of Virginia," Bowers said.
Dalton was beaten by Democrat Don Beyer for lieutenant governor, Coleman beat Trible in the Republican gubernatorial primary and Wilder defeated Coleman to become governor.
Bowers said the results of the consolidation referendum might be just as surprising.
In recent weeks and months, opponents "have had their say and made their views known," he said, but supporters have been relatively quiet. "Now, the promoters of consolidation are going to have their say."
Bowers said the negotiators have developed what he considers to be a good plan. Bowers was on the city's original negotiating team, but withdrew after a controversy over his role in a campaign to win support for merger.
Bowers said revisions can be made in the structure of the consolidated government if the governing body and the voters desire changes. Even if the changes that have been proposed by three county supervisors aren't made before the November referendum, he said, changes still can be made later.
"The agreement is not locked in stone forever. We live in a democracy and if the people want changes after it is approved, it can be done."
Bowers said he thinks consolidation would produce long-term savings for city and county taxpayers despite the start-up costs.
Merger also would provide improved police, fire and emergency rescue services in highly urbanized areas and may help prevent tragedies such as the death of four people in a December fire at the Shenandoah Homes retirement community, Bowers said.
Consolidation also could help prevent confusion over responses to emergency calls, he said. He cited a highly publicized case several years ago in which there was a jurisdictional question after a young woman was badly bitten by a dog.
"I am not pointing the finger at anyone or accusing anyone, but I am pointing a finger to the future to a way of correcting these problems," he said.
by CNB