Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993 TAG: 9305200222
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY and BONNIE WINSTON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Gov. Douglas Wilder has adamantly ruled out state funding for the Explore Park in his final budget, blasting Explore's inability to raise large private contributions and insisting that the state isn't responsible for the project's fate.
"That's not my baby," Wilder said of the frontier history park he once endorsed. "That's not a state project. It did not meet expectations. Suffice it to say, a lot of people thought it would, but it didn't."
Wilder's pronouncement - which came Tuesday when asked by a reporter whether he intends to help ease the project's financial crunch - doesn't kill Explore's chances of finding state funds to operate the park, scheduled to open 8n a modest scale next spring.
Explore backers such as House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Vinton point out that a new governor will take office not long after Wilder presents his budget, and his successor likely will want to propose changes.
Nevertheless, Wilder has thrown up a major obstacle in Explore's path, because it's politically difficult to add something to the governor's budget - especially something as potentially controversial as funding for Explore.
Besides, there's no guarantee 8hat the next governor will be any friendlier toward Explore than Wilder has been.
In the 1989 governor's race, both candidates, angling for support from the Roanoke Valley business community, endorsed Explore, citing its economic potential as a tourist attraction.
But this time the leading Republican candidate for governor is George Allen, who's been a vocal critic of state funding for Explore. And a spokesman for Democratic nominee Mary Sue Terry says it's "premature" to talk about whether she'll support specific expenditures.
With that in mind, Explore Park leaders had hoped that Wilder would fulfill his campaign promise to support Explore by doing two things for them before he leaves office in January:
First, they hoped Wilder would include up to $1 million in state funding for the project in the budget he'll present in December. That would pay the park's operating expenses next year, and free private contributions to go solely toward construction.
Second, Explore backers had hoped Wilder would endorse their call for Explore - now owned by an independent state authority that hasn't received any funding in five years - to be transformed into a regular state agency. This would guarantee a regular source of operating funds in the years to come.
"I don't see any alternative for the park," said Explore Park leader Rupert Cutler.
In his two years at the helm, Cutler has been frustrated, he says, because it's difficult to get private donors to contribute toward such unglamorous expenses as salaries and office supplies. Furthermore, he says, he's forced to spend so much time trying to raise money for daily expenses that he's not able to concentrate on raising money for construction.
Recently, though, Explore's quest for a steady source of operating funds has assumed greater urgency.
For one thing, Explore planners would like to open a scaled-down version of the park in May 1994. They estimate this will increase their operating costs from $450,000 a year to $1 million.
At the same time, the private donors who have bankrolled Explore from the start have signalled that they'll quit paying the project's operating expenses in July 1994 and start restricting their contributions to construction. They say it's time the state picked up the tab for running what they consider a state project.
With that deadline looming, Cutler in recent months has begun sounding out Roanoke Valley state legislators and some Wilder administration officials about getting Explore reclassified as a state agency, much the way the state took over another project started by a nonprofit group - the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville.
But Wilder made it clear he believes the state already has done its share by providing Explore with $6 million in 1988 to buy its 1,300 acres along the Roanoke River gorge on the Roanoke County-Bedford County line.
"No, I don't think the state ought to take over Explore Park, because it never was started with that in mind," Wilder said. "Look how much the state has pumped into Explore Park. Look how much money was put in with the assurances that matching monies would come forth."
Explore's inability to reel in big private donations doesn't obligate Wilder the state to come to the rescue, Wilder said. "It was never thought to be a state project from the first. It was never conceived to be that."
That may be true, in that backers never foresaw it being operated as a state agency the way Cutler does now. However, legally speaking, Explore is an independent arm of the state. And by law, if Explore ceases to exist, the land would go to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, so Explore backers can argue that the state has an interest in the project's outcome.
Explore planners, accustomed to weathering political blasts, shrugged off Wilder's harsh comments. "We'll just have to wait forthe next administration and hope for a better climate," Cutler said. "We'll gather our friends together and see what we can do in Richmond."
One friend Cutler's counting on is Cranwell, although Cranwell isn't ready to commit himself to pushing for Explore money in the 1994 session. For one thing, he says, Cutler hasn't presented a specific request yet. "If you can show me a specific request, and how it will relate to economic development and tourism, that's a different question," Cranwell said.
But Cutler said he knows Explore stands a better chance if a governor - if not Wilder, then his successor - includes state funding for the project in the budget than if Cranwell or another state legislator risks a floor fight by trying to add the expenditure.
Accordingly, Cutler says he hopes the project's supporters will talk up Explore with the gubernatorial candidates this fall.
If Explore doesn't receive any state funding in 1994, the park still will open to the public, Cutler said. However, he warned, "it'll be difficult. It could mean a pretty modest program."
by CNB