Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 13, 1993 TAG: 9310130106
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MOUNTAIN LAKE LENGTH: Medium
After all, these were people not necessarily known for planning with each others' best interests in mind. They included Roanoke's elected and business leaders, Roanoke County supervisors, Radford University administrators, Franklin County governmental leaders, Virginia Tech administrators.
"Very few visioning processes are easy," warned Tom Robertson, Carilion Health System president and co-chairman of the newly created council. "I do not expect unbridled enthusiasm from every quarter for this process."
The New Century Council's task is to craft the interests of about a dozen Western Virginia localities into a clear economic vision. Tuesday's daylong gathering at Mountain Lake Resort in Giles County was essentially an introductory session, with speaker after speaker reminding the group that it was starting none too soon.
David Rusk, a demographics expert and former mayor of Albuquerque, N.M., told the gathering that the Roanoke metropolitan area's slow growth in income and population over the past four decades equates to the region's sliding backwards - compared to other American cities. And to those New River Valley leaders who may lack empathy for Roanoke, Rusk cautioned them to pay attention.
"You are slowly converting the city of Roanoke into a poorhouse, and you can't afford to do that," Rusk said. "Roanoke, certainly for the Roanoke Valley, is your signature community and you cannot allow your signature community to be perceived to be failing."
As an example, Rusk said southeast Michigan leaders' missions to recruit European industry often fall flat when the Europeans learn that "southeast Michigan" is really a euphemism for Detroit.
Of course, Tuesday's session also featured several examples of previous failed attempts at regional cooperation. David Rundgren, executive director of the Fourth District Planning Commission, reminded the group that cities' self-interests stood in the way of a major regional airport being built in the 1970s between Lynchburg and Roanoke.
"Without stepping on anyone's toes, I ask you to think back," Rundgren said. "Had that opportunity been taken, would it have made a difference?"
Likewise, Roanoke Times & World-News President and Publisher Walter Rugaber related an anecdote that he said demonstrated the "tangible ambivalence" with which Roanoke regards Virginia Tech. Years ago, when the Roanoke Symphony was trying to increase its stature by hiring a full-time conductor, Virginia Tech stepped up and offered to fund the position.
But the offer was refused. No one ever clearly explained why Roanoke's establishment rebuffed the offer, just as people rarely explain why they fear population growth would ruin the region.
"Does anyone on Earth argue more about `growth' than we do?" Rugaber asked, ". . . As much as we fear it or clamor for it, wouldn't you think we'd know more about it - how much of it we want, for instance, or how much of a price we're willing to pay to do without it?"
Generally, the New Century Council's members agree that regional growth is a must. How that growth would be achieved is to be formulated during four sessions this month and next at Radford University and in Roanoke.
Those sessions, dubbed the "visioning process," will be led by Henry Luke, a strategic planning guru from Florida. Those meetings will reveal issues that task forces from the group will study, resulting in a strategic plan for the region in early 1995.
One of the obstacles to that plan may be the perception of the "vision" being handed down from a group that is "somewhat elitist," Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth said. Nonetheless, Hedgepeth and others at Mountain Lake lauded the council's first gathering.
"It exceeded my expectations," Hedgepeth said. "I think something will come of it."
Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr., Roanoke's former vice mayor who is the council's executive director, said the strategic plan should be accepted because it will come from a broad range of representatives of the region.
"I think Henry [Luke] gave us a pretty good idea that everybody is going to get a chance to speak up," Fitzpatrick said.
by CNB