Having served 16 years as mayor of Roanoke, the predominantly Black northwest neighborhood community knows me. We have developed, over the years, a sense of mutual respect, trust, and support, even if we don’t always agree.
I’ve stood for protecting residential neighborhoods in every quadrant of our city. I’ve opposed commercial encroachment into our parks and steadfastly opposed any hotel development on top of Mill Mountain. I pushed for 4-way stop signs in residential neighborhoods to deter speeders, even when VDOT opposed them.
Then why, you might ask, have I always been in favor of development in Evans Spring? Here are my thoughts.
Pericles, the first “mayor” of Athens, said centuries ago (I paraphrase): “Into the city, all good things must come.” His view, essentially, as is mine, is that a city, to be dynamic, must always evolve, include, create, and ultimately not just survive, but “thrive.” Our goal should be to help Roanoke ”thrive.”
That’s an important goal for Roanoke today and an equally important concept for Evans Spring. This is not “urban renewal.” This is “economic development.”
I’ve heard since I served as a young city councilman in the 1980s about the way I-581 and the Roanoke Civic (Berglund) Center were built into the mostly Black Gainsboro neighborhood. Yes, that was urban renewal.
Evans Spring is not a neighborhood. It is not urban renewal. It is adjacent to a half-aborted major interstate interchange, an unused, forested 100+ acres lying fallow in the middle of a great city. My view is that failure to develop this land is a dereliction of our duty to use our God-given resources to their best use. Evans Spring should not remain fallow.
I was the mayor 15 years ago when a developer from South Carolina attempted to begin a multi-million dollar development of the property, only to be stalled and defeated by similar comments to these heard nowadays.
I was running for mayor in 2020 when a North Carolina developer proposed $250 million (that’s investment money from Charlotte) for a mixed-use retail, commercial, hotel, and residential project. It also provided fountains, greenways, and protected waterways. That plan did not encroach into the neighborhood and would have been modified to avoid allowing access from the neighborhood if the neighbors were concerned about traffic. The only access would have been I-581.
But, our City Council sent that accomplished and successful developer packing back to Charlotte. Roanoke lost a $250 million infusion of out-of-state investment, 1600 estimated new jobs in construction, retail, and business positions, new affordable housing, and over $2 million in new tax revenue coming for the city.
I submit, respectfully, that the neighborhood outcry then, as now, is not good for our city as a whole, and derails, once again, efforts to make Roanoke “thrive.”
Have it their way, and you have to remain a deteriorating, derelict eyesore on I-581, home to, I’m told, foxes, rats, and other vermin. Follow!
Consider instead, a gleaming northside extension of center city Roanoke, similar to the successful development on the southside around the Virginia Tech Carilion Medical School, which we heralded 20 years ago. Remember there were those who opposed that effort, but look what we have there now!
Progress is not an isolated process in a vacuum bereft of the concerns of neighbors. Likewise, progress for the entire city, of the magnitude that Evans Spring would allow, should not be held up when all Roanokers would benefit from new investment, new jobs, and new tax revenues.
I hope my northwest friends would put aside their prejudices of the past, and trust in the security assurances and promises of being a part, this time, of a better future for all.
Let Roanoke “thrive!”
Signed: David A. Bowers
Former Roanoke Mayor
