Friday, May 29, 2009

Statement on Personnel Matter

I have received nearly two dozen calls or emails regarding the piece that ran in today's newspaper concerning the future of City Manager Darlene Burcham.

I am a true believer in an open and transparent government and believe that the citizens of Roanoke deserve and should expect that information be shared with them by their elected officials in a timely and succinct manner - our government is only as good as the citizens that support it and the faith that they have in their decision-makers.

Out of respect for the City Manager and the Office of the City Manager, however, I will not address current discussions surrounding a highly sensitive and important personnel matter. Ms. Burcham deserves the professional respect and courtesy to have public comments withheld until the appropriate time.

Thank you.

Court Rosen

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hello Court,

With regard to the "personnel matter," as a valley citizen for fifty years, I certainly have never been shy commenting about the manner of administration and leadership in our valley. However, I very seriously respect your commitment to remain silent on the issue at this time. For myself, I am focused upon giving the valley I love, a unique opportunity to develop a community based, participatory, continuing tool for developing and continually refining a vision for the future of Roanoke's heart.

It is my expectation that numerous projects will be identified, prioritized and implemented with the energy created by this experiment in urban design.

I look forward to meeting you in person soon. You have accepted me as a friend on Facebook and I appreciate that. Additionally, I had sent you an invitation to join the Facebook Group, The Spirit of Henry Street. I have since changed the name of the group to The Heart of Roanoke for reasons explained on the site.

All of City Council has been invited, by one means or another, to participate in this grass roots supported, virtual urban design experiment.

Although Gwen Mason, Sherman Lea and youself have accepted my invite by becoming FB friends with me personally, you haven't joined The Heart of Roanoke Group. I have heard nothing back from David Bower or Anita Price.

Please help get the city's Council on board. I don't want to introduce the formality imposed by making a request for Council's interest at a Council meeting.

As an important side note, I'd like to point out that Jack Davis, dean of the College of Architecture & Urban Studies at Virginia Tech and my former partner (30 years ago), Steven Gift, former University Architect at Virginia Tech and the University of South Florida, and currently one of our nation's leading campus planners in practice in Tampa, FL have both agreed to participate in this experiment for the City.