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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: Racial divisions in Roanoke

There still seems to many of us to be a racial divide in the city of Roanoke. Do you perceive this divide to be growing or shrinking? What steps can the City Council and the Mayor’s office take to foster genuine dialogue on the issue of race (and its impact on school policy, decisions about how to best allocate resources to rebuild crumbling infrastructure, and appointments to committees) in the Star City?

— Hank Bostwick

Candidates for mayor

David Bowers

David Bowers (I): As I visit with our citizens, I hear their discontent and distrust of our city government. I believe the mayor should be visible, accessible, responsive and friendly with all of our citizens. I am concerned when I hear from citizens that they never see, or get to talk to any member of our city council. It is important for our city leadership to visit in the neighborhoods, and I pledge to knock on doors in every neighborhood after I am elected, just as I am doing during the campaign. It is also important for our city council to meet in the different quadrants of the city with all racial and socioeconomic groups. There is a racial divide in our city and I would like to re-energize a Human Relations Council to bring our people together, which is a constant and needed objective.

Nelson Harris

Nelson Harris (D): I believe much progress has been made in our city in this area. We are a culturally diverse community with some seventy different ethnicities residing in our city. The council remains steadfast in its commitment to appoint diverse persons to boards and committees so that our government might reflect the community it serves. I believe both the school and city administrations have made strong commitments, demonstrated through right actions, to treat all persons and neighborhoods of our city in an equitable and fair manner. Roanoke is not perfect, nor is any city in this regard, but I do believe city officials and citizen leaders have made and are making positive impacts to have open dialogue and facilitate respect and understanding.

Anita Powell

Anita Powell (I): The racial divide is growing economically. However, I do not perceive that race is an issue for our younger generation.
We need to have an elected school board system to promote accountability. School board members need to be accountable to the district they serve.
We have a growing Hispanic community that is without representation and that needs to be addressed.

George Sgouros

George Sgouros (I): I view the answer to this question touches on the major point of citizen recognition that I have constantly and consistently propounded in this election (and the past 2004 election) - That our major problem in this city’s government (as well as our state and federal government) is not so much as a racial divide growing between Roanoke’s citizens, as one of the unequal economic divide between the haves and the have-nots; between the done-fors that have the influence, and the do-nothing-fors who don’t; between the minority special interest power brokers who have the ear of the government, and the majority citizens who don’t. This divide is more than apparent in our own city government, where the majority of working class people have been segregated by irresponsiveness of thought and consideration, in favor of those who wield the political power of the almighty dollar.

We as citizens of this city and this nation must come to grips with, and electively respond to, the growing disproportionate divide that has been perpetrated on the working class citizens of all races by special interest powers that be, whose mere existence is influencing the growing racial and economic divide of inequality, fear, and social resentment.

Candidates for council

Dale Edmonston

Dale Edmonston (I): More community of color involvement and administration.

Valerie Garner

Valerie Garner (I): I live in Northwest in a diverse community and my initial response to the first sentence was “What divide?” Living in my diverse community has been a blessing to me. We have the most caring neighborhood you could imagine. However, I understand the meaning of your question. My perception of the divide is that it is stagnant. Bigotry in all its forms remains to our shame. Neighborhoods in many parts of the city feel disenfranchised. As the city concentrates its attention on amphitheaters, mountain restaurants, and even the new Art Museum, we have neglected neighborhoods where these amenities mean very little. The dialogue needs to be personal. It is my understanding that Roanoke has made strides in recruiting a diverse workforce. However, diversity in our police department needs attention. Resources to our underperforming schools where children struggle with poverty, language barriers, and lack of parental involvement needs our utmost attention. As far as infrastructure — here in my community we have a street with no sewer line. How can this be fair? I will address these type of issues if elected on May 6.

Sherman Lea

Sherman Lea (D): Let’s be honest; there is a racial divide in our city. I am not sure at this point whether it is growing or shrinking, however, as a member of Roanoke City Council, I have always sought every opportunity to make sure diversity of our community is well represented on all city committees, commissions and appointments. It is essential that city council/the mayor lead the way by setting the example for diversity. We need to work with Roanoke City Public Schools, which have a significant number of minority students, to bring all sectors of our community (neighborhoods, businesses, parents and teachers) together to build the best urban school system in Virginia. Since I have served on both Roanoke City Council and the school board, I am in a good position to foster many of these actions. I think we need to continue to have open communication and dialogue with the major minority organizations such as the NAACP and the SCLC. I am currently a member of both organizations. I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish with the revitalization of Henry Street with the opening of the Dumas Center, the Claude Moore Higher Education Building and the Martin Luther King statue. Yes, there are issues and concerns that we must address racially, however, I feel that the dialogue and communication is positive and I will work to make sure it continues.

Anita Price

Anita Price (D): Roanoke has made some strides, but there is still much work to be done. Unfortunately, we are still one of the most segregated cities in the state. We have experienced an overnight explosion in our diverse populations and quite frankly, this has caught some people by surprise. Now, we must address the impact segregation makes upon our city in light of our school population, the economic impact on neighborhoods and its maintenance (and lack thereof) and diverse representation on boards and committees. Until we fully acknowledge that as a city we are facing a great racial divide, we cannot move forward. One cannot address what is not first acknowledged!

Court Rosen

Court Rosen (D): While it’s true that we continue to have a racial divide in our city, this divide goes beyond race. There is also an economic divide in Roanoke that can be isolating regardless of your economic position.

I have been fortunate over the last several months to spend a great deal of time in every neighborhood in the city. Frequently, people share with me their sense of disconnect that they feel from their city. I firmly believe that in order to make our city prosper as a whole, we must engage and request input from individuals from all corners of our city. An investment in one neighborhood isn’t an isolated action, but rather an investment in the betterment of our entire city. In order to wisely invest, council must get input from as many citizens as possible.

For this reason, I’ll continue to visit neighborhood meetings if elected to city council. These meetings are wonderful forums to hear the different perspectives people have about the direction the city is going. This is an important component in governing in which I firmly believe — actively soliciting and listening to the concerns and desires of all citizens from all neighborhoods in our city. If we can work together, and if we are willing to step outside of our comfort zones, we can start to help alleviate the racial and economic divide here in Roanoke.

Brian Wishneff

Brian Wishneff (I): The team that won the election two years ago spent over $300,000 on their campaign. I think $40,000 was the highest previous amount. Sadly, The Roanoke Times was silent about it. When elections are bought by so much campaign contributions it has a deleterious affect on representing all of the people. Moving our elections to November will greatly diminish the affect of so much campaign contributions at the local level which will bring new leadership that is more attuned to the broad community’s interest.