THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 26, 1995 TAG: 9512220008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Hampton Roads is a plausible way to designate the region starting at James City and Southampton counties to the west and ending at the Atlantic Ocean to the east and home to 1.5 million people. But getting the message across hasn't been easy.
A strong identity for the region and more and more cooperation among the cities and counties within it is needed to accelerate economic development and draw more tourists. Getting tens of millions of people to think of Hampton Roads as an entity is a goal that the cities and counties belonging to the Hampton Roads Planning District should pursue.
Hampton Roads has long been a destination for mariners and an address for shippers of oceanborne cargo. A ship bound for Hampton Roads is understood to be headed to Norfolk, Portsmouth or Newport News. Historically, ``Hampton Roads'' has applied also to the localities - now seven municipalities - surrounding Hampton Roads, a place where ships may ride an anchor.
The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, which represents the five largest South Hampton Roads cities, pushes ``Hampton Roads'' as a splendid place in which to work, play and invest. Alas, ``Hampton Roads'' has yet to resonate as loudly on the national stage as, for instance, ``the Bay Area,'' which denotes San Francisco, Oakland and other localities around San Francisco Bay.
A major-league sports team incorporating ``Hampton Roads'' in its name and commanding mass media time and ink would quickly impress the region's identity on hordes of Americans. The Canadian Football League's Pirates - currently jettisoning Shreveport, La., to sail to, it appears, Norfolk - doesn't qualify because it receives scant exposure on television and in the press. An NFL team would.
Unfortunately, no NFL team or sustained megamillion-dollar campaign to advertise ``Hampton Roads'' is in the cards. Feasible low-cost ways to hammer ``Hampton Roads'' into the consciousness of residents, visitors and passers-through are needed. Channel 13's regular reminders that it is working in ``the spirit of Hampton Roads'' is a conspicuous and effective way to promote Southeastern Virginia as a distinct region. This newspaper is among the many organizations that champion ``Hampton Roads,'' but more need to join the effort.
Today Hampton Roads includes the 10 cities and five counties composing the Hampton Roads Planning District. One of the members, Gloucester County, is on Virginia's Middle Peninsula. The U.S. Postal Service's ``Hampton Roads'' postmark is stamped on mail originating in eight cities and three counties (including Accomac on the Eastern Shore) and cancelled in Norfolk.
Confusing? You bet.
The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce stamps its own mail - and encourages its members to do likewise - with a postmark showing a small Virginia map highlighting Hampton Roads and heralding it as ``America's East Coast Gateway.'' Since more tons of cargo pass through Hampton Roads than through any other East Coast port, the characterization is on the money.
In recent days the Leadership Hampton Roads class of '96, which is sponsored by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, proposed to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission that the region's cities and counties place beneath the welcoming signs at their borders (as in ``Welcome to Chesapeake'') postscript signs reading ``A Hampton Roads Community.''
An excellent suggestion. The signs would be phased in and not costly. They would proclaim that each locality is a component of Hampton Roads, the nation's 27th-largest metropolitan area. It's worth doing.
KEYWORDS: PLACE NAME HAMPTON ROADS REGIONALISM by CNB