Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 6, 1994 TAG: 9402080013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But just as surely, where there are no people, vision perishes.
The New Century Council, a still-new coalition of business leaders, academics and politicians, has taken upon itself to craft a "vision" for the Roanoke and New River valleys. The group has made a good start.
But now, if the vision is to breathe, more people must work on it. Lots of people, from all walks of life.
By invitation only did some 100 council members develop, with a consultant's help, a so-called vision statement. It describes what they'd like our region to look like, to be like, in 20 years.
The ritual in itself was useful, and broke new ground. From 12 localities, from Botetourt to Radford, leaders of diverse interests and outlooks came together to consider the future.
From this union, after five months' gestation, the New Century Council has begotten . . . a blob. The recently released vision statement is a mass of quivering stuff crying for attention, but not conspicuously endowed with clarity or definition.
Yet it does show possibilities.
According to the draft statement - what council director Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. calls a "verbal picture" of a preferred future - the New Century region in the year 2015 will be:
(1) A world leader in education, (2) one of the most desirable places to live and work, (3) renowned as safe and healthy, (4) linked by its infrastructure to the world, (5) a diverse and globally competitive economy, (6) a partnership of governments investing in tomorrow, and (7) a model for America in leadership, regional identity and creation of 21st century opportunities.
The language itself may sound alien to many Southwest Virginian ears. "World," "infrastructure," "globally competitive," "partnership," "leadership" - what have these to do with us?
The goals, too, may seem remote. Most of us would be thrilled to realize any one of them. To go after all seven marks a stretch, to say the least.
But consider: Isn't finding a niche in the world economy going to require less parochialism? Shouldn't a 20-year vision make us stretch?
And can any of the blob's seven parts come to life detached from the others? Without protecting quality of life, the region can hardly attract high-income jobs. Without developing world-class education, infrastructure and leadership, the region's economy can hardly become globally competitive.
Yes, the goals are vague and generic. It's hard to see our image in them; virtually any place could adopt them as its own. Yet the vision isn't entirely without edges or features. Like a newborn, it embodies wishes but also needs, the filling of which entail sustained commitment, sacrifice, cost, and maybe a few sleepless nights. "A partnership of governments," for instance, implies a radically new arrangement. "Investing in tomorrow" hints at goals (gulp!) other than keeping tax rates down.
Moreover, if you listen to New Century Council discussion or read documents attached to the vision, with specific suggestions supporting each goal, the effort's personality and possibilities take on a more distinct character. Among ideas floated: "Provide affordable access to higher education for all qualified students." "Reduce the region's poverty rate to one-half the national average." "Integrate a trail system with the regional transportation system." These are tangible enough.
More to the point, the goal-setting remains at an early stage of development. A fleshed-out vision must be backed up with detailed strategies, short-and long-term, for achieving the goals. Responsibility must be assigned for implementation, timetables set, benchmarks devised to track progress. All of which should better reflect our region's parentage of the project.
Volunteer task forces, which the council is creating for each of the seven visions, will form the strategies. This is where many more members of the community can get involved, and should, to shape the endeavor.
More people should participate now because they, not any elite, are the greatest reservoir of wisdom, the best source of ideas and initiative. Every resident has a stake in the region's fate - poor people and working-class families just as much as the suits who've dominated New Century sessions. And, beyond the task forces' work, a popular constituency needs to form to pressure local governments into cooperating.
Unable yet to survive on its own, the frail vision has enemies: those who would strangle it in the cradle, or let it wither from neglect. Those who fancy that their futures are entirely separate from their neighbors'. Who assume growth must destroy quality of life. Who detect communism in any planning, class warfare in any leadership. Those who prefer not to be bothered.
Those, however, who want to see the vision grow more sharply defined and make something of itself, need to help nurture and guide it. Certainly they need to if they want it to help care for them in their old age. By the people of a committed community, vision must be fed meaning and heft, or it will perish like a wilting will-o'-the-wisp.
by CNB