Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 25, 1995 TAG: 9511270044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
In the past, the prosperity of a locality has been influenced most by what Bedford City Manager Jack Gross calls ``accidents of geography'' - such as being near a harbor or an interstate highway.
But in the future, the Internet computer network almost literally will change the landscape of an area, Gross says.
That's why the city has developed a ``home page'' on the World Wide Web as a first step in a computer network that will link the city, county, chamber of commerce, libraries, cable company and telephone company by the beginning of next year.
``The Internet is the future area for making a city community great,'' Gross says. ``Either you get in there, or you say, `I'm going to let the world pass me by.'''
The home page, which became available about three months ago, provides information and photographs of such landmarks as the courthouse, municipal building, museum, Peaks of Otter and Smith Mountain Lake.
The page can be used by anyone who knows its Web address and has the computer equipment to go on-line.
City officials hope it will attract tourists and industry to Bedford.
``This is a marketing piece, an open door for anyone who's interested in Bedford,'' said Jay Scudder, director of community planning and development, who helped design the page. ``We need industrial development here. What kind of industrial development? Well, the high-paying jobs are in high tech, and what this says [to business people] is that we're progressive.''
About 20 Virginia cities have home pages, including Roanoke, Charlottesville, Danville, Newport News and Richmond. Several Virginia counties also have developed home pages.
Officials in Danville, which has had an Internet site for about 15 months, are thinking of expanding their on-line presence to several pages. The city currently has one page, which was provided and promoted free by Gamewood, an Internet service provider.
``What we are seeing locally,'' said Danville City Manager Ray Griffin, ``is that it has great potential as a marketing tool, and we're planning a series of independent pages.''
The address for Bedford's Internet home page is http://www.inmind.com/bedford.
by CNB