Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 4, 1993 TAG: 9312070276
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Now that community leaders from throughout the valley had come together for the third year to set goals for the region, she asked Thursday night, what is going to be done to meet them?
Dave Rundgren, executive director of the New River Valley Planning District Commission, said the first step would be putting all the recommendations in written form, and distributing them to the nearly 100 people who attended the session.
``It's the region's document to move us all forward,'' he said.
Franklyn Moreno, executive director of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance, said more community meetings could be held in the four counties and city in the coming year. But he noted that such meetings this year had not drawn great turnouts.
Still, those community meetings helped provide the eight broad topics for the Vision 2020 session at New River Community College: tourism development, entrepreneur development, industry recruitment, industry retention and expansion, infrastructure, quality of life, education, and human services.
Education had not been given top priority at any community meeting. But nearly all eight work groups that rated those topics put it at or near the top.
``If we're going to be competitive, we're going to have to develop a first-class educational system,'' said Russell Archambault, research associate at Virginia Tech's Economic Assistance Development Center.
``It became apparent that education was the key to success, but education had to begin at the lowest level,'' said Hi Nicely. By that, he said, his group meant starting before the child is even born, with the parents.
``The family responsibilities of 30 years ago seemed to be passed on to the school system,'' said Montgomery County Supervisor Jim Moore.
His group discussed making schools comprehensive institutions covering all student needs including medical care, day care before and after school and family counseling. Schools could teach parenting skills and adult literacy, too, he said. But some members believed that educators had their hands full just with teaching.
Participants at the session heard from Chip Batton, coordinator at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant for the federal government's Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Initiative.
The ARMS Initiative - ``What I call it is the `swords into plowshares act''' - is aimed at letting local business use military facilities that would otherwise stand idle because of defense spending cuts, he said.
Officials are negotiating next year's contract with the U.S. Army for what will be produced at the arsenal. The plant is one of the few of its kind not closed because of the cuts.
``We are in a tenuous position,'' Batton said. ``We have to make our best effort.''
The arsenal has developed its own vision statement to make the plant a world-class manufacturing and business center while maintaining what it is contracted to produce for the military, he said. The plant would enhance its own readiness for any future national emergencies by having its facilities maintained and used rather than idled.
Batton also said the arsenal will offer the valley new businesses resources. ``We'll be the first to admit that we haven't done that in the past, and we'd like to facilitate this in the future.''
The work group represented by Terri Smusz had one recommendation concerning the arsenal. The group's members thought it should change its name to something more in tune with its new role as a potential center for New River Valley industry.
by CNB