THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411180446
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
United we stand. Divided we fall.
Sounds silly, but it's a cliche that seems to be taking on increasing relevance and immediacy in Hampton Roads.
Economic development directors from Hampton Roads' cities say the region needs to start behaving more like a single entity if it is to gain national recognition.
Competition for new businesses is stiff and many of the ones already here are threatened because of defense cutbacks.
In an unusual display of unity, two different panels of economic development specialists and businessmen from the public and private sectors met this week to urge local residents to support regional cooperation. The discussion was a candid admission that Hampton Roads cities don't cooperate and that they had better start.
``We don't market this area as well as we might. We handle it through different organizations,'' said Michael J. Barrett, the chair of the Hampton Chamber of Commerce and chief executive of the Runnymede Corp., a commercial real estate developer.
Despite having almost 1.5 million in population and being the 27th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country, few people have heard of Hampton Roads.
Cities like Charlotte and Atlanta are successful at bringing new businesses into their areas because they've created different structures to handle economic development and they have leadership to identify a project they wish to pursue, said Robert B. Smithwick, Norfolk development director.
Barrett suggested that one regional agency be created to oversee economic development for both the Peninsula and the Southside.
With Plan 2007, a blueprint for common regional goals developed by the Hampton Roads Chamber, residents have started a valuable dialogue, he said. But the communication and discussion must continue.
``We can make regionalism a realism if people would pull the wagon in the same direction,'' Smithwick said.
The panelists acknowledged the lack of cooperation among the seven main cities in Hampton Roads for which reasons abound: historical competitiveness among the cities, politics, lack of a revenue-sharing incentives, no transportation infrastructure and more.
Although residents recognize the problems, regionalism will be hard to implement, said Donald Maxwell, Hampton's development director.
``Accountability is difficult,'' he said.
``Economic development is an idea that's been discussed, distrusted and sometimes discarded,'' added Nancy Creech, president and chief executive of Virginia Beach Events Unlimited, which runs the Neptune Festival. ``So far a lot of people have agreement but no action.''
By identifying themselves with a region, cities in Hampton Roads can gain greater visibility, said Matthew James, Portsmouth economic development director.
Regionalism may be more important now than ever. Hampton Roads may need to replace the loss of Defense Department-related jobs as the federal government continues to downsize the military.
``We're going to continue to diversify our economy away from the military,'' said James F. Babcock, CEO at First Virginia Bank of Tidewater. ``We've been through downsizing before.'' by CNB