ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: SUNDAY, June 13, 1993                   TAG: 9306140037
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long


VISION OF REGION FORMING

COME TUESDAY, the chairman of the Roanoke Valley Business Council hopes to know who will help devise a strategic vision for the region - with or without the support of Roanoke's mayor.

\ Thomas Robertson's campaign to craft an economic plan for the Roanoke Valley and parts west appears to be taking shape - despite veiled warnings from Roanoke Mayor David Bowers.

For now, it doesn't seem to matter that Bowers is insisting that he and other elected leaders be full partners in a Roanoke Valley Business Council-sponsored process.

Robertson, president of Carilion Health System, sounds unconcerned by Bowers' demand, voiced recently at a Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon:

"I don't want someone to send for me after they've already made the decision. That's happened too often in Roanoke," Bowers said, stunning those who recalled Robertson's leading role in the valley's $7 million fund-raising campaign for Hotel Roanoke - the city's self-proclaimed "No. 1 economic development project."

"I don't think we're trying to dictate to any of the elected officials in what we're trying to do," Robertson said last week. "David's very concerned with the business community trying to run the city. That's not our intent, obviously."

Bowers' demand - issued several times since the chamber meeting - is not "a major problem," Robertson said, acknowledging that local politicians "are constrained by the constituencies they have to serve. They cannot cross boundaries."

Robertson "is not worried about David Bowers," said a city source who asked not to be identified. "David can talk all he wants. The difference is, he'll work with David where others might turn him off."

Could it be that Bowers is out on a political limb - alone?

"Let Tom Robertson have a chance to exercise the kind of leadership that I know Tom Robertson has," Councilman James Harvey said. "He's not bullish; he's not `the hell-with-you.' He's not like the kind of executive we've been dealing with in the past."

The Business Council doesn't "have an ax to grind or [worry] whose turf it is. They're looking out for the whole valley," he said.

Or Councilman Howard Musser:

"I really think when you get the politicians sitting down by themselves, that's when the problems begin. The attitude has always been, `What's in it for me?' I've never heard anybody ask, `What's in it for us?'

"We definitely cannot do what needs to be done for the valley. I think that's what [the Business Council] is saying," Musser said. "They need to succeed despite us - not because of us."

Or Councilman Delvis "Mac" McCadden:

"I look at it as `here in the valley.' Our borders are so small, our neighbors are so close - everybody gains" by thinking regionally.

Some Roanoke County supervisors agree:

"You could easily be looking a gift horse in the mouth here" by appearing to subvert Robertson's efforts to find common ground between the region's localities, Hollins Supervisor Bob Johnson said. "I'm not going to let my ego get in the way of somebody's help."

Or Chairman Fuzzy Minnix:

"If Tom Robertson raises $7 million for me in Roanoke County, I'd let him have a lot of input."

Still, Bowers is unrepentant.

"I don't understand why they would want to forsake their political responsibility for the visioning process," Bowers said Friday. But at the same time, he expressed complete support for the goals Robertson and others are considering.

"In order for the visioning process to be successful, it must have broad-based public support," the mayor insisted. And without the partnership of political leaders, Bowers' thinking goes, the effort is doomed to failure.

He cited a few examples:

The campaign to consolidate valley governments, the troubled Explore Park, even the flap surrounding the Dominion Tower and the Hunter Viaduct - all are prominent casualties of apparently one-sided efforts backed by the business community.

The key to success, he insisted, lay in partnerships between business and political leaders. That's a perplexing notion given Bowers' historic, now apparently renewed, mistrust of prominent business leaders.

For others, it doesn't seem to matter that Robertson, the Business Council he chairs, and such behind-the-scenes advisers as Roanoke Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. aren't yet sure how they will fashion a strategic vision for the region - its strengths and weaknesses, its goals and niches for the emerging global economy.

In fact, the group - primarily Robertson himself, sources say - still is trying to define the region, with the help of existing organizations, historical relationships, even personal ties.

The first targets: chambers of commerce. Already, the Botetourt, Franklin, Roanoke, Salem-Roanoke County and Vinton chambers have signed on to the effort. New River chambers - Blacksburg, Montgomery County-Christiansburg, Radford and Giles - are expected to make their final decisions by Tuesday, Robertson said.

And it's Robertson who appears to be driving the decision-making, says one source familiar with the Business Council proposal. "He's the one who's calling the chambers of commerce; he's the one who's calling" James McComas, the Virginia Tech president. Robertson is "doing the whole thing. It's his baby from everything I can tell."

To be sure, some chambers of commerce - especially in the New River Valley - aren't sure where hitching their wagons to the Roanoke Valley and its business leadership might ultimately lead.

Some, such as members of the Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce, want to make sure they aren't left behind, since Tech - their bread and butter - has agreed to help Robertson fashion a strategic economic vision.

"We have not come out with a support statement," said Beth Ifju, president of the Blacksburg chamber. Instead, the 400-member group - many of whom depend on Tech and its students for their livelihood - has decided to learn more by becoming a player - for now.

"We want to know what it is we're getting into," she said. "If the plan would benefit us, we would support it. If it wouldn't benefit us, we probably wouldn't support it."



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