Roanoke's losing streak

It normally takes me several months to apologize for being absolutely wrong in asserting an untruth in this column. The gap in this cause-and-effect usually gives me an opportunity to reflect on how I could have been so mistaken.

Yet, I am so far behind the learning curve when it comes to predicting the behaviors of Roanoke City’s elected officials and top administrators that it is professionally shameful.

Just several weeks ago, in a column titled Roanoke County: land of Entitlement, I boldly stated that “It appears that the days of politicians in adjacent areas inheriting Roanoke County’s social costs and calling the policy a ‘jobs program’ are over.”

The comment was made in response to the (apparent) fact that the county was not going to find a neighboring municipality to build its jail. I incorrectly thought that the days of Roanoke County NIMBY were ending.

How naive.

Last week, it was revealed that Mayor Nelson Harris and City Manager Darlene Burcham had secret meetings with county officials in December to express -- yes, you guessed it -- the city’s interest in housing the regional jail.

The city proposed building the facility in downtown Roanoke. When news of the meeting leaked, a Roanoke City Council member opined that the proposal was a good idea and -- yes, you guessed it again -- it would provide jobs for the city.

Now, here is the really interesting thing -- Roanoke does not need a new jail. The current facility houses local, state and federal prisoners because of excess capacity. Indeed, Roanoke City Sheriff George McMillan told the city manager he was not interested in joining the regional jail project because the city does not have a jail space problem.

OK, so here is the picture: Roanoke County has a very identifiable NIMBY attitude when it comes to accepting their share of social costs -- whether it’s a methadone clinic or a regional jail.

They also don’t want to consolidate with Roanoke. They only need the city to dump their unwanted social responsibilities. Roanoke doesn’t need a new jail, and it won’t be able to secure state funds for building the facility for that very reason. In the hi-tech, global economy, city officials see the jail as a jobs program.

Given this logic, city residents should flood the county’s next board of supervisors meeting to thank them for their generosity. Really, with friends like this ...

One of Adam Smith’s most quoted sayings was: “People of the same trade seldom meet together but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” He was correct. Secret meetings like those held in December subvert the public interest and creates mistrust in the body politic. They make you wonder if the mayor or city manager have ever read (or even heard of) The Theory of Moral Sentiments or The Wealth of Nations.

Maybe, just maybe, our local leaders also could find time to meet (either privately or publicly) with New River Valley officials to better coordinate economic activities between the region’s financial/ /medical/transportation center (Roanoke) and the state’s largest research university (Virginia Tech).

Seems like most economists believe that economic development is predicated on a vital link between airports and other efficient modes of transportation and research universities. As I noted in a column two weeks ago (Egocentric Virus Plagues Roanoke and NRV), Blacksburg officials remain miffed that they had no input in the schedule of Valley Metro buses that daily ferry people between the two locales.

Is anybody on city council or in the city manager’s office really reading and understanding Richard Florida?

Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a very famous Harvard Business School professor. She is also the former editor of the Harvard Business Review. Her latest book, Confidence: How Winning and Losing Streaks Begin and End, explores the psychology of organizational winning and losing cycles. Her research shows that winning groups are more confident and engage in positive behaviors because they believe these activities lead to success.

Conversely, losing streaks have the opposite effects. Defensive attitudes, decisions are made in secret behind closed doors and passive or helpless feelings are all characteristics of groups in a downward spiral. Kanter found that people in low-performing organizations simply stopped caring.

Strange, I didn’t know that Kanter had done case study analyses of Roanoke County and Roanoke in her research.

She believes that it takes “turnaround leadership” to reverse organizational losing streaks. Since the leaders we have in Roanoke are who we have, our losing streak with the county will continue indefinitely.

One thing is for sure, we certainly won’t be attracting that leisure class of workers Richard Florida talks about while in this downward losing cycle.

I accept we will continue to be Roanoke County’s patsy. No more redundant columns from me pointing out the obvious. Just please don’t call these policies a jobs program.