News Clip: Victory!

 From the Rome News-Tribune, November 6, 2015

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Terrell Shaw reminds people to vote Sunday afternoon, Oct. 25, 2015, at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Broad Street. (Kristina Wilder / RN-T.com)

Terrell Shaw, who spearheaded an anti-incumbency campaign in the final weeks of the Rome City Commission races, sees Tuesday’s election results as a confirmation of his efforts.

“This election was a clear message from the people of Rome to the City Commission to stop this crazy development and sale of this city land. There was no other major issue for this election,” said Shaw, chairman of Save Rome’s Central Park effort. The SRCP is against the development of CityCenter, a proposed retail development on Riverside Parkway that would include shops and possibly a restaurant.

Rome City Commission has a memorandum of understanding for the city-owned land with Rome Riverview Partners, LLC — part of Ledbetter Properties. The MOU runs through December 2016. The SRCP urged voters to support the challengers.

“The numbers don’t lie. Both challengers, Sundai Stevenson and Craig McDaniel, pulled the highest percentage of votes in their wards,” said Shaw.

Incumbent Buzz Wachsteter narrowly lost his seat in Ward 1 to Stevenson. The other two Ward 1 incumbents, Milton Slack and Bill Irmscher, were re-elected.

No incumbent was ousted in the Ward 3 election as challenger Craig McDaniel took the seat vacated by Kim Canada. Ward 3 Commissioners Evie McNiece and Bill Collins were both re-elected.

“Buzz is a great guy and I’ve supported him for years, but he was the leader of the (CityCenter) effort and he got the fewest votes. It was a clear message,” said Shaw.

Wachsteter said he has no doubt that the SRCP had a large influence on the voters. But he said that, unless the city reverses itself, the City Commission will still have to honor the MOU.

McDaniel originally said that he would not vote to extend the deadline of the MOU, a statement that drew some thumbs up from the SRCP. On Thursday he said he thinks the question of extending the MOU is moot.

“The developers know the timeline and I think they will show us a plan before the deadline,” said McDaniel. McDaniel also said that he would not try to guess how he would vote on the CityCenter development proposal until he sees a final plan.

Collins and Stevenson both said they think the SRCP’s efforts swayed voters.

Stevenson said she would uphold her promise to work to save the Burwell Creek wetlands on the property.

“I’m just one vote, but I plan to sit down and listen and do what I can do to save that greenspace,” said Stevenson.

But while SRCP members were celebrating, Irmscher called the election a “shallow victory.”

“There was too much negativity and hate in this election … Some actions taken were distasteful,” he said. “The commission now needs to focus on coming together in unity to serve the city.”

Both Slack and McNiece declined to comment on if the SRCP movement affected the election results, saying only that they are thankful for the opportunity to serve on the commission for another four years.

“The citizens of Rome have spoken. The commissioners need to focus on working together as a team now,” said Slack.

Burwell Creek near Riverside Parkway and Ridgeferry Park. (Daniel Varnado, RN-T.com)