Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 11, 1991                   TAG: 9103110367
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CITY ASKS TALKS WITH CRANWELL/ CLOSER RELATIONSHIP SOUGHT ON LEGISLATIVE

Councilman David Bowers, chairman of the city's Legislative Committee, wants city officials to try to develop a closer working relationship with Cranwell now that the consolidation issue has been settled.

Cranwell opposed the consolidation of the city and county, although he did not take an active role in last fall's campaign. County voters rejected merger by more than a two-to-one ratio while city voters approved it by nearly the same margin.

The legislative committee will seek a meeting with the Vinton Democrat, one of the most powerful state legislators and a likely candidate for speaker of the House of Delegates. The committee includes Mayor Noel Taylor and Councilmen James Harvey, William White and Bowers.

Bowers said Cranwell could help the city with its legislative requests in the General Assembly. He said the city's legislators - Sen. Granger Macfarlane and Dels. Vic Thomas and Clifton Woodrum - have been effective and won approval of 21 of the city's 28 legislative proposals during the recent session. But Roanoke needs Cranwell's assistance on legislative issues sometimes, he said.

In a letter to be sent to Cranwell, Bowers wrote:

"We look forward to developing a cordial and working relationship with you as the majority leader in the House, because we believe that cooperation among all area legislators and the city will be in everybody's interest."

Cranwell said today he would welcome such a meeting because he agrees that Roanoke Valley officials need to work together.

"I have felt that the healing process after consolidation needs to get started - now that everybody understands how things are going to be," he said.

Cranwell said he thought he already had a good working relationship with city officials on legislative issues, but he would be happy to meet with the legislative committee.

"If there is a problem, I think it is more one of perception than anything else," he said, adding he has tried to expedite the city's legislative proposals that have come before his committees.

Cranwell said he has told City Manager Robert Herbert that he would be willing to work with the city on the proposal for a convention center. He said he has worked with the city and Virginia Tech on the proposed conference center and renovation of Hotel Roanoke.

In recent years, Cranwell and city officials have clashed over the creation of the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission.

Some city officials claim that the legislator threatened to withhold $6 million in state money for a new terminal unless the city agreed to establish a commission with the county to operate the airport.

City Council members have often complained about the Vinton's legislator's role in revising state law in the late 1970s to bar Roanoke and other major cities from annexation.