Sunday, October 30, 2011
Editorial: Blacksburg Town Council endorsements
From the RoundTable blog
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In Blacksburg, we favor John Bush, Leslie Hager-Smith and Michael Sutphin.
Bush and Hager-Smith are the easy picks this year. Both are council incumbents. Bush has been on council for two years, having won election to a partial term that resulted from a vacancy. Hager-Smith is finishing her first full term.
Each brings valuable skills and experience to council. Bush is an architect whose knowledge has greatly informed council discussions about development and historic neighborhood regulations. Hager-Smith's expertise runs more toward economic development. Before serving on council, she was director of Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg. Both candidates have demonstrated that they are capable leaders on a council that works well together.
The real choice for voters is who to select for the third seat, which is open because Don Langrehr is running for the House of Delegates instead.
Voters can easily remove Mel Huber from the equation. He has not presented a strong platform for his candidacy beyond hackneyed maxims. He has not participated in any of the public candidate forums. In a town that demands council accountability and responsiveness, that approach does not fly.
That leaves Sutphin and former council member Paul Lancaster. Either would do well in the job.
Both have experience in town government. Lancaster served on council and has more recently been on the planning commission. Sutphin has served on the Long Range Planning Committee and the Housing and Community Development Advisory Board.
Both also have plenty of smart ideas about how to move the town forward, but we give the nod to Sutphin for two reasons.
First, he represents the future of Blacksburg. This is an excellent time to elect a newcomer with fresh perspectives. The rest of the council is stable and well qualified. Sutphin therefore would have an opportunity to learn from experienced members and perhaps become a civic leader for years to come. Under different circumstances, Lancaster's experience on council might have better served the town.
Second, Sutphin is just the sort of young professional Blacksburg strives to attract and retain. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 2006 and has been a public relations specialist for the university since then. That means he still is close enough to the student community that he could bring insights to improve town-gown relations.
Blacksburg residents should look to the future on Nov. 8 and vote for Bush, Hager-Smith and Sutphin.
