Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407080029
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke already has the theme - a marvelous railroad heritage which distinguishes it more than any other city in Virginia, and most in the nation, as "a railroad town."
So build a park that follows the heritage - literally: the railroad tracks - and install some sort of newfangled, interactive transportation exhibits. Voila: a major tourist attraction.
This is doable. It depends less, certainly, on forces outside the community's control than does Bowers' publicized push to restore Amtrak passenger-train service to Roanoke, riding the rails in that way to get the city on track with other tourism destinations.
The city could use an Amtrak connection to Washington, but that might be years coming, if ever. Meantime, the proposed linear park linking the historic City Market area with the Virginia Museum of Transportation could be under construction by 1996.
What Bowers calls an "urban Explore Park," relying on the ideas of city staff and historic preservationists, could be built for an estimated $2.4 million with the help of a bond issue. The mayor proposes a city matching grant of $800,000 to the museum, to spiff up its facade and make other renovations. State money also is in the works.
City officials dream, eventually, of showcasing high-tech exhibits with computer-generated virtual-reality features, drawing daily crowds of visitors. That would be nice.
It's particularly encouraging that Disney Corp. has agreed to help brain-storm ideas for the park, along with the folks who brought the impressive new $52 million Nauticus facility, an urban waterfront park, to Norfolk.
City officials smartly asked Gov. Allen's administration to enlist Disney's advice, on the grounds that the company might want to show its good neighborliness around the state. Disney, which will tap the state treasury for millions if it wins final approval for its new theme park in Northern Virginia, has promised to be a resource for building tourism throughout the commonwealth. Roanoke's a great place to start lending a hand.
Other helping hands presumably would be welcomed. Bowers says the city isn't asking other valley jurisdictions for money, but he probably wouldn't tear up their checks. At the least, governments, residents and businesses of surrounding municipalities should show regional solidarity in backing Bowers' proposal. Railroad history has been important for the entire valley, and the entire valley stands to benefit from increased tourism.
Roanoke City Council, too, should support the project. The renovated City Market area is now something of a tourism cash cow for the downtown as well as the region, and should become more so when the Hotel Roanoke with its adjacent conference center reopens. But a couple of blocks east on Campbell (plus points north, south and west) stand many empty storefronts.
Just a short walk from the market area, the Transportation Museum hasn't become the tourism attraction it could be. The museum's facade is not inviting, nor is the access area to get to it. It needs a face lift - and an interior lift. Bower's notion of turning it into a facility "grand enough in scope to become a destination attraction, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to Roanoke" is not far-fetched.
Meanwhile, the tracks could unite instead of separate the city. A thread of green along the rails would sew together - for tourism and other development - not just the hotel area with the city market and Center in the Square, but also the market vicinity with downtown toward the Transportation Museum. Today, out-of-towners may look around the market area and say: "It's delightful, but is this all there is?"
It shouldn't be. The re-creating of downtown, as virtual-reality museum piece or whatever, needs to continue. A rail-heritage park is a natural next step after preserving the Hotel Roanoke, and could serve as a first step toward figuring out what to do with other Norfolk Southern facilities, including the old train station and office buildings.
by CNB