Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993 TAG: 9402250343
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A longtime opponent of the Explore Park under development off the Blue Ridge Parkway, Bowers now is asking city officials to consider some type of city participation in the living-history project.
Not exactly peace in our time, but a start.
The city's lack of support for what could be a major tourist attraction and educational asset for the entire region - but one located in Roanoke and Bedford counties, just outside city limits - has been a shortsighted mistake on a par with, say, Roanoke County's reluctance to provide significant support for attractions of regional significance that happen to lie within the city of Roanoke.
A terrible symmetry underlies the pettiness: the city noting the county's failure to participate in the Hotel Roanoke rehab project, for instance, and the county noting the city's failure to participate in Explore and the Spring Hollow Reservoir project - all to excuse the failure to mutually support mutually beneficial undertakings.
To break such deadlocks, someone has to make the first move. Can Bowers play the statesman?
At the moment, he is asking only that the city reconsider what relationship it should have with Explore. Even so, it's notable and greatly to his credit that Bowers, once an implacable foe of the project, would put the issue before City Council and, in so doing, refer to "the excitement of developments at the Explore Park" over the past year. This is evidence of a change of heart at least about the value of the park itself.
And change that translates into city support would be entirely appropriate.
While Explore isn't scheduled to open until May, local schoolchildren for some time have been taking field trips there; more than half of them have been from the city. City schools, in fact, have given $5,400 to Explore each of the past two years to hire trail interpreters to make the visits learning experiences.
The schools already have recognized the value of having such a park just 2 miles from the city line. City residents undoubtedly will, too, once Explore, with its facilities so close at hand, is open. Trails that wind through forests just off the parkway and down to the Roanoke River, through some of the prettiest countryside in the region, will serve recreational needs of city residents as much as county residents.
More important, Explore's potential as a draw for tourists and conferences is a value certainly as much for the city as for the county.
There's also the possibility that if mutual support for this project were forthcoming, the county would be harder-pressed to justify inadequate support for other valleywide assets and projects that not only serve all valley residents, but boost the regional economy by pulling in dollars from outside the area.
Finally, there's the chance that a thaw in the city's cold shoulder toward Explore could help convince state legislators that the park has the strong, unified local support needed to make it successful - and a reasonable candidate for funding. State money is needed for operating expenses so private donations can be used to turn the promise of Explore into a living-history and environmental attraction. This won't happen if it remains a point of contention among Roanoke Valley localities.
Peace is a point of discussion these days in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. Why not in the Roanoke Valley?
by CNB