Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994 TAG: 9404140354
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
More money to promote the area to tourists? Construct a trade and convention center near the Hotel Roanoke and conference center complex?
Good ideas, say candidates for Roanoke City Council.
They are not so definite, though, on "if" and "when" these things should happen.
One thing all candidates are sure of is that Roanoke needs to aggressively support tourism and provide the infrastructure for it. Whether that means a new trade and convention center, a baseball field and track facility at Victory Stadium or an incline up Mill Mountain depends on the candidate.
The current budget for the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau is $694,794, of which the city provides $500,000. The rest comes from Roanoke County, Salem, business memberships and promotion projects.
Executive Director Martha Mackey, who points out that visitors to the valley paid $1.3 million in lodging taxes in the 1992-1993 fiscal year, said the bureau needs a $1 million budget for 1994. She said she needs more staff to get the new business needed to keep all area hotels and motels busy when Hotel Roanoke opens.
Candidates agree that more and better promotion of the Roanoke Valley should be encouraged. They also agree that the region should be promoted as a whole, with costs borne by all governmental entities.
Democrat William White, an accountant who was elected to council four years ago, points out that he voted for an increase in funding to the bureau two years ago. He now "challenges" other valley jurisdictions to kick in funds "proportionately," which means Roanoke County would pay $250,000 instead of its current $79,000, and Salem would pay $100,000 instead of its $18,000. The city also would have to increase its funding, to $650,000.
Republican Barbara Duerk - who, like White, is among five candidates seeking a four-year term on council - would like to see more money go to tourism promotion, too. But she also has a laundry list of things she'd like to see done to encourage tourism.
Duerk, a member of the city Planning Commission, wants a program that would identify tourists so they aren't given parking tickets. She wants more "linear greenways" and biking trails. She also wouldn't mind seeing another tram, like one that operated up Mill Mountain around the turn of the century.
Lawyer John Edwards, a Democrat appointed to council in November to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick, favors increased funding for tourism promotion. He also strongly encourages more regional cooperation.
John Parrott, a Republican and an engineer, said money might not be the only solution. "We need to be more supportive, whether with funding or to seek some other way to increase promotion staff," he said.
Democrat Nelson Harris, a Baptist minister and member of the city School Board, said the community needs to examine ways to give the valley a higher profile in the Interstate 81 corridor.
Democrat Linda Wyatt and Republican John Voit, who are competing for a two-year seat on council, agree that tourism must be part of economic development. Wyatt, who has taught elementary school for 23 years, said she decided to settle in Roanoke because she had liked it so much when she visited as a child. She said she hasn't looked into details for more money for tourism promotion.
Voit, who owns a building in the historic City Market area, said he'd be happy to see more people coming to the area. If Walt Disney Co. builds an amusement part in Northern Virginia, he'd like to see a plan for Roanoke to promote itself to visitors to that park. But any promotion should be supported by the region, he said.
"Why should the city bear the brunt of costs? We can't do everything by ourselves."
Voit also takes a pragmatic view of the trade center suggestion, which dates to a consultant's report in the mid-1980s. He said he's open to looking at details of the project. So is Wyatt.
Most candidates don't have a lot of information about the trade center proposal, because it hasn't been mentioned much since the city and Virginia Tech launched the $40 million Hotel Roanoke and conference center project.
Harris sort of summed it up for the group when he said he'd like some breathing space between the hotel project and another one that would require public funds.
"I'd like to give a window of time to let Hotel Roanoke and conference center operate and see how it does," Harris said.
Parrott said it might take six or seven years for the hotel facility to be at full speed, and that gives time to take a long-range look at Roanoke's needs. White said he's not positive the market exists for the trade center, but he's willing to study it. Duerk takes a similar position.
Edwards was the only candidate to speak of the trade center in present terms, but he, too, thinks the hotel project needs to be complete before the community looks toward a trade center.
He formerly was on the Roanoke Civic Center Commission, which enthusiastically supports a trade center. Trade shows now use the civic center; and, because the trade groups must book years in advance, the center ties up dates and can't take advantage of spontaneous events that might be more profitable, Edwards said.
Edwards said he especially likes a proposal that a trade center containing several floors of parking be built on a Shenandoah Avenue site near the hotel project.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB