SOME BUSINESS LEADERS HAVE COMPLAINED THAT THE CITY HASN'T DONE ENOUGH TO

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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992                   TAG: 9202150350
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
SOME BUSINESS LEADERS HAVE COMPLAINED THAT THE CITY HASN'T DONE ENOUGH TO
Bowers: "And I wish those business leaders had listened to LaVerne Dillon, my running mate in 1984, who said if she was elected to the City Council, she'd make tourism her No. 1 issue. They should have listened then. And I hope they listen now. I've said in my economic proposal, which I issued back in January, if there's any one area in which we have not done what we should, it's in attracting the world to our beautiful valley. As mayor, I'll take a hands-on approach to solving this problem and creating solutions. This should be a city-county effort. One thing I would do is create an investment in the downtown Transportation Museum."
\ Musser: "It is a fair statement. We put aside something like $300,000 to $400,000 a year for the convention and tourist bureau and other efforts to attract tourists. But a city like Asheville, N.C., spends more than $1.3 million for conventions and tourism. The average person doesn't see the benefits of this, but we've got to do more of this, put more into tourism. One suggestion I have made is to eliminate the $1 parking fee at the Roanoke Civic Center, and add $1 to the cost of each ticket and use the money for the convention and tourism bureau. We need to get surrounding localities to understand the benefits of tourism and get them to put in their fair share. This needs to be a valleywide effort."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB