In some ways, the Pulaski Theatre has become a great common hope among town officials trying to shepherd in the type of retail offerings that could pump up tax coffers and bring vibrancy back to downtown. Activists have been demanding their government work for change in the town that has seen several Main Street businesses crumble.

Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Pulaski Town Councilman Morgan Welker pauses as he sits in on a meeting with town activists earlier this month. While activism is on the rise in Pulaski, some have voiced concern that criticism has turned too negative, and Welker announced last week he would no longer attend the activists’ group meetings.

PULASKI -- Whether it's fair or not, Pulaski residents know their town gets a bad rap.

Maybe it's been the boom-to-bust manufacturing economy the town once depended on that got people thinking less of the town. Or maybe the once crumbling buildings the town has razed along Main Street fed into the perception.

Whatever it is, some Pulaski residents have decided not to let perception become reality. Within just two years, voter turnout has tripled from 6 percent to 18 percent in the May election and a council vacancy appointment has prompted both controversy and intense interest in how the town picks a successor to newly elected Mayor Jeff Worrell.

For both town officials and residents, it appears Pulaski is on the cusp of meaningful change. But as resident Sandy Payne puts it, "I think the geographical setting and the potential here is incredible. I just don't understand why we don't jump in there and do it."

Payne and her husband, Clark, who moved to the area from Richmond two years ago, have been among the most vocal among a group of activists demanding government not only work for change, but to do it vigorously. It can be frustrating, however, in a town that Clark Payne often describes as moving along at a "glacially" pace.

"When you're not actually communicating that well with those who are in charge, it's a little hard to understand why certain things don't get done," Sandy Payne said. Those frustrations, combined with a sense of urgency to get the town back on track, have resulted in regular meetings of a group called Citizens for the Betterment of Pulaski.

CBP, as the loosely formed group is called, grew out of meetings the town council held last year when they were revising the town's comprehensive plan. Residents enjoyed the chance to provide input so much, they organized more meetings and started a Web site with a forum for town residents.

Pam Austin, who relocated in 2006 from Newport News, said the town-organized meetings created "an opportunity for people who wanted to come out and discuss issues that maybe hadn't been there before."

"Maybe it got some people thinking, and that's where some of the interest in running for office and attending council meetings came from," Austin added.

Four people who attended CBP meetings collected enough signatures to appear on the council election ballot in May, and two of them, political newcomers Robert Bopp and Morgan Welker, were elected.

But their electoral success has never been viewed as an offshoot of the activism of a group such as CBP. In fact, Welker announced last week that he would no longer attend the group's meetings because he viewed them as too negative.

"CBP has come to be largely nothing more than personal attacks, gossip, maybe a little slander, and lots of kicking dead horses," Welker wrote on the group's online forum. "If CBP would like to return to coming up with solutions and good ideas instead of attacks and dwelling on the past, I would be happy to rejoin its ranks."

Welker had voiced strong disapproval during that meeting of a call for the ouster of Town Manager John Hawley by Glenn Baublitz Jr., who ran in the May election and is a candidate for the council vacancy.

"Council has to have a working relationship with the town staff, and if they're hurt or offended by a group of people it compromises our ability to work with them," Welker said.

Austin, who was a neighborhood activist in Newport News, has also since decided to leave the group to join the Friends of Pulaski Theatre. The citizens group lacked the structure she'd grown used to at the neighborhood level, she said.

"My way is more of a collaborative way," Austin said. "Let's work together and get some ideas out there."

Sandy Payne said she's heard the concerns that some active in the group have been too confrontational, but she doesn't agree that the group has fed off negativity.

"I see us more as a citizens group who's trying to help the town and the council ask and answer some of the hard questions," she said.

Worrell, the town's mayor, said he has also noticed a renewed interest in how the town is being run, and said he values input from residents.

"Criticism is negative by nature," Worrell said. "People can say whatever they like. That's their civic duty to speak out."

He added that he thinks much of the interest is driven by visible improvements around town and a promising young council.

"I think it's going to be very interesting how it's going forward," Worrell said. "When I was elected, I was the youngest person by far, and I was 38 then. Now the youngest is more than 10 years younger than that. That's quite a swing."

Diane Collins, a county resident who has been vocal about town issues, said she realizes town activists may have a negative reputation, but she said she's still hopeful that once the council moves forward on the vacancy appointment today, the town can begin to get back on its feet.

"Anytime you try to appropriate change you're going to run into resistance," Collins said. "I realize that things take time, but I realize, too, that in order to come to an end, we've got to start somewhere."