todd.jackson@roanoke.com

   981-3253

    Roanoke paid $10,000 of taxpayer money as part of its selection as a top livable community by a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group.

    The city, which publicized its honor and sent a delegation to Washington to receive the award in April, confirmed this week that it paid the money to Partners for Livable Communities. The other 29 communities around the country that were selected for livable awards also paid the same amount, according to the nonprofit organization. Some of the localities paid the fee using public funds and others paid it using private donations.

    The nonprofit Washington group, which selects its award winners only once a decade, had never asked for money before but did so this year to create an interactive Web site that will highlight the honored localities for the next four years, said Irene Garnett, a program officer with the organization.

    When he found out that Roanoke paid its $10,000, Mayor Ralph Smith said he immediately thought that the livable award was "something you were essentially purchasing."

    "If you need to buy a merit badge, then they'll provide you one," Smith said of the nonprofit group.

    Smith went to Washington as part of Roanoke's delegation. He said later he was somewhat troubled that city taxpayers were on the hook for $10,000 specifically related to the award.

    Others, however, including City Manager Darlene Burcham, said the $10,000 was well spent because of the national attention that goes along with the award - including a feature in USA Today.

    Garnett said the livable nonprofit group needed the money to create the kind of Web site that will adequately represent the uniqueness of the award and the communities that were honored.

    "This site will become the banner of Partners' portfolio of the communities that are best places to learn from as models to emulate and as leaders in their field," she said.

    The organization asked each selected city if it could secure the funds for the sponsorship of the Web site, Garnett said. The donation was not a prerequisite to receive an award, said Garnett, but she acknowledged that every winner paid the $10,000.

    The group's monetary request has touched off a debate about its motivations and those of the localities that paid the $10,000 using taxpayer funds.

    Officials in Columbia, S.C., as well as several cities in California have criticized the requested contributions.

    In a May article in the Los Angeles Times, Jon Coupal, president of a Sacramento-based taxpayers association, said: "Local government continues to complain about a lack of revenue for essential municipal services, including fire, police and libraries, yet they're writing $10,000 checks to pay an organization that gave them an award. That's not good policy."

    But, in the same story, Ventura, Calif., city councilman Bill Fulton said, "The USA Today article alone is worth $10,000. You couldn't buy that kind of advertising."

    In addition to the award program, Roanoke is participating in a separate, multiyear Creative Cities initiative sponsored by Partners for Livable Communities. The Landmark Communications Foundation - the philanthropic arm of The Roanoke Times' parent company - paid $45,000 for the city to enter that program, Burcham said. The city's participation in the program has provided it the opportunity to learn more about how it can become a better place and market itself accordingly, she said. The program included visits from other people associated with it, which played a role in Roanoke getting the notice that led to the livable community award, she said.

    The newspaper's involvement has prompted criticism, and some people have suggested that The Roanoke Times' financial support essentially bought the livable award for Roanoke's municipal government.

    Roanoke.com columnist Stuart Revercomb recently wrote just that. "And of course the press covers it like it's some kind of BIG AWARD our city council and city manager has just won for us! (i.e. "See what a good job we're doing!)," he wrote. "Kind of disturbing, huh?" Revercomb was also a political consultant for two Democratic city council candidates who won election in May - Brian Wishneff and Sherman Lea - who have been critical of the current city council and city administration.

    Garnett disputed that the Creative Cities payment was a quid pro quo to get an award. She said her organization did consider those communities involved in the Creative Cities program for the separate livable award, but only about one-third of 18 in that program were later honored.

    She said it was obvious that Roanoke had risen to a level worthy of being honored, while a number of other communities that had paid the same entry fee for the Creative Cities program had not.

    On the Net:

   www.mostlivable.org