Kat Cline
OSW Board Member-at-Large
My family moved to Roanoke due to a work transfer around 1989, and I have now lived here longer than in my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina! My first experience was as a renter in Old Southwest, before moving to another part of the city. But the OSW neighborhood has an allure, and I purchased an interesting old home at 383 Mountain Avenue in 2010 as a rental investment. I’m glad I did, because it brought me back to our historic neighborhood in 2020, and I now live in the Mountain Avenue house, which has been lovingly restored as a comfortable single-family home with many historic features preserved.
My past contributions to OSW Inc. include: attending neighborhood community meetings, serving at the helm of the 2012 Parlor Tour of Historic Homes, serving as a Parlor Tour volunteer in subsequent years, and opening my Mountain Avenue home to the public as part of the 2023 tour.
My past interactions with OSW as a volunteer, my experiences as a resident of OSW, and my profession as a realtor all influence how I would like to support my neighborhood as part of the OSW Inc. Board. I am in neighborhoods all over the Roanoke valley, and I notice that OSW appears to have more urban decay for our size area than our city counterparts. This is due, in large part, to the skewed ratio of rentals to single-family properties, especially those owned by unchecked absentee landlords with no loyalty or care for OSW as a community. Additionally, feedback at our neighborhood meetings from residents and our city partners highlight the need for stronger laws and tools for code enforcement and for the courts to support better outcomes for neglected, damaged, and abused properties. I hope to drive change by collaborating with city officials and other neighborhood leaders to identify specific opportunities and to study and adopt best practices from other cities — with a goal of implementing effective policies to counter languishing efforts to combat deterioration and encourage historic preservation. This would dovetail into efforts by our Safety Committee, as we continue the work to make each street and block looked loved. When we are not renovating, my husband Hank and I love to cook and entertain our friends and family at home, and we hope to get the grill fired up for a “Food with Friends” event to entertain and share with our OSW neighbors!