Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Editorial: Re-elect Harris for Roanoke mayor
What the incumbent has lacked in forthrightness he has made up for in setting priorities and working to advance them.
From the RoundTable blog
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Roanoke voters have the advantage this year of knowing how two of the four candidates for mayor have performed in the job: Incumbent Nelson Harris is being challenged by onetime Mayor David Bowers, as well as two political unknowns.
The latter, Anita Powell and George Sgouros, have shown little grasp of the job, leaving thoughtful voters to choose between two experienced, but flawed, candidates.
Nelson Harris clearly has been the more mature, forward-thinking leader. Roanokers should re-elect him.
Harris earned a new term when he identified the struggling public school system as the city's No. 1 priority -- and offered help, not demagoguery. He proposed, and council supported, increasing local school funding by $500,000 a year each of the next five years.
As the school superintendent and school board came forth with plans to use an elementary school and an intermediate school for different, pressing purposes, he said he would support the decision-makers. As Harris is well aware, council's role in running the school system is limited to two things: providing local funding and appointing school board members.
Contrast this with Bowers' repeated support for neighborhood elementary schools -- implying, though not promising, that he would save each one, despite falling enrollments and sometimes failing performance.
This is classic Bowers, the double talk of a politician who loves to press the flesh and tell people what they want to hear. Roanoke should have seen too much of it to want him as mayor again.
Unfortunately, Harris has left open the door for a challenge from someone who is at his best when carrying a banner for the discontented, amplifying their grievances and promising the vague relief of "taking back city hall."
Yes, Democrat Harris has been part of a city council majority with an undemocratic penchant for doing the people's business out of the public eye -- either informally, through one-on-one conversations, or in closed session.
As far as the public can tell, the mayor and council always have acted legally. But we doubt the lack of public conversation always has been necessary, and that is the standard public servants should try to meet.
On this, we have been among Harris' harshest critics.
Most notably, council thus far has side-stepped public discussion about where to build an amphitheater -- or whether the city should build one at all.
Those who question Roanoke's ability to take on the project will be relieved to know that Harris -- an early skeptic -- still doesn't think the city can afford it.
His critics can be forgiven for mistaking him for an amphitheater booster, though. Supporters have squabbled over Elmwood Park or Riverside as the right site, but council has deferred a debate about building one at all until a Riverside study is in hand.
The mayor could be a voice of reason if the maneuvering were brought in off the streets and out of the back room, into open session. He now pledges more open government.
Voters should re-elect Harris and hold him to that.
