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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993                   TAG: 9310280057
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

`VISION' SLIPPERY TO GRASP

The debate at the council's first "visioning" session skittered around the room like a muddy football that none of the 100-plus leaders from the Roanoke and New River valleys could grasp.

Tom Robertson, Carilion Health System president and co-chairman of the council, said the pell-mell debate meant only that the group was "getting its traction."

"It's a big group to work with - that's why you don't come to a quick, clear agenda," Robertson said. "If there's any notion about a preconceived agenda, that was dispelled today."

The New Century Council has assigned itself the job of developing a focused economic agenda that will align the concerns of 12 localities between Botetourt County and Pulaski.

For much of Wednesday's two-hour session at Radford University, council members went back and forth between developing a specific or general vision statement. They settled for a general one - fostering a diverse, globally competitive economy - only after reserving the option of tinkering with it later.

Planning consultant Henry Luke, the man brought in to coordinate the council's meetings, told the group its vision statement should reflect what it wants the community to be 20 years from now.

"Let me just say," Luke pointed out early in Wednesday's gathering, "Charlotte, North Carolina, celebrated a vision last night that they had in 1985. I did this in Charlotte in 1985, and one of their visions was to get an NFL football team - and they got it."

With the vision statement hurdle cleared, the group will spend three sessions working on a strategy to attain the vision.

A few preliminary ideas were floated at the first meeting, including: developing an "international park," finding a way to incorporate technologies from regional colleges and universities into the workplace, and working up a plan to foster growth in small businesses.

After the meeting, Robert Glenn, vice president of Roanoke Gas Co., said he hoped people wouldn't be frustrated by the way the group struggled for answers.

"We got to give people opportunity for input, and sometimes that input takes a slow road," Glenn said. "If anybody thought it was going to be quick and easy, they probably thought wrong."