Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Editorial: Keep a strong board in Roanoke County
GOP incumbents Flora and Altizer, plus Democrat Goodman, for supervisors; challenger Peters for the school board.
From the RoundTable blog
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Challengers in this year's three Roanoke County supervisors races cite the soon-to-open multigenerational recreation center at Interstates 81 and 581 to argue that the county needs fresh leadership.
We disagree. The board has a solid record in creating and maintaining the infrastructure the county needs for its urban, suburban, rural mix.
Incumbent Republicans Richard Flora, in the Hollins District, and Mike Altizer, in the Vinton District, have our endorsement.
Among forward-looking decisions in recent years, the Republican-led board approved needed expansion of career fire and rescue operations and a new library headquarters. It voted to extend a water main down U.S. 220 to Franklin County, clearing the way for Franklin, with its access to Smith Mountain Lake, to join the Western Virginia Water Authority and make it truly regional in scope.
In the Windsor Hills District, where Ed Elswick upset the Republican incumbent in the June primary, voters will decide between him and Democrat Sarah Goodman. We endorse Goodman.
Both, unfortunately, have taken up a belated cry against the top-notch and pricey new rec center in North County.
Of the two, though, Goodman seems more likely to address the underlying disaffection lacing challengers' complaints: that the current board is unwilling to hear and consider residents' views.
In the case of the rec center, the charge is demonstrably unfair. The project was well-publicized and drew little opposition at public hearings. Of residents who turned out to comment, almost all showed up to ask supervisors to include a competition-size swimming pool or an ice-skating rink, ideas the board pursued but eventually rejected as too expensive.
Perception, though, can matter more than reality among restive voters.
Of the two Windsor Hills candidates, Goodman seems more accessible. A mother of four, active in recreation league sports and PTA and a high school teacher, she talks admiringly of how Supervisor Charlotte Moore, the board's lone Democrat, seeks out constituents' views.
Elswick, a retired financial manager for General Electric, also complains that county officials are unresponsive and guilty of overspending. He says he would be directly involved with the work of county government -- auditing contracts, for example -- with an eye toward reducing taxes.
His vision of supervisor as micromanager is not appealing for a policymaking board. His broader vision for the county, meanwhile, is one we suspect few residents share.
He has "mixed emotions," he says, about building greenways, amenities he calls "politically correct." And while he wants to reclaim Explore Park as a public asset, an idea with many vocal supporters, he thinks this can be done without spending any local tax dollars. He proposes putting an amphitheater there, using volunteers.
Goodman is running on a Democratic ticket filled out by Charlene Waybright, in Hollins, and Patrick Patterson, in Vinton. Neither of the other Democrats makes a persuasive case for replacing incumbents steering the county through hard economic times.
School Board
Vinton District voters also will find two school board challengers on the Nov. 3 ballot seeking to unseat incumbent Mike Stovall. We endorse Jason Peters, a financial services representative at First Citizens Bank.
All the candidates are independents.
Peters is rightly focused on more open communication, a need most recently evidenced by a flap over closing Roland E. Cook School.
He gives a welcome emphasis to spending for classroom teachers. And he complains the William Byrd High School renovation was too long delayed; he wants to review the schools' capital improvement priorities, an exercise that's likely due.
Peters offers thoughtful, constructive criticism of the board. Voters should give him a chance to serve.
