Roanoke City Council race up to nine candidates as former city leaders join in

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - The race for three Roanoke City Council seats in November continues to get more crowded.

Two former city leaders have entered the race as independent candidates. Four-time Roanoke Mayor David Bowers and former city council member Stephanie Moon Reynolds have both entered the race as independents. That brings the total count to nine candidates: five Democrats, three independents, and one Republican.

Bowers and Moon Reynolds were on the ballot for mayor in 2024. Bowers ran as a Republican, losing to Democrat Joe Cobb by less than 60 votes. Reynolds ran as an independent and finished third, getting over 25% of the vote. Both will now look to join Cobb on city council.

Bowers was mayor from 1992 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2016. He has run as both a Democrat and a Republican in the past. He is now running as an independent.

“Now, I find that being a Democrat or a Republican has a national tone to it. And my focus is Roanoke. That’s my political party. That’s my political interest is in what happens in Roanoke,” Bowers said. “I don’t have a lot to do with what happens with Trump or against Trump or for the Democrats or Republicans nationally. I focus on Roanoke.”

Bowers said he has been involved in city leadership since he was student government president at Patrick Henry High School.

“I like doing it. I like the people of Roanoke. I like being involved in the issues of our city. And I have some concerns about what is happening in Roanoke,” Bowers said.

Bowers said his campaign will focus on three things: repealing controversial rezoning amendments that allow multi-family housing to be built in any residential area, improving the relationship between the city and the city school division, and bringing more economic development to the city to address its budget problems.

“The rezoning issue was debated and argued in the last campaign two years ago. And I expected this city council to repeal the current rezoning and reinstate the prior rezoning, which is what a majority of the candidates indicated that they would do, and they haven’t,” Bowers said.

Bowers said the key difference between the new and old zoning laws is citizen involvement.

“The big difference between the new zoning law and the old zoning law is the right of citizens in their neighborhood to have notice and an opportunity to be heard if there is a building of an apartment complex in their neighborhood,” Bowers said. “Under the new law, that takes the involvement of the citizens out.”

Bowers said homeowners expect their neighborhoods to remain the same.

“If someone next door can come in and build without giving you proper notice where you can object to it, then that means that you don’t have the opportunity to preserve the sanctity of your single-family home ownership, and the character of the neighborhood changes,” Bowers said.

Bowers said he believes the city has been mismanaged financially. He said if elected, he would propose moving the director of finance position back under city council oversight rather than the city manager.

“I would propose that the director of finance be taken out from underneath the city manager and put back under having a responsibility directly to the city council, which is the way we had it for dozens and dozens and dozens of years,” Bowers said.

Bowers also said the relationship between the city council and the school board has deteriorated.

“We had good relations between the schools and the city side regarding budgetary matters for 10 years. That was an effort led by former vice mayor Dave Trenkel. And it worked well for us. And in the last year, we’ve had a lot of concerns and debate regarding the funding of the school system, which is one of our top priorities,” Bowers said.

Bowers said he wants to focus on development along major corridors in the city.

“There is room for development along I-581. Probably the same could be for Orange Avenue as well,” Bowers said. “My thought is, it’s kind of a linear development. How can we do more along Jefferson Street, along perhaps Orange Avenue, along I-581?”

Bowers pointed to his past involvement in major economic development projects, including building a new airport terminal, reopening Hotel Roanoke, and building the conference center there.

“When we did that, 60 new businesses opened in the center city of Roanoke,” Bowers said.

Bowers said he is also concerned about recent lane shifting projects on Williamson and Gainsboro roads. He wants to change those roads back the way they were.

“I now refer to the traffic engineer as the traffic stick engineer. They’re putting these white sticks in the street all over the city. I’d like to know how many sticks have we put up? How much has it cost?” Bowers said. “I’d like to know more about how much we’ve spent on doing some of these traffic stick ideas instead of putting it into the schools, social programs, and economic development.”

Bowers said the Berglund Center is an important civic facility that serves the entire region.

“The Berglund Center is a civic center, and it’s a family center. That’s where we go to take the grandchildren to see the circus, or to see hockey games. That’s where we go with a couple thousand others for the Kiwanis Pancake Day. That’s where we go to watch the Broadway shows or the symphony,” Bowers said. “I don’t go to a hockey game or to a Broadway show that we don’t end up talking with or sitting next to someone that comes in from Lynchburg or from Wytheville.”

Bowers said he does not understand why maintenance funding has not been consistently provided for the facility.

“It was my understanding when the Civic Center was built, and along with Jefferson Center, that was another one, and during my time as mayor, if we made a development, we also set aside a pot of money for maintenance and improvements over the years. And I can’t tell you why that hasn’t been kept up,” Bowers said.

Reynolds was unavailable for an interview on Friday. She is scheduled to hold a campaign launch press conference on May 25.

Retired rabbi Kathy Cohen joins Bowers and Reynolds as the third independent candidate in the race. Local business owner and Roanoke Regional Airport Commission Chair Amanda Marko is the lone Republican in the race.

Five Democrats are running in a primary for the party’s three nominations for the three open seats. Incumbents Peter Volosin and Vivian Sanchez Jones are seeking reelection. They are being challenged by Harvey Brookins, Danny Clawson, and Raekwon Moore.