Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 16, 1993 TAG: 9301180344
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FRAGMENTED GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HELP
I BELIEVE Roanoke Mayor David Bowers was on target when he said, "our local governments are not adequate to meet the demands of the 1990s."County Supervisor Bob Johnson's response, in which he said that the Hotel Roanoke project will mainly benefit the city (with the underlying assumption that it does not merit much county cooperation), is indicative of the divisiveness inherent in the separate governments. Comments like that should be a wake-up call to county residents who view the hotel project as important to them and to the valley as a whole.
It is very difficult to look beyond the valley (much less globally) when we cannot see ourselves as one within the valley. Surely this mind-set must hamper the brass-tacks mechanics of economic development. From an outsider's point of view, we are a geographically unified region.
Neither the failed consolidation referendum nor the local-government framework had anything to do with First Union's acquisition of Dominion Bankshares. At the same time, not enough new business has been drawn to the valley to employ workers displaced by Dominion, Gardner-Denver and Grumman.
Is it possible that our outdated system of four fragmented governments had something to do with our anemic ability to attract new business? I believe it is not only possible, it is probable.
It is this writer's opinion that the Roanoke County supervisors, along with county gadflies Charles Landis and Don Terp, have again shown themselves to be consumed with petty political maneuvering, without the vision to see beyond their own fenced backyards.
During the presidential campaign, we heard the words "courage to change" almost daily from the man who won the election. David Goode's recent ominous speech hammered home the theme of the Roanoke Valley having the courage to expand its horizons. It would be heartening to believe that some of that same courage could be found in the hearts and minds of the county leadership. STEVE LAYMAN ROANOKE