Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407060057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Such a vision could become a reality with the support of community and business leaders and other Roanoke Valley jurisdictions, Bowers said Tuesday in his 1994 State of the City speech to City Council.
Naming the concept an "urban Explore Park," the mayor proposed spending $2.4 million on a linear park between the City Market and the struggling museum three blocks west. Construction could begin as early as 1996.
Bowers proposed the city grant another $800,000 to the museum - if it raised matching funds - to install a new facade and features such as interactive exhibits, high-tech movie screens and computer-generated virtual reality features.
Properly spruced up and sporting the latest in technological gizmos, the museum would be a magnet attracting tourists and conventioneers, Bowers believes. Heading east along the raised walkway, visitors would end up at the market, a giant vacuum for their dollars.
Improving the museum also could revitalize Campbell Avenue west of Jefferson Street; many storefronts in the area are empty, Bowers said.
The project would be funded through general obligation bonds, if voters approve.
Council is scheduled to vote on the city's capital improvement program Monday. The item is mentioned in a list of new projects. Council could put it on the ballot and secure the funding this year or may devote only planning money to the project. City Manager Bob Herbert said the time to complete the project likely would run five to nine years, provided the interest is there.
The mayor likened the idea to successful initiatives in other major cities - he mentioned New Orleans and Baltimore - where decaying downtowns have been turned into tourist meccas.
"Here in Roanoke, we began our downtown re-creating in 1979, just 15 years ago. We can't be through yet. The job is not completed. Re-creation must be continual and evolutionary," he said.
City officials are to begin brainstorming for the project this summer during a meeting with Disney representatives, state tourism officials and operators of Norfolk's new Nauticus facility - an urban waterfront park and tourist attraction.
"Our hope is to elevate the planning on a Transportation Museum facility to an interactive attraction that will be grand enough in scope to become a destination attraction, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to Roanoke. We need to develop an interactive facility that appeals to the families of the 1990s and beyond," Bowers said.
Other features the mayor envisions would include a small amphitheater next to Warehouse Row and a 10-mile passenger railroad loop around the valley to give visitors "a true railroad experience," he said.
The mayor said he has been kicking the idea around with Herbert for more than a year. Disney, which is trying to win approval for a gigantic theme park off Interstate 66 west of Manassas, was brought into the picture after Herbert broached the idea to the state tourism office.
"This was something that Disney was willing to do in order to help all of the commonwealth, instead of one particular section," Herbert said.
But Disney would help only with designing the linear park, Bowers stressed.
Bowers stressed that the development of the museum and park could take place only as a regional effort, much like the long-awaited Explore Park in Roanoke County that opened over the weekend.
However, the city spurned funding Explore for the first eight years of its development, until council granted the project $50,000 this year, only weeks before its opening.
"We're not asking [other jurisdictions] for any money," Bowers said. "What we're asking for is their support."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***