State of the City: Roanoke mayor reflects on successes and challenges

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ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - In Thursday's State of the City address, Mayor David Bowers said 2015, so far, has been a year of several successes.

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The overall crime rate has decreased significantly - a first since the 1960's. The unemployment rate and teen pregnancy are also trending downward. Graduation rates are up, sitting at 86 percent. That's 15 percent higher than in 2007. Mayor Bowers also called the return of the 611 locomotive a success as well as the thousands of visitors it brought to the star city.

The Roanoke City Director of Economic Development said almost 30 businesses have added a combined 625 jobs to the city. FreightCar America and Carilion are main contributors. The unemployment rate sits at 5 percent. Still 0.4 percent lower than 2014. Adding 600 plus jobs creates a $45-million investment for the city, considering wages and calculating for spending that money - boosting the local economy.

"We're working very hard to try to retain jobs and to have our smaller businesses to expand," said Mayor Bowers. "The expansion of employment in our area starts with the small businesses. And so, we have more to do."

LOSSES

During his speech, Bowers addressed job losses that make the unemployment rate seem less impressive than it could. The closing of Norfolk Southern, Advance Auto, HSN and the regional United States Postal Service mail processing facility means hundreds of jobs disappeared.

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Mayor Bowers said he hopes to put pocket change into the hands of our community's young adults. In an attempt to prepare teens for the workforce, city officials discussed developing a summer youth employment program, which would provide entry level positions for youth to learn important life skills. Bowers said the program is slated to begin next summer and around 100 teens could participate.

"We can help young people learn how to write a resume, how to dress for an interview and how to have that nice touch of how to deal with people while in business," said Mayor Bowers. "And, for most businesses in the Roanoke Valley they've never been asked to participate in a youth employment programs, because we've never had it."

"We have a lot of teens in our program who want to work and I think giving them that foundation will make that process a lot easier for them," said Jessica Scaggs, from Big Brothers Big Sisters. "A lot of the time at the end of the day kids and teens are wanting to work."

BRING BACK THE ICE

The Roanoke City Development Director said his department wants to "fill the hole in the ice." The city is calling for a new ice rink for use by professional, college and youth hockey teams to compete.

"If we want more public skating, which is popular here in the winter, we're going to need a second ice rink for practices times," said Mayor Bowers. "It's not practical for a professional ice hockey team to have to go to Liberty and Lynchburg or Huntington,"

The city is only in the preliminary stage of discussing a new ice pad.