Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 8, 1990 TAG: 9007100435
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In a letter to local government officials, the state senator said Explore would "soak up all of the available state cash" for such worthy endeavors as the Hotel Roanoke's revival, a conference center connected to the hotel, and a proposed new road to Blacksburg.
Macfarlane has had to update his endangered-projects list over the years, as some items have been funded and completed and new ones have come forth. Yet his point remains largely the same - and as wrong as ever.
Far from conflicting with other Roanoke Valley projects, Explore complements them. In some cases, it could even prove crucial to their success. Far from sucking money out of the valley, Explore may add substantially to the local pool of available funds, while giving the local economy a needed boost.
Several of the projects Macfarlane wants to protect depend on close ties between the Roanoke Valley and Virginia Tech. Can't Macfarlane see that Explore offers an avenue for helping to cement those ties?
Virginia Tech and Explore officials are working together now on plans for an environmental research, education and conference center, which may prove to be the park's first-built facility.
That would feed, rather than compete with, a conference center attached to a revived Hotel Roanoke. In a direct and immediate way, the proximity of Explore's environmental center would help attract environmental-policy conferences to a downtown Roanoke conference facility.
And the drawing power is broader than that. Planners of conferences and conventions of any sort tend to choose sites with attractions outside the meeting halls, with activities to occupy conventioneers in the off hours. Roanoke has some such attractions, such as Center on the Square, but they're not in themselves reasons enough to hold a convention or conference here. Explore could be a major addition to the area's attractions, perhaps a crucial one in selling Roanoke as a convention site.
As has been often pointed out, Explore could put Roanoke on the map for many who might not otherwise know of the valley. It could establish Roanoke as a destination for many who otherwise would continue along Interstate 81 or the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Certainly, as Virginia Tech officials try to find a developer to refurbish the Hotel Roanoke, they'll be promoting Explore's potential for bringing visitors to the hotel. Has Macfarlane asked Tech officials whether they view Explore as a competitor, as a threat to the success of their project?
The state senator says that "for five years we in this valley have suffered from the fiscal effects" of Explore. But where is his evidence? Center in the Square, Virginia Western Community College and a host of other valley institutions have received funding while Explore has sought state money.
And why raise the issue now? With Explore's site acquired as a state park, fund-raising efforts have shifted to the private sector. Explore received no money in this year's state budget, and its managers won't be seeking more money again until 1992.
In his letter last week, Macfarlane cited 14 projects whose state funding assistance is threatened. But several of his items - such as potential expansion of Virginia Western Community College - would be funded from different parts of the budget and would not, as a practical matter, compete with Explore for state money. Several other projects are at different stages of development, and would not draw state funding at the same time.
Practically and politically, the Roanoke River Parkway project - which would provide public access to Explore - could complicate efforts to gain federal funds for the proposed direct link to Blacksburg. But, practically and politically, it's not helpful for a Roanoke politician to say that only one of these projects deserves funds. The projects aren't in competition, they're complementary. Both deserve funding.
Yes, there's a limit to how much money can be raised for the variety of projects valley officials are now juggling. But Explore can bring new money into the valley. As one small example, the state would spend more of its tourism-promotion dollars in Western Virginia than it now does if it had a developed Explore Park to sell.
Explore already has attracted state money; it could attract private money, too - a lot, if it becomes a tourist attraction. And the best way to expand the pool of money for local projects is to boost the local economy. Explore could help in that regard.
Macfarlane's defeatism was countered last week by Del. Richard Cranwell, who is as aware of political realities and limits as anyone in the valley's delegation to Richmond. "We will become," Cranwell said, "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." Exactly right.
by CNB