Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 22, 1994 TAG: 9404230009
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Come on, Roanoke. This will be your park, too. Surely a goodly number of city residents will be packing the kids in the car to make that long trek to Explore - all of 2 miles away - when the park opens July 2 for a weekend-long, old-fashioned 4th of July celebration.
And surely a goodly number of downtown attractions will enjoy the spin-off business from visitors lured from the Blue Ridge Parkway by Explore, where a regional information center will let them know about the City Market, Center in the Square, the renovated Hotel Roanoke, the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
And surely a goodly number of Roanoke schoolchildren will continue to visit Explore on field trips, where they can try their hand at carding wool or planting vegetables or stripping bark off trees, and in the process learn a bit about nature and their own proud heritage.
Yet, despite Mayor David Bowers' suggestion at the end of last year that the city rethink its frosty relationship with the project, the city administration is proposing zero dollars for Explore in its new budget.
This is silly. Western Virginia legislators managed to get $800,000 in the state's budget for the next two years for Explore operating expenses. But it is matching money, meaning the park will have to raise a like amount from other sources to get it. Every dollar the city gives would bring two to Explore.
Roanoke County probably can be counted on to continue its support. The park expects to receive about $100,000 in admissions fees, and will continue to seek grants and gifts. Explore may be able to scrape together the $400,000 needed for this year's $400,000 state match. That $800,000 will allow the state park to open - on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays only - but leave nothing for marketing or advertising, or for the administrative support its weary staff badly needs.
And whether or not the project can raise the minimum it must have without the city's help, Roanoke should be contributing. Its support, along with that of the city of Salem's, would indicate a valleywide enthusiasm for the project that would help when backers go to legislators seeking state money.
More important, Roanoke officials have an opportunity with Explore to show they are willing to do more than talk about regionalism, that they truly support the concept that what is good for any part of the valley will benefit the whole. Somebody's got to get cooperation moving.
It should be easy to see that the city stands to benefit directly. Instead of swapping money among valley residents, the park promises to bring in fresh tourist dollars and funnel a lot of them downtown.
While the struggle for funding has advanced ever so slowly and painfully, the tiny park staff and troops of community volunteers have been making Explore happen. It is scheduled to open July 2 with a reconstructed farmstead, a one-room schoolhouse, a 30-foot-high barn and a blacksmith shop as well as about 6 miles of hiking trails.
Getting this far has taken tireless commitment. Those who have hewn the logs and guided the schoolkids and scrounged the resources now should have the support of the community. The entire community.
City Council should adjust the city manager's budget accordingly.
by CNB