Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990 TAG: 9005010063
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: NATURAL BRIDGE LENGTH: Medium
Although valley localities are fighting over prospects, the "enemy" is Richmond, Greensboro and Knoxville, Fitzpatrick said at 6th District Rep. Jim Olin's annual Economic Conference on Monday.
Roanoke "should understand its role as the capital of Southwest Virginia," he said. As the hub, "Roanoke has a great deal to do with what happens in central and Southwest Virginia."
Fitzpatrick said the number of industrial prospects has declined in the first quarter and the valley's economy "will be soft at best" this year. Credit is being used up and people are cautious, he said.
New plants for Grove Worldwide, Couvrette Building Systems and Arkay Packaging plus expansions at Elizabeth Arden, Precision Fabrics and Tweeds will bring about 2,000 new jobs in the valley, with an additional 1,280 jobs needed to provide services for them, he said.
Applicants - about five seeking each job - have come from surrounding counties, Fitzpatrick said, and industrial prospects are pleased with "the attitudes and productivity" of area employees.
Charles Pryor, president of the Greater Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce, said a Roanoke-Lynchburg airport and greater regional cooperation are needed. Both cities need more air service and longer runways, he said; international business travelers do not like to fly into Lynchburg in 19-seat planes.
After hearing several questions about greater airline service and widening of Interstate 81, Olin said residents of the district should "think regionally and not let artificial boundaries hamper us . . . Opportunities for employment will come to us."
Fitzpatrick said the greatest need in the Roanoke Valley is land for industrial growth; Pryor said a Lynchburg area development group, Region 2000, has identified 28 sites there for expansion. Pryor is a vice president at Babcock & Wilcox.
Edward Atwood, a Washington and Lee University economics professor and keynote speaker, predicted a "milder" recession in the second half of next year or the first half of 1992. He said he is worried about rising inflation; it reached 6 1/2 percent in the first quarter, the highest level since 1982, "and we are so complacent."
Terry King, dean of instruction at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College at Clifton Forge, said a new Virginia Tech study is looking at greater utilization of Interstate 64 with its 41 miles of road and 10 interchanges in Alleghany County. A shortage of good available housing and industrial buildings are challenges, he said.
Bath County is hiring an executive director for an industrial park near Millboro, King said, and Rockbridge County appears to be a good model of economic development, after landing four new companies.
Sandi Scannelli, president of Education & Training Corp. of Staunton, said it is clear that localities need more revenues to pay for big improvements but leaders are forced to consider how much is good growth and how much is enough.
A shortage of skilled labor is a key issue in development, she said. Unemployment is less than 4 percent in her area but 5,500 people applied for 150 jobs at a Little Debbie plant, which she called "a disturbing trend."
Low-skill, high-pay manufacturing jobs are declining, Scannelli said. "Work ethic is no longer good enough. You've got to have skills."
John Motley, a vice president of the National Federation of Independent Business, said 90 percent of his group's 550,000 members bitterly oppose U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy's national health insurance bill. But Congress will have to do something about the problem in the next three or four years because rising health care and insurance costs are the No. 1 problem for small business.
Child care and clean air bills will become law because too many legislators want them, Motley predicted, "but I wouldn't be surprised to see a veto at least one time."
The first session of Congress did not do a great deal of damage to business, Motley said.
by CNB