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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 22, 1993                   TAG: 9403100009
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LOOK FORWARD

OK, SO the trends suggest that, as a regional economy, we're falling behind. Such facts aren't a directive to despair. They reveal avenues of hope, as well, if we look for them.

If research universities have supplanted factories as engines of high-wage growth, let Roanoke forge closer ties with nearby Virginia Tech.

If Southwest Virginia's economy isn't growing, and value-added and electronic transactions have replaced quantities-shipped as the measure of economic output, let the Roanoke region find ways to plug into the international information economy.

If our communities remain isolated from the fast-growth urban corridors to the East, let us work to protect and market our region's distinctive natural beauty and quality of life.

If the encircling mountains are unmovable, let's make sure our minds are not. Wilbur Zelinsky, a Penn State geographer who was quoted by staff writer Dwayne Yancey this week, finds the roots of success in a cultural attitude:

"The North Carolina cities have a number of things working for them not found elsewhere in the South. You have to go deeply into the social psychology of the region, the fact that it was not so involved in refighting the Civil War as Virginia and South Carolina. A vale of humility between two mountains of conceit it was called. That made North Carolina more forward-looking, ready for the Research Triangle, not so hidebound."

Another comparison, unpleasant but sobering. If the facts of our region's situation offer guidance to the bewildered, they also provide a warning to the complacent: Better to look forward than fail to see what hit you.

by CNB