DATE: Thursday, September 4, 1997           TAG: 9709040407

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   66 lines

OCEANFRONT MERCHANTS START PUSH TO GAIN INFLUENCE WITH CITY HALL FACTIONAL INFIGHTING HAS BEEN THE LARGEST ROADBLOCK TO SUCCESS, HOTELIER DECLARES.

Resort leaders launched a campaign Wednesday to mold traditionally fractious Oceanfront business operators into a solid lobby that ``speaks with one voice'' to City Hall.

More than 200 beachfront merchants gathered at the Pavilion Convention Center to hear officers of the Resort Leadership Council - an umbrella organization representing a cross-section of businesses - exhort them to join the movement.

The pitch was aimed at boosting the membership of the 9-year-old organization, fattening its bankroll and adding to its political clout.

Oceanfront hotelier Robert H. Vakos cited historically factional infighting among resort businesses as the key roadblock to success. ``No single group looks after resort businesses,'' he said.

``It's disturbing that cities smaller than us do a greater business,'' said leadership council board member Bob Mervis, publisher of Sunny Day Guides and a host of other tourist pamphlets in 10 other states. ``We need a shared vision. We need to be proactive rather than reactive. We need to be in front of issues - not behind them.''

The leadership council's 16-member board of directors dubbed the campaign to reinvigorate resort commerce Project Better Beach.

The campaign lays out a three-pronged list designed to get the city's tourism trade back on an even footing with the Outer Banks and Ocean City, Md.

First on the list is ``investment management,'' a commitment to see that the city gets its money's worth of various tourism development ventures.

Innkeeper-developer Bruce Thompson argued that past spending on items such as the GTE Amphitheater, the Virginia Marine Science Museum, Holiday Lights and the American Music Festival were not paying off in terms of increased revenue to resort merchants, restaurant owners and hoteliers.

``The existing projects are not top priority among resort businesses,'' Thompson said, adding that local merchants must have a bigger say in how tax money is spent on tourism-related ventures. ``We won't support any new funding until critical enhancement programs are funded,'' he added.

Second is a ``new economic development strategy'' that concentrates on increasing tourism revenues and expanding tax sources rather than ``just bringing numbers'' of people to the Oceanfront.

The third calls for ``enhancement programs'' that would plow money into the maintenance of the more than $40 million in resort street and Boardwalk improvements that has been completed in the past 10 years. A corollary would have resort leaders make a greater effort to polish the image problems of the Oceanfront.

While tourism business was good this year, Thompson and restaurateur Frank Bauman contend that it could have been better.

``How many times have we read in the paper that business is good and tax revenues are up?'' Bauman asked. ``The pie hasn't gotten any bigger. There are more hands in the pie. Our city planners must realize that increased (resort) development is choking out existing businesses.''

Oceanfront restaurant operator John Perros won a burst of applause by declaring: ``We must take back control of the streets. Things have gotten out of hand down there. We need to address the problem of young people roaming the streets at all hours of the night, thumbing their noses at the law. . . . Law and order must prevail.''

The pep talks were aimed at convincing merchants to sign membership applications and buy into the priority list. The strategy apparently was working, said Rick Anoia, Resort Leadership Council chairman. ``The reaction we got from people leaving was extremely favorable,'' he said. ``They said it was something that's needed.''

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