ROANOKE VALLEY MAY JOIN APPALACHIAN COMMISSION

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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 20, 1993                   TAG: 9303200308
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
ROANOKE VALLEY MAY JOIN APPALACHIAN COMMISSION
The Roanoke Valley has a good chance of becoming part of the Appalachian Regional Commission and qualify for federal money for projects that stimulate economic development, Rep. Bob Goodlatte says.
Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, said Friday he will introduce a bill in Congress next week to include the Roanoke Valley and several other localities in the federally funded agency.
"The prospects are good. There is support for it among both parties," he told Roanoke City Council.
Goodlatte said the bill will also include Rockbridge County, Buena Vista and Lexington, three other localities in the 6th District that he represents.
In addition, he is working with Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, to have Montgomery County and Radford from the 9th District included in the regional commission.
Similar legislation was introduced last year by former Rep. Jim Olin and Boucher, but Congress adjourned before it was passed.
Goodlatte said he believes the chances are better now for localities to be added to the commission.
The Appalachian Regional Commission was created in the 1960s to help funnel federal funds into economically disadvantaged communities in the region.
The commission includes all of West Virginia and portions of 12 other states, stretching from New York to Mississippi.
Twenty-one localities in Western and Southwest Virginia are already in the commission. They include Alleghany, Botetourt and Craig counties. They have received federal funds for recycling programs, vocational education, industrial parks and water and sewer lines.
The Roanoke Valley localities did not join the commission initially because they feared taking on the image of a poor community in the Appalachian mountains. But the region's image has changed in the past two decades.
Roanoke Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. said that federal funds could be especially beneficial to the valley as it tries to deal with the loss of hundreds of jobs in recent months.
"If we could tap into these funds, it could help those who have lost their jobs and to pay for improvements in the infrastructure," Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said city officials are willing to travel to Washington to testify on behalf of the bill at congressional hearings.
Goodlatte's meeting with council was one in a series he will hold with local governing bodies in the 6th district so he can communicate with them better.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB