Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403150172
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TERRI LYNN CORNWELL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In 1950, the population of each of those Midwestern cities and of Roanoke was between 90,000 and 160,000. Each had an urban economy solidly based in heavy industry. Each had annual family incomes above the national average.
In fact, Roanoke's median family income was 7 percent above average - higher than that of Charlotte, Greensboro or Raleigh.
But between 1950 and 1990, Midwestern industrial cities lost economic ground as did Roanoke, where jobs in heavy industry decreased at an even faster rate. The city found itself lagging behind neighboring metropolitan areas that managed to increase the number of other high-wage jobs as the nation made the transition to an economy more solidly based in high technology.
During the same period, another Rust Belt city followed a similar pattern, but on a much larger scale. Like other cities that relied on heavy industry, Cleveland found its economy taking a nosedive.
By the late 1970s, Cleveland's economy was severely depressed, and the city had a national image still tied to the "burning river" incident of 1969 when the Cuyahoga River caught fire and made national news. (Remember Randy Newman's song "Burn On," popularized in the movie "Major League"?)
But Cleveland also was home of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Orchestra, both world-class cultural institutions - a fact not known or recognized by those who continued to make jokes at the city's expense. Cleveland's image was that of a dingy, blue-collar, unsophisticated city, despite its outstanding cultural offerings.
During the 1980s, the leaders of Cleveland's largest businesses banded together to turn the city around. Forming a group called Cleveland Tomorrow and working with committed community leadership, they devised an economic-development strategy focusing on research and development, entrepreneurship, and labor-management cooperation. By 1988, when Cleveland Tomorrow set forth its second five-year plan, the initial efforts had helped begin an economic turnaround.
But much more needed to be done. Of particular importance was dealing with the city's image and, more specifically, the image of Cleveland's quality of life.
As an area of research, quality-of-life studies divide all aspects of living into several major categories: health care, education, cultural opportunities, housing, cost of living, climate, etc. Such studies examine data within each category - for example, the number of physicians per 100,000 people within the "health care" category - to determine an area's quality of life.
With support from the Cleveland Foundation, I had the privilege of conducting a quality-of-life study for Cleveland Tomorrow. It outlined the place occupied by Cleveland in both popular and academic quality-of-life studies, and presented recommendations for change.
A major finding was how high Cleveland ranked nationally in cultural offerings. In 1985, for example, the city ranked ninth in the arts in Places Rated Almanac, the popular study rating more than 300 metropolitan areas in the United States.
While researchers often frown on these kinds of rankings, they have a powerful effect on an individual's perception of the desirability of living in a particular area - a fact not to be ignored by economic-development experts.
Despite Cleveland's high rank in such categories, the city's image was still rather negative. A major recommendation, therefore, was to sustain the fiscal health of Cleveland's outstanding cultural institutions, while enhancing the city's image. According to Cleveland Tomorrow, "If our strengths are not known, or our assets not understood, we lose opportunities.''
The same can be said about Roanoke.
A railroad town, also known for its heavy industry, the Star City has similarly been stereotyped with a dingy, blue-collar, unsophisticated image to those unfamiliar with its many assets. But a survey of just what is available in the cultural arena, when compared to cities of similar size, proves exactly the opposite.
Roanoke supports not only one of the best regional theaters in the mid-Atlantic area, but also a nationally ranked art museum, a well-recognized symphony orchestra, its own opera company, two ballet companies and an arts council of more than 70 different cultural organizations. Center in the Square, the urban hub that houses five major cultural groups, is the envy of numerous cities along the East Coast.
According to Places Rated Almanac, the arts picture in this area has succeeded in keeping Roanoke's total quality-of-life ranking in the top 100 cities since 1985. By the 1993 edition of Places Rated, the arts, health care and recreational offerings were the three quality-of-life categories having shown a steady increase. This area's climate, of course, has always ranked rather high, but we have little control over any improvement in that category.
(Interestingly, the Places Rated authors define the Roanoke metropolitan area as Roanoke and Botetourt counties and Salem and Roanoke cities, once again leaving out the New River Valley. This pulls Virginia Tech out of consideration for Roanoke's ranking in the education category - but that's another story.)
So, Roanoke, like Cleveland, is rich in cultural assets in comparison to cities of similar size. But Roanoke, unlike Cleveland, has taken an additional step to enhance these amenities. The Roanoke community has now become one of the very few regions in the Virginia to have completed a comprehensive cultural plan.
"Blueprint 2000: A Vision for the Cultural Community of the Roanoke Region of Western Virginia," the culmination of three years' work by more than 1,200 individuals from all segments of the community, will soon be released. "Blueprint" contains a number of findings about the area's cultural amenities, as well as recommendations for moving the community to an even higher level culturally.
In essence, it says that the region's cultural offerings are one of the strongest elements in our quality of life, that they should be preserved and strengthened, and that they should become an integral part of the area's economic-development strategy.
But Roanoke also must follow the example of Cleveland. We must be sure that our strengths are known, and that our assets are understood and reflected in our regional and national image.
Terri Lynn Cornwell is a former consultant to The Cleveland Foundation and Cleveland Tomorrow, and served as project director for Blueprint 2000, the cultural plan for the Roanoke region.
by CNB