Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 5, 1993 TAG: 9308050295
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If Bowers had written the script, the ending could not have been better.
A half-dozen county residents in the Woodlands subdivision in North Roanoke County praised him for what they described as a new approach to the consolidation issue and for making a case for the need for the Roanoke Valley to work together.
After meeting privately with him for nearly three hours, the residents emerged to say that Bowers had helped them to better understand the underlying issues in the debate.
They liked the informal, conversational tone of the meeting in a private home.
Not everyone was ready to vote for consolidation after the private meeting, but they said Bowers had been helpful.
John Porter, a consolidation supporter, said Bowers tried to ease their fears that the city wants to take over the county.
Porter said the group also discussed schools and other issues.
The residents said they told Bowers about county residents' apprehensions about consolidation and what should be done to ease them.
After the meeting, Bowers said he had come mainly to listen. He said he wanted to find out the reasons that many county voters oppose merger.
Bowers said he doesn't expect county voters to change their views overnight, but the city and county need to begin the dialogue process. "We are not enemies. We've got to work together," he said.
Bowers got a different reception from Charles Landis, a former vice mayor of Roanoke, who greeted him with a placard that said "Roanoke City Lies and Steals." Landis, an anti-consolidation leader three years ago when county voters rejected merger, said he came to remind county voters that there is another side to consolidation issue that Bowers doesn't discuss.
Landis, who now lives in the county, said his placard was not a personal attack on Bowers, but a criticism of the city's actions in its last annexation case.
City officials promised they would not raise taxes, but they did, Landis said. And the city "stole 25 percent of the county's tax base" and caused the market value of houses in annexed areas to decline, Landis said. Bowers greeted Landis outside Kathy Castle's house on Deerwood Road where the meeting was held, but he did not stop to talk with him.
Bowers maintains that the attitude of county voters has changed since they rejected consolidation by 70 percent to 30 percent in 1990.
Some residents at the meeting indicated they still have reservations about merger, but some of their fears had been reduced.
County political leaders think Bowers will do more harm than good for the consolidation cause by meeting directly with county residents.
They believe it's inappropriate for Bowers to bypass them and talk directly with their constituents.
Supervisor Harry Nickens predicted that Bowers' efforts will be counterproductive. It's not going to change county voters' minds and it might cause some to be even more opposed to consolidation, he said.
Bowers said he's not wedded to consolidation as the only solution to the dilemma facing the Roanoke Valley because of slow growth and the concentration of low- and moderate-income residents in the city.
He has also raised the possibilities of the city's trying to regain the right to annex and giving up its charter to become part of the county. City Council has asked the city attorney for legal opinions on the annexation and charter issues.
by CNB