Friday, July 27, 2007
Editorial: Clinging to discord
Quibbling over who sweeps the sidewalks only stalls progress on City Market plans.
From the RoundTable blog
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Roanoke taxpayers envisioned Frank Dukes swooping in like a caped crusader, ready to slay the evil discord that has blocked Roanoke City Market improvements. He would emerge from a series of meetings with arms raised in victory, a blueprint clutched in one hand.
For $6,300 for the professional mediator, that expectation is not wholly unreasonable -- not for taxpayers, not for the city officials who hired him.
But it isn't Dukes who can save the market, rather city leaders if only they are finally willing to step up and lead. If not, Dukes' will have wasted money, producing nothing more than yet another study bound for city hall's crowded dusty shelf.
For now it appears the underlying controversy -- what to do about Center in the Square's quest for more visibility versus vendors' desire for more prominence -- has settled some. Yet a deeper, more unsettling rift, emerged this week when varying stakeholders sparred over pettier matters and who should reign supreme in carrying out suggested "priority ideas."
The ideas, divided into five categories, include improving trash pickup, increasing sidewalk space, enhancing public restrooms and closing Market Square to parking. The list is lengthy, about 35 ideas deep.
Downtown Roanoke Inc. and the city of Roanoke, each claim -- and apparently want -- ownership of idea implementation. Good. There's plenty of work for both, if they adopt cooperating rather than adversarial roles.
If the city insists on responsibility for market cleanliness, DRI should happily relinquish that responsibility. If DRI shows it can service the market more efficiently than the city, then the city should step aside and focus its efforts on some other market priorities.
When the city hired Dukes to mediate the market melee, it was to infuse neutral-party thinking into the process.
Dukes appears to have succeeded in calming the waters long enough to foster discussion that has resulted in a list of sound goals and ideas. That is progress.
But quibbling over who's responsible for trash pickup or cleaning sidewalks is regressive. Settle it, and move on to the bigger things.
