ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 22, 1996 TAG: 9604230058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
DALE Wolfer isn't looking for a City Council candidate who will shake things up in Salem. "I'm a pretty satisfied customer, really," said Wolfer, who moved to Salem from Texas seven years ago.
"I've found the city departments to be very responsive whenever you have a problem. I was born and raised in Houston. Very big city. And the hassles just to get your sewer hooked up - unbelievable.
"To put it in just a real succinct nutshell: Salem works. In Salem, I really feel like I get my tax dollar's worth."
Wolfer's thoughts were echoed by most of the nine Salem residents who participated in a "community conversation" held last month by The Roanoke Times.
The residents were asked to share their thoughts about the May 7 Salem City Council elections in which five candidates are running for three seats.
They had their share of concerns - too few high-paying jobs, too many decisions made behind closed doors, and too much public money spent on sports. But residents generally are downright happy with their government and what it has to offer.
"It seems everything that is done here is done correctly," said Sam Good, a retired Roanoke College professor and a Salem resident since 1962. "We build things - and let's agree they built that [Salem Avalanche] ballpark without really saying we would agree to pay $10 million for it. But when they finished, it is a thing of beauty."
"I can honestly say that I have never contacted [the city government] with a problem that the problem did not get taken care of," said Mattie Mann, a Salem native. "I have to be honest about that."
"I've traveled to almost every big town. You compare this to some of the big cities - it just beats any of them," said Billy Proffitt, a Salemite since 1963.
Salem and Roanoke are neighbors. But when it comes to how each city's residents view their governments, they might as well be on opposite sides of the state.
In Roanoke's City Council races, one of the hottest topics is figuring out how to save deteriorating neighborhoods. In Salem, a hot issue is whether the city should build another golf course.
Roanoke residents are concerned about crack dealers moving into their neighborhoods.
Salemites are more worried about groundhogs invading their yards.
Some people may ask if it even matters to Salemites who is elected to City Council.
"Maybe we've gotten so complacent with the way things have been going all the time. And we just like it that way," said Laura Spurlock, a Salem native.
A few residents said they just wanted to see some new faces on council.
"I'm glad to see change," said the Rev. Enos Glaspie, retired pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church. "It may not be for the best, but I'm glad to see it. It gives somebody else some opportunity."
"It's a small town," said Steve Davidson, who has lived in his South Salem neighborhood for about 15 years. "It's like you know everybody. No hassles, traffic. It's a nice place to live."
Salem takes up only 14.6 square miles of the valley and had a 1990 population of slightly more than 23,000. It's less than half the size of Roanoke and has about a quarter of the people.
Salem also has had to deal with fewer social ills.
In 1995, only 3 percent of Salem families were below the poverty level, compared with 12.8 percent in Roanoke.
Less than 24 percent of Salem's adult population did not have a high school diploma, compared with 32 percent in Roanoke.
Eighty-four percent of Salem children passed the Literacy Passport test in 1995, compared with 67 percent in Roanoke.
Roanoke spent $16.5 million - almost $170 per capita - on welfare and social services in 1994; Salem spent a little more than $640,000 - about $26 per capita - according to the most recent statistics available from Virginia's Auditor of Public Accounts.
And Salem's crime rate was about half of Roanoke's in 1994, according to the most recent statistics available from Virginia State Police.
Those numbers give some indication of the quality of life Salem residents brag about.
Wolfer said the city's government has a lot to do with that.
"The city government gets things done," he said. "There's not a lot of posturing, not a lot of infighting. City Council is noted for doing its negotiation behind the scenes and having an agreement when they come to take a vote. If they're squabbling, it's resolved more or less behind the scenes."
Mann appreciates the city's police protection.
"We don't have a whole lot of crime in Salem," she said. "I'm thankful for that. I can walk up and down the streets - and I live alone. I don't have to worry. And I don't think I'd feel as safe if I lived alone in Roanoke - anywhere.
"Salem has always had good policemen."
Sam Good and his wife, Inez, a retired professor of German at Roanoke College, bragged about how quickly animal control officers got rid of a pesky groundhog near their home.
"We have been inundated with groundhogs," Sam Good said. The Goods live across from Roanoke College's Elizabeth Campus, which he called "a breeding ground for groundhogs.
"We have called the animal control, and they are there no later than three hours. And they pick it up and take it away."
Not everything the Salem residents had to say about the city government was so good. Probably the biggest concern was one that has been used against Salem politicians in the past - the perception that too many decisions are made behind closed doors.
"I think sometimes Salem voters are treated like children: Papa knows best," Inez Good said. "We are given the fact after it has happened and don't get a chance to vote on anything."
The one chance that Salem residents were given to vote on an issue didn't count, she said. Salem voters were asked if they wanted the city to build a baseball stadium costing $5 million. But the cost rose to $10.1 million.
"That ballpark vote was an advisory vote. We didn't even go because we knew it would be built no matter what," Inez Good said.
Others agreed.
"I'm all for [the baseball stadium]," Davidson said. "But in the business world, if someone told us something is going to cost $5 million and it cost $10 million, everybody would be fired."
It's not that he had a problem with the stadium costing so much. He said the voters just should have known the actual cost before it was built.
"If they had told me it would have been $10 million, I would have agreed with that, too," Davidson said.
Some residents said the city has put too much money into sports.
In the past 10 years, the city has spent nearly $15 million on athletic fields and stadiums.
"I'm not a sports enthusiast," said Gwendolyn Glaspie. "And they are spending a large amount of money" on sports. "I think the cultural side should be stressed more.''
Inez Good agreed.
"Too many gun shows in that civic center," she said. "It's a great thing that we have the civic center used as much as it is ... but I would like to see some more cultural things. Maybe a book fair or a theater performance."
The residents were also concerned about what they called a lack of high-paying jobs in Salem.
Enos Glaspie said that when Salem's young people graduate from college, they have to leave the city.
"If you send them to college, no matter what happens - when they graduate from college, they have to go other places to find jobs," he said.
The residents hit on other issues. Davidson cited flooding in South Salem neighborhoods. Spurlock said the city should build a public pool because poor kids have no place to swim.
The five candidates for Salem City Council have raised their own issues. Challengers say there needs to be more public involvement in City Council's decision-making. And the candidates have debated which projects the government should focus its attention on next.
At a recent candidate forum, the biggest concern from small-business owners was that the city is stalling on plans for a visitors' center to better promote Salem's tourism. And candidates argued whether to turn Mowles Spring Park - where the city's landfill used to be - into a public park or a golf course.
But no issue has caused a much of a stir.
Not since the city's secession from Roanoke County in 1968 - when Democrats and Republicans lined up on opposite sides - have local partisan politics thrived in Salem.
That may be because Salem's "a small area, and the people always work together," Spurlock said.
Sam Good said that's an advantage Roanoke and Roanoke County do not have. He noted that Roanoke County's proposed $37.4 million school bond issue failed after it polarized residents in the four corners of the county.
"In Salem, we don't have that - not even with South Salem and with the other side of the river here," he said.
One thing that has sparked considerable interest compared with past elections is that Jim Taliaferro, the city's mayor for more than 22 years, is stepping down.
"I'm a little concerned about Mayor Taliaferro's departure," Wolfer said. "I see him as having been a very strong positive leader. I'm not worried about it, but I think things have been done so much in a spirit of working together for the good."
"I think that it will be less sports-oriented - maybe," Sam Good said. "We can hope that all the areas might be given more nods, like historical preservation."
But Good said even with Taliaferro leaving City Council, Salem generally will stay the same.
"I don't think it will change in our lifetime," he said. "The status quo will probably remain and I can't explain why but the fact that it has been this way since 1802."
LENGTH: Long : 200 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. 1. Mary Lou Poulton, who operatesby CNBQuilts and Crafts at 208 East Main Street, has never regretted her
move from Salem, Ohio, 25 years ago. She and her family``think of
Salem as a small village.'' 2. City workers apply new stripes at
Main and Market streets in downtown Salem. In Roanoke's City Council
races, one of the hottest topics is figuring out how to save
deteriorating neighborhoods. In Salem, a hot issue is whether the
city should build another golf course. 3. ``These softball parks, if
you ever go over there, man, those things are used like crazy.
You've got the Pee Wee kids playing. And they bring in the state
championships and the bigger people and all. Whoever planned that
complex is a genius.'' - Steve Davidson. 4. ``Sometimes I feel Salem
voters are treated like children: Papa knows best. We are given the
facts after it has happened and don't get a chance to vote on
anything.''- Inez Good. 5. ``In the wintertime, you don't have to
worry about snow. Eventually, they're going to get that snow out. I
think if there's anything you need, if you go to council with your
problem, I think it can get solved.'' - Laura Spurlock. 6. ``I'm
glad to see change. It may not be for the best, but I'm glad to see
it. It gives somebody else some opportunity.'' - Enos Glaspie. 7.
The newly renovated Lake Spring Park is one of the landmarks
Salemites point to when they talk about their general satisfaction
with the city. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CITY COUNCIL