Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 11, 1993 TAG: 9310110059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The list of the 91 community leaders who have agreed to attend Tuesday's mountaintop retreat in Giles County sponsored by the New Century Council reads much like a who's who in business circles in Western Virginia.
Warner Dalhouse, the chairman of First Union Bank of Virginia, will be there. So will Roanoke County developer Len Boone and Roanoke Realtor Mike Waldvogel.
Norfolk Southern Corp. Vice President William Bales has accepted his invitation. So has Roanoke Electric Steel Chairman Donald Smith. Ditto for Maid Bess Corp. President Glenn O. Thornhill Jr. and Roanoke Gas Vice President Rob Glenn.
In all, the list of those who have said they'll be at the New Century Council's kickoff session at the Mountain Lake Hotel to begin drafting a long-range economic plan for the region is dominated by familiar names from the region's business community.
However, the council - the creation of Virginia Tech and a Roanoke Valley business group - promised that its planning sessions would be diverse and inclusive.
So there's a smattering of educators, such as Hollins College President Margaret O'Brien and Roanoke College President David Gring, and social service leaders, such as Alvin Nash of Total Action Against Poverty and Bob Kulinski of United Way of Roanoke Valley.
Then, too, there are some names on the list that aren't so familiar, at least in the context of plotting the region's future.
Names such as Charlie Overstreet, vice president of Northwest True Value Hardware in Roanoke.
Or Sandra Ryals, the nurse manager of the Roanoke Health Department.
And Bridget Meagher, who owns Alexander's, a popular downtown Roanoke restaurant.
Nevertheless, the list is top-heavy with white, male business leaders and noticeably short in some categories. Among them:
Women: Ten of the 91 people who have accepted invitations are female.
Blacks: Only four of the 91 can be identified as African-American.
Neighborhood leaders: Dale Allen, the president of the Southeast Action Forum in Roanoke has signed up. But even though the council promised to include neighborhood leaders, he's the only name on the list identifiable as such.
Elected officials: There is at least one public official from each of the nine localities involved from Franklin County to Giles County, although that often tends to be a city manager or county administrator. Giles is sending its school superintendent, as well.
Elected officials, though, are in short supply. Only 10 will be there, and two of those are on their way out: Roanoke Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. is resigning his seat to become director of the New Century Council. And Salem Del. Steve Agee, the only state legislator who'll be present, is retiring this year.
That leaves Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, Roanoke County supervisors Chairman Fuzzy Minnix, Franklin County supervisors Chairman Wayne Angell, Botetourt County supervisors Chairman Robert Layman, Pulaski Mayor Gary Hancock, Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth, Christiansburg Mayor Harold Linkous and Radford Mayor Thomas Starnes.
There are least two groups of people not on the list at all:
Even though labor unions can wield political clout in Roanoke politics, and have loudly made their views known on such key projects as the Dominion Tower and Hotel Roanoke, there are no union leaders on the list.
Neither are there any grass-roots political activists from either major political party, even though they often can control who's nominated for local office - and who's not.
Darrel Martin, a spokesman for Virginia Tech who's been involved in the council's formation, said the council's promise to be inclusive never was intended to suggest there'd be a quota system on who to invite to the first meeting.
"Remember, the genesis of this is the chambers of commerce," Martin said. "It's not Noah's Ark," where each constituency group has to be represented two by two.
Martin also cautioned that too much importance has been attached to Tuesday's meeting, at which a Florida "facilitator" will lead the group in discussing the region's economic and demographic status.
"This is a process that will go on at least a year and a half," Martin said. "This is not a session where Moses will come down from the mountain with the tablets. This is an information session on where the region is."
After Tuesday's all-day meeting, the New Century Council will begin setting up task forces to analyze different problems facing the region.
"It's going to evolve," Martin said of the group's participation. "You're looking at the real early stages. It's clear the intent of the leaders of the New Century Council is for an inclusive process and it will be inclusive in its meetings."
It's also impossible to say who was invited to Tuesday's session - and declined to attend. The New Century Council wouldn't make that list public.
For one thing, Fitzpatrick said, the council did not rely on a single list in deciding who to invite.
Instead, he said, each Chamber of Commerce in the region submitted names. So did the region's two main economic development groups: the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership and the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance.
At Tuesday's session, participants will hear from seven speakers:
Tom Robertson, president of Carilion Health System and co-chairman of the New Century Council.
Wayne Strickland and Dave Rundgren, the executive directors of the two planning districts that cover the Roanoke and New River valleys.
Harold Hodgkinson from the Center for Demographic Policy in Washington.
David Rusk, the former mayor of Albuquerque, N.M., who's now an urban consultant in Washington and author of a book on the economic state of the nation's cities.
Walter Rugaber, the president and publisher of the Roanoke Times & World-News.
Henry Luke, the Florida consultant the council has hired as its facilitator.
by CNB