Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991                   TAG: 9103150266
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IDEA FOR COALITION TO PROMOTE GROWTH WINS SUPPORT

Most localities that have responded to a survey by the city want to explore the possibility of an organization to address concerns about population decline and other regional problems, said Brian Wishneff, the city's chief of economic development.

Based on the results, Wishneff said Thursday he expects Roanoke to call a meeting in two months to consider the formation of what has been tentatively called the Western Virginia Coalition of Progress.

A questionnaire was sent to more than 100 localities west of U.S. 29, which runs north-south through Danville, Lynchburg, Charlottesville and Northern Virginia.

The results still are being tabulated, but the "vast majority" of the localities are interested, Wishneff said.

Late last year, Vice Mayor Howard Musser proposed the formation of a coalition of local governments in Southwest Virginia. But the city decided to survey a much broader area, and the questionnaire was sent to all localities west of U.S. 29.

Faced with a declining population and economic pressures caused by state budget cuts, Roanoke and other localities in the region must work together to be heard in the General Assembly and elsewhere, Musser said.

"Considering the land areas we have and the continuing shift of population to the northern part of the state, we must speak with one voice in order to be heard," Musser said.

The 1990 census disclosed that most counties and cities west of Roanoke lost population in the past decade. The city's population dropped by 3.8 percent - from 100,200 to 96,397.

Declining population will mean a loss of political power in the state legislature.

Southwest Virginia can expect to lose one of its seven seats in the state Senate in the upcoming redistricting because of declining population, members of the committee preparing the new election plan said this week.

In a cover letter accompanying the questionnaire, Mayor Noel Taylor said there was an increasing need for localities in the western part of the state to work together. There are several regional advocacy groups - such as Forward Southwest Virginia, Blue Ridge Region and Coalition for Equity in Education Funding - working toward bettering Western Virginia, he said.

But none of these groups solely represents the interests of locally elected officials, he said. Roanoke wants to determine the sentiment for establishing a permanent organization to meet and consider common concerns, Taylor said.

Councilman Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr., who works with localities in the region in his job as vice president for economic development for Dominion Bankshares, has said he liked the idea of such a coalition. But Fitzpatrick said the city must be careful to develop a sense of mutual respect and trust with the other localities as it seeks to organize a coalition.