Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990 TAG: 9007050326
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He's sent a letter to the governing bodies of Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton warning that Explore is prompting a "fiscal policy crisis" and asking them to let him know whether they think the proposed $185 million living-history state park is one of their priorities.
Although Explore received no funding in the current state budget and won't be asking for money again until 1992, Macfarlane said he was prompted to send his letter now for several reasons.
For one thing, the state is facing a budget crunch and Macfarlane warns that the General Assembly won't have much money to spend over the next few years.
Also, the cost estimate released last week for the proposed Roanoke River Parkway - which could cost the state $15 million that otherwise would be spent on other roads in Western Virginia - has re-focused attention on the project, Macfarlane said.
The Roanoke Democrat, long Explore's most vocal critic, said he was concerned by the "constant drumbeat" for state funding for Explore and its accompanying river parkway.
"In my judgment, this enormously expensive project, if it is to continue, will soak up all of the available state cash for other major valley-wide projects for years to come," Macfarlane wrote.
He then listed 14 such projects - most notably the proposed short-cut from Interstate 81 to Blacksburg, the proposed trade center in downtown Roanoke, "funding assistance" to Virginia Tech to renovate the Hotel Roanoke, and the renovation of the old Jefferson High School into an arts center.
Also on Macfarlane's list of allegedly endangered projects were updating valley sewer systems, expanding water supplies, acquiring new land for several valley industrial parks, flood control projects, expansion of private aviation facilities at the Roanoke airport, expansion of Virginia Western Community College and general funding for other cultural organizations in the valley.
"I do not believe we can reasonably expect allocation of state monies for both Explore . . . and for these 14 projects," Macfarlane wrote.
Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, took strong issue with Mcfarlane's warning that the area can only fund a single initiative with state aid.
He said that Virginia Western Community College, for instance, has received "around $10 million in state aid" during the past five years, while Explore was also gaining state backing. Valley industrial parks and programs such as Roanoke's Center in the Square have also received state backing during that period, he said.
"We will become the prisoners of our own myopic thinking and inferiority complex if we allow ourselves to believe that we can ask the state for only one thing at a time," Cranwell said. "It appears that Granger hasn't kept abreast of the things we have been doing for the area in the budget."
Ironically, Macfarlane's letter was mailed on Tuesday - the fifth anniversary of the creation of the River Foundation, the non-profit group promoting Explore.
But, in both his letter and a subsequent interview, Macfarlane charged that "for five years we in this valley have suffered from the fiscal effects of this project."
He said the emphasis on Explore has drained away energies that should have been devoted to other projects.
Explore officials were in a meeting this morning and could not be reached for comment.
In the past, they have discounted suggestions that state funding for Explore would preclude funding for other Roanoke Valley projects - and pointed to how Center in the Square and other valley groups have received state funding during the same time that Explore has been seeking state money.
However, the question of whether the Roanoke River Parkway - which will provide the only public access to Explore - will compete with the proposed direct link to Blacksburg for federal funds was raised last week.
Rep. Jim Olin, D-Roanoke, who's seeking money for the river parkway, and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who's leading the push for the shortcut to Blacksburg, insisted the two projects aren't in competition for federal funds.
But one Virginia congressional aide familiar with the request says that's not so. "It's wholly unrealistic" to expect the federal government to fund two special road projects so close to each other, said the aide, who is allowed by the officeholder's rules to be quoted, but only if not identified.
The aide said the river parkway is more likely to receive federal funds than the shortcut to Blacksburg because the federal government has put up money for the scenic drive from Vinton to Hardy Ford in the past.
Staff writer Rob Eure contributed information for this story.
by CNB