Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 27, 1994 TAG: 9404270077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Economic development, as Roanoke City Council candidate Jack Parrott put it, is about as controversial as "apple pie and mother love and flowers in the springtime."
Everybody favors economic development, but most of the people running for City Council would go about adding jobs in the region differently.
Republican candidate Barbara Duerk would take a more measured approach than some of the candidates. Duerk says economic development decisions should take into account the impact a new business would have on the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Wal-Mart superstore proposed for the Valley View Mall area, for instance, should be evaluated for its potential impact on other Roanoke businesses, Duerk said.
"Is there truly going to be more money in the area or are we just shifting the money from one pot to another?" Duerk asks.
Two approaches to economic development seem to be more in vogue than others during this election. One is a fairly new idea of working to help existing businesses expand. The other has been the subject of hand-wringing in the Roanoke Valley for decades: regional cooperation.
Parrott, a Republican, argues that it is time for city leaders to stand up and take the blame for their failings on the regional cooperation front. He says, for instance, that the city should have sent an envoy to the groundbreaking ceremony for Hanover Direct Inc., the nation's largest mail-order house, which announced this winter it would set up shop in Roanoke County.
"I've been kind of lulled to sleep over the years with this propaganda that it's not us, and we're doing our part," Parrott said. "I've about come to the conclusion that the enemy is us."
Democratic candidate Nelson Harris would like to see the city and the county look into combining their economic development offices so they could "speak to business prospects with one voice."
Harris also considers the rehabilitation of Victory Stadium a project that would fall into the category of taking care of the assets and businesses already here.
Councilman William White puts even more mundane municipal operations, such as the new wastewater treatment plant, under the heading of economic development.
"We have to have a council that understands the importance of staying out in front of infrastructure," White said, "so we can take advantage of opportunities when they become available."
Other candidates placed other things under the heading of infrastructure. Democrat John Edwards, appointed to council after Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick resigned to head the New Century Council, put education at the top of his list
Specifically, he said the Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement being established at the Hotel Roanoke should be used as a foundation for training people for the industries of the next several decades.
Edwards said the center not only would provide a necessary link to Virginia Tech, but also would attract high-tech industries to the Roanoke area. That in turn would help keep the technology-oriented companies that are here.
"FiberCom is an industry that developed here and it was important for them to be near scientists," Edwards said, "and they went to Raleigh to be close to other people in that field."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB