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Before the May 6 Election Day, candidates will respond to readers who submitted questions on the upcoming election for Roanoke City Council. The candidates' replies appear below in alphabetical order. To see a specific candidate's response, click on the name below.

Candidates for mayor: David Bowers | Nelson Harris | Anita Powell | George Sgouros

Candidates for city council: Dale Edmonston | Valerie Garner | Sherman Lea | Anita Price | Court Rosen | Brian Wishneff

Topic: City priorities

In light of the 57 percent graduation rate in Roanoke City Schools, how can you possibly think it is wise to spend millions of dollars in city funds on projects such as an amphitheater?

— Wayne Sowder

Candidates for mayor

David Bowers

David Bowers (I): This is the best question of all. Our citizens should be insisting of our school leaders in Roanoke City Public Schools that we make efforts to increase the current 57 percent graduation rate in our schools. I have a lot of confidence in the new school superintendent, Rita Bishop, and I believe she will work towards increasing that awful graduation rate, which is one of the worst in Virginia.

It is important for us to fund our schools adequately, and it is also important for the city to propose economic development projects that would be a stimulus for our area. That’s why I believe the amphitheater should be built in downtown Roanoke, not on the river in a flood zone, as I believe an amphitheater downtown will stimulate business in the downtown area and bring thousands of people to our center city. We should maintain volunteer festivals like Local Colors, the chili festival, the peach festival, the sidewalk art show, Henry Street, and other local festivals in the downtown area.

Nelson Harris

Nelson Harris (D): I agree with the basic premise of the question and have stated repeatedly during the campaign that an amphitheater, regardless of location, may be an item we simply cannot afford at this time given our other, more pressing needs. Council will have additional information and will face that decision in the early fall. Council has limited resources to spend on capital projects and completing the greenway system, acquiring additional athletic fields, neighborhood improvements, renovating libraries and schools demand our immediate attention. I have said consistently throughout my term as mayor that increasing the performance of our school system must be our top priority.

Anita Powell

Anita Powell (I): I do not think it is wise to build the amphitheater when we are forced to develop programs to keep textbooks in our schools. It is not wise when elective studies have been cut to a minimum. It is not wise when after school programs like the West End Center are going under for lack of funds.

George Sgouros

George Sgouros (I): I will approach the answer to this question in two parts, first dealing with the amphitheater, and the second dealing with the funding of education in the Roanoke City Public Schools:

My professional expertise and background is in industrial design / technology / engineering / and teaching. “I see things for what they are, could be, and can do; and I reshape them to be more attractive, functional, durable, and better.” This philosophy goes for shaping a product or invention, or in motivating a student to learn and achieve, or in “wisely guiding” Roanoke toward a future of equal prosperity and progress through fair & equal allocation, and distribution of city funds to education as well as in the design/re-development of an already existing amphitheater facility.

In recognition of the value and appreciation of the Valley Metro bus system (and the existing/proposed supplemental/non-automobile transportation solutions), I feel we must be properly fund, encourage, adopt, adapt, and improve on their operational competency and capacity, in order to meet the coming demands of the unsure future we face.

On funding and developing the amphitheater:

“I do not think it wise!” — to grossly spend millions on only one project (the amphitheater), without spending on the basic needs of the other more significant project – the schools and education.

However an argument might be made in favor of an amphitheater, if a more moderately funded, carefully planned project were to be proposed; a plan of incorporating a well thought out, more viable and profitable venue, which takes into consideration the utilization of what we already have; a plan with a future - purposefully managed, organized, and maintained, and at a different location from the two already suggested by others; the two locations foisted upon the public in a frenzy, both burdened with inferior prospects of success, undefined parameters, limited purposes, and high costs; so why even consider these.

That is why I have formulated, designed, and proposed an alternative design concept, that will convert and utilize an existing structure (the former Johnson & Johnson Lens plant), at council’s unconsidered/under investigated/premier/ideal/spacious/alternate - amphitheater location (on Interstate 581 at 2797 Frontage Road, next to the Countryside Golf Course).

On funding education:
As the only full-time mayoral candidate, I will have the time to review in depth the unequal, and in some cases - misguided spending practices of waste on white elephant projects, that this current, and past city administration has perpetrated on the public.

I will curb wasteful city expenditures on such frivolous projects, appropriate extra funds - through spending attrition, and financial readjustment, and funnel these savings into increased and equal funding for school programs and initiatives.

Funding for adding more vocational and technology programs, as well as - medical program initiatives, since these are the business fields of growth that reside in the region. Build on “Education for Tomorrow’s Jobs” - Through High Quality, Updated Instruction. Don’t just teach students information, so as to just pass state tests. In conjunction with what they learn, they need to be instructed in why they learn? Prepare, and repair student integrity and interest in how, and what they learn; show them why they need to learn, and explain the opportunities for achievement in both school and society.

Not all educational funding need be monetarily based — “Motivation through ideas and cooperation, and through expanded outreach programs,” can be just as beneficial.

The following suggestions are just two that need to be promoted in the quest for meeting the Standards of Quality, learning, and accreditation, and aid in increasing the graduation rate.

A) Business mentoring and jobs programs: Engaging experts, and everyday business people into the schools and student’s lives, and students into their businesses. Promotion of career and enterprising topics by civic groups, and local, state, and federal government agencies.
B) Increased arts community involvement: Integrated with school TV stations, public broadcasting and public access stations within the community. Historical and cultural awareness programs, guided by a working relationship with museums and historical societies. A greater use of media for student awareness in the presentation of these programs.

Candidates for council

Dale Edmonston

Dale Edmonston (I): You get what you pay for: more qualified adminstration requires cost and culturally competent individuals.

Valerie Garner

Valerie Garner (I): Thank you for this question — it is my question to the incumbents as well. The state’s budget shortfall has reduced funding to localities. Roanoke is experiencing this now. This project should be tabled as we weather this economic downturn and use the funds for this project for our schools, safety, and infrastructure. Roanoke has little room for any new projects as we pay down the debt associated with the two new high schools and stadiums. In my candidacy announcement in March I advocated for our Roanoke school superintendent’s “overage” academy that was brought to council’s attention in July 2007. This is a much higher funding priority than an amphitheater and I will make it my priority if elected.

Sherman Lea

Sherman Lea (D): I feel without a doubt the first and foremost priority of our city should be the continuing improvement of our school system. The 57 percent graduation rate is extremely poor and until we begin to address it, in my opinion, other projects will have to wait. If we are going to be a community that attracts businesses for economic development and families that are relocating to the area, attract young people to an exciting and vibrant downtown to work and live, our graduation rate in our public schools must improve. At this point I am supportive of the superintendent’s initiative to address our dropout rate; if it is successful I sincerely feel our graduation rate will improve. I have personally worked as a school board member and a member of city council to resolve our dropout problems in Roanoke. The amphitheater is not on council’s priority list and I will work to continue to make sure that we properly fund our schools and other infrastructure and capital expenditures that are critically needed before any major focus or funding goes toward an amphitheater.

Anita Price

Anita Price (D): I would like to see our city come together for once and decide just what our priorities are! Elevating projects like an amphitheater I refer to as distractions. I would love to see a portion of this energy and concern poured into our schools. The state of our schools and its support should be everyone’s first and primary concern. Our city is only as strong as its schools! We should have an equal if not greater outpouring of concern over our school system. What happens in our schools affects everyone, whether one has a child in school or not.

Court Rosen

Court Rosen (D): As a city, we must prioritize how we spend taxpayer money. There are plenty of issues deserving of council’s attention, many of them fundamental to our community.

Regardless of the primary motivator behind your list of priorities — education, economic growth, social equality — there is no denying that bettering our schools is critical to our city’s positive future. Our education system is the foundation of our ability to grow economically, culturally and socially. For these reasons, I believe that we must improve on the many good things that are happening in our schools and increase the resources that are made available to them.

We have to focus on the quality of our infrastructure — from streets to sidewalks, water and sewer lines, to existing structures like the Market Building. These often aren’t glamorous issues to deal with, but they are important to our neighborhoods and vital to the prosperity of our downtown and our community.

There are so many items of importance that we face as a city. I urge folks to work together as a community to prioritize those items that directly impact the lives of our residents on a daily basis. With challenges ahead, we can focus on the many more important issues that deserve our attention.

Brian Wishneff

Brian Wishneff (I): Is the problem with our schools how much money we spend or what our spending priorities have been by the current school board and council leadership? After getting elected to council, I tried desperately to get the school board and council to go to three smaller high schools rather than two big schools. Every national study conducted on the subject showed that smaller high schools in the 800- to 1,000-student range performed much better than a larger school in every measure. Further I tried and lost to get the council and the school board to reuse parts of the existing buildings at Patrick Henry and William Fleming to save money. The answer I got from the current leadership was “that our kids deserve a completely new building.” No, our kids deserve a great education. The current leadership group decided to spend $150 million on two large new high schools. In the meantime, our teachers’ salaries sank far below the national average and they left our school system in record numbers. Further, we had one of the best alternative education programs in the country in the Blue Ridge Technical Academy. The current leadership scrapped the school. Now, they want to spend lots of money recreating what they recently destroyed. Is it the amount of money we spend on our schools or the poor judgment of our current leadership? I think it is the latter.