Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 22, 1993 TAG: 9310280350
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Will coordinating our dreams actually help? A modest proposal: If Roanoke Valley business leaders want our cooperation, let them buy it. Have directors and chiefs of the city and county development offices and the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership bring their next slew of promising prospects and on-site visitors to our industrial parks and provide us with some needed employment as a small gesture of good faith. If I saw coverage of this in the Roanoke Times & World-News (photos please), I'd be willing to believe anything, including ``vision process benefits.''
How many lawyers of economic development do we need before we decide they're becoming redundant? With the New Century Council, we'll have a regional organization comprised of other regional organizations, comprised of individual localities. Competition between localities will always exist, no matter how ``regional'' we get. But what's wrong with a little competition? I've worked for Brian Wishneff in Roanoke city, and for the town of Blacksburg, and am familiar with economic efforts in both areas. New River Valley has to improve its efforts significantly to compete at the same level. If we're fooled by the idea that cooperation with Roanoke will substitute for competitive drive, then we are indeed foolish.
Roanokers' ``vision'' contains a view of the spires of Burruss Hall, and maybe even the moon rising over Mountain Lake, but I doubt they see any other New River Valley communities. I say raise hell with Richmond over losing our $100,000 to some back-room power play and close the border.
DOUG ECKEL
BLACKSBURG
Cranwell should level with voters
REGARDING Richard Cranwell's comment concerning Frank Selbe's lawsuit against him that ``Mr. Selbe simply wants revenge'':
I grew up in Southeast Roanoke in the '50s. To us revenge meant to repay, retaliate, vindicate or simply to get back at someone for a wrong done to us or someone close to us. And if we did something wrong to someone else, we expected that person to try and get revenge.
Now that Cranwell has admitted he's done a wrong to Selbe for which Selbe wants revenge, why won't Cranwell stop hiding behind the Fifth Amendment and admit the truth, once and for all?
Oh yeah, he wants to continue to fool the media and the voters. I thought maybe he'd come clean with us. Silly me.
DIANE COX
VINTON
Jobs at risk with health reforms
THERE'S much time being spent by the president and his wife painting a rosy picture of their health-care reform proposals. There are five known proposals Congress is currently considering. According to a study conducted for the National Federation of Independent Business by an independent research firm, three of them place at risk between 7.4 million and 18.2 million small-business jobs. ``At risk'' is defined as when the cost of insurance threatens an employer's financial ability to stay in business.
The ``Jackson Hole'' plan calls for employers to pay from 50 percent to 100 percent of the average premium for full-time workers and imposes an 8 percent payroll tax on part-time wages. If enacted, this would threaten 18.2 million U. S. jobs.
The Senate Democrats' plan would require employers to pay a fixed percentage of a worker's health premium and would threaten 12.1 million jobs.
The ``California'' plan would combine medical components of auto insurance and workers comp into one program, fund that with a 7.65 percent payroll tax paid by employers and a 1.4 percent wage tax paid by workers, putting at risk 7.4 million jobs.
Two of the five plans will have little or no impact on small-business jobs.
The ``Heritage'' plan does not require employers to contribute to employees' health-care insurance. Instead, it achieves universal coverage through requirements that individuals purchase their own insurance with employer- provided health insurance being one of several choices for the individual.
The ``Cooper'' plan would require employers to join regional purchasing groups and be induced to provide health insurance to employees voluntarily. Increased access to reasonably priced insurance would result as would reduced premiums.
Under the scenario as outlined in the NFIB study, millions of small-business employees will be put out of work, and those who employ them may cease to exist if Congress makes the wrong decision. Many workers with insurance may find themselves out of work and out of insurance, because Congress seems far too eager to mandate the spending of small-business funds to correct social ills not created by small businesses.
Congress seemed surprised recently when cable rates increased, after legislation was enacted to reduce them. I hope that's not a sample of what could happen with the cost of health care under Congress' guidance. If so, there could be 10 million additional unemployed walking the streets because half a million of their former employers no longer were in business because they couldn't pay the health tax. For that to happen would be a far greater tragedy than the situation that exists now.
BILL CORBITT JR.
ROANOKE
Insufficient notice given by city
ROANOKE city is in the process of paving the 700 block of Windsor Avenue Southwest. My neighbor called me on Oct. 12 and said that we had to move our cars the next day or they would be towed.
Why were we not notified by mail at least a week before about the paving? What happens if someone is out of town because of vacation or sickness and cannot move their cars? Not letting us know is a poor way to do things. Some of the neighbors didn't know until I called them.
No one pays any attention to signs on poles. They think they are for yard sales or political candidates.
LOUISE C. OBENCHAIN
ROANOKE
by CNB