ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 21, 1996 TAG: 9611210020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
SUSHEELA SHENDE will be first executive director of the Northwest Neighborhood Environmental Organization.
Susheela Shende is resigning as executive director of a Franklin County revitalization group, but that didn't stop her from making sure an important piece of its plan was set into motion Tuesday night.
Shende, who was hired to lead the Community Partnership for Revitalization last November, said Wednesday that she has accepted a job as first executive director of the Northwest Neighborhood Environmental Organization in Roanoke. Florine Thornhill, founder of the award-winning neighborhood group, stepped down as president this year because of health problems.
Shende said she decided to take the job because it's closer to her Roanoke home and will provide a new challenge.
But that's not to say that her position with the partnership wasn't challenging.
Its effort to revitalize downtown Rocky Mount has sometimes been bogged down by local politics.
But Shende said she's leaving the Franklin County job with a good feeling.
"I chalk it up to experience," she said. "My attitude from the start was not to get caught up in anything that would hamper our progress."
"Where we are today is a lot farther along toward revitalization than a year ago," said partnership board member Dick Shoemaker when asked about Shende.
The partnership did accomplish a lot this year, including completion of a corridor study and streetscape improvement plan and the establishment of a facade grant program for businesses.
But the biggest step was taken at a meeting Tuesday between the partnership and Town Council.
The partnership and American Electric Power laid out an offer the council didn't refuse.
For 90 minutes, Shende and John Coffey, who works for the power company, detailed how the two groups - with the help of the town - can implement a plan to remove overhead power lines that hang in front buildings in the heart of downtown.
Tall cobra-like street lights would be replaced with shorter decorative street lamps - complete with landscaping - that will help draw people into Rocky Mount, they said.
And the project could be completed at a minimal cost to the town.
The partnership asked the council for $9,650 so it can complete a long-range plan that will open the door to state grant money, possibly as much as $700,000 next year.
If the town receives grant money, the funds could be used to finance improvements such as new street lamps.
"If we can swap $10,000 for half a million, then, to me, that sounds pretty fantastic," said partnership member Rudy Haywood.
The council voted 4-0 to appropriate the money.
"I hope this will just be the start of things to come," Councilman Ben Pinckard said.
Council members Arnold Dillon and Bobby Cundiff - who voiced concerns about the request - didn't vote.
They said they're not necessarily opposed to revitalization, but fear that nickel-and-dime requests are depleting the town's bank account. Just a couple of years ago, the town had more than $12million in reserve. The principal has dwindled to about $8million.
"It's a lot easier to say yes to these requests and be popular than to say no and be conservative," Dillon said.
In its third year of existence, the partnership will begin a search for its third director.
Shende, a former consultant to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission with a master's degree in planning, said she's going to keep working with the partnership through mid-December. She plans to leave a memo that will detail what needs to be done through 1997 and how to do it.
One thing that remains in doubt is a possible merger of the partnership and two other county civic organizations - the Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Merchants Association. The consolidation has run into a roadblock: The Retail Merchants Association, through the position of its director, Dorothy Cundiff, has refused to participate in a merger that would involve the partnership.
Shende said Wednesday that the consolidation is a good idea.
"Whoever doesn't want to participate should be left out," she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB