ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – In 1955, the city of Roanoke declared the Northeast neighborhood a “slum and blighted area” which initiated the Urban Renewal Process. 1,600 homes, 200 businesses, and two dozen churches were destroyed and nearly 1,000 graves were uprooted as a result. This was in order to build Interstate 581, the Civic Center and post office.

Now, the city is working to rectify the damage by developing an Urban Renewal Apology.

The city’s Equity and Empowerment Advisory Board is working to develop an Urban Renewal Apology that would help bring reparations to the victims and descendants of policies that destroyed the majority Black communities of Northeast and Gainsboro. With Juneteenth Friday, we wanted to check in on that plan.

“When we give an apology, we need to have the dollar signs attached to it and a clear plan to make those actions actionable and not just tell people, hey, we’re sorry, we want to do better, but we have to show them the ways and have a plan on how we’re going to do better and make up for those mistakes that the city made decades ago with urban renewal,” said Councilman Phazhon Nash.

Included in the draft apology are plans to add a tax on Berglund Center tickets that would generate revenue for a reparations fund, redevelop the former business district of Henry Street, restore the Washington Park Caretaker’s Cottage and install signage at the sites of former homes, schools and churches. Since presenting the draft, Councilman Phazhon Nash is proud that the city has made a resolution and allocated funds for the Washington Park Cottage.

“Taking steps like with the Caretaker’s Cottage at Washington Park is a step in that direction, continuing to make sure that we’re trying to do better at investing in the areas of our community that need that investment,” he added.

Residents like Gayle Graves, who lived through Urban Renewal, said while the apology is great, it doesn’t erase the impact.

“I’m thinking how dare people decide to move all of these graves. We were looking for a couple of my uncles there. We never found them. I just remember a loss feeling, knowing that a lot of friends and maybe some family lost their homes. And it just felt like there was nothing you could do about it. And it was happening in a major, major kind of way. Not just a little house, a little house there, but thousands of people’s homes and having to start all over,” Graves said.

Councilman Nash said because the apology is expansive, the city needs to have the necessary infrastructure and funding in place to provide the proper reparations. He said they want to have all their ducks in a row before a plan is finalized and approved.

If the draft apology is approved, Roanoke would join other cities that have formally apologized for their participation in urban renewal that resulted in the destruction of thriving Black communities.