THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 27, 1995 TAG: 9503250247
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Ted Evanoff
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
It was a week ago, a Tuesday. The mayors of Norfolk and Virginia Beach sat on a panel and wrangled about the merits of regionalism in Hampton Roads. And there was Jeffrey Newton, living out of a suitcase on the Mississippi coast.
He was aboard the Inchon in Pascagoula, where Ingalls Shipbuilding has been outfitting the helicopter carrier as a mine countermeasure command ship.
On the day Mayor Paul Fraim of Norfolk and Mayor Meyera Oberndorf of Virginia Beach traded barbs, Newton was clambering topside, checking the Inchon's guns and radar.
Newton has made his home in Tidewater since 1968. He'd rather have been employed in a downtown tower in Norfolk, or a suburban office in Chesapeake. There he was, though, on temporary assignment in Mississippi, glad for the job, wishing he was home in Virginia Beach.
Newton, 47, has learned a tough lesson. He retired as a lieutenant commander two years ago after almost 26 years in the Navy.
He soon discovered a mine and amphibious warfare expert, even one with a master's degree in public administration, commands meager attention in the Tidewater job market.
To blame Fraim and Oberndorf for Newton's fortunes as a civilian is to stretch credulity. It's not going too far, though, to ask more of our political leaders.
Regionalism is about cooperating as a metropolitan area to create good jobs. But cooperation was scarcely evident at the conference last week sponsored by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
Tony Wharton, a writer at The Virginian-Pilot, captured what happened. Wharton wrote:
``Yes, they all said, the cities must cooperate to attract jobs and tourists. They applauded the regional efforts that have succeeded. But when it got down to brass tacks, self-interest ruled.
We need help with our poverty, Norfolk said. You keep holding us hostage to water, Virginia Beach said. At times, they didn't sound much like cities willing to work together.''
Our political leadership acts as if Hampton Roads has the luxury of time. In fact, it doesn't. This area needs more high-wage jobs.
Hampton Roads, home to more than 100,000 military personnel, so far has been spared a major base closing. The armed services, however, will continue to shed personnel, push thousands of men and women into the job market.
If they move away to find steady work, it'll strain the region's economic base as surely as if USAA insurance was firing marketing execs or Norshipco was laying off engineers.
Cities are built on tax bases, and tax bases are built on middle-class incomes. What's happened in Hampton Roads in the last 10 years has been a retreat in the wage base. Inflation has eroded buying power to the point that the average wage in the region afforded less in '94 than in '84.
It's time for the political leadership to end its bickering and to start preparing for the future.
``I've been watching them fight for years,'' Newton said. ``The cities all need to get together and realize this is one area and they need to support each other. The area needs to be promoted as one area.''
If regionalism helps create jobs, helps this region of 1.5 million population diversify away from its reliance on military spending, so much the better. Just ask Newton.
Ten years ago, if you got into service with a defense contractor, you were guaranteed a job for quite a while,'' Newton said. ``When I retired, I sent out a lot of resumes, talked to a lot of people, had a few interviews and landed a job with a defense company which was supposed to last a long time. It lasted a short time.''
That sent him searching for work again. American Management Systems, a company in Northern Virginia with a Norfolk office, hired him last November, dispatched to Pascagoula.
``You have to ask yourself,'' Newton said, ``why you can't be working for the city or the state or for one of our local companies in Hampton Roads.''
The answer, he said, may be that there aren't enough local companies outside the defense industry.
At least change appears in the wind. The political leaders are sitting down at regional conferences like last week's session.
``It's a start,'' Newton said. ``Not too long ago it was Chesapeake against Virginia Beach against Norfolk. It was just city against city.'' by CNB