Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 27, 1994 TAG: 9408290034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"That's not our affair anymore," Marlis Flynn, Alliance president, said of the Oct. 15 festival.
The move came after remarks this week from Town Councilman Junior Black terming any town support of Count Pulaski Day a "subsidy" for Main Street merchants.
"I have yet to get a subsidy check from this town," said J.B. Cruise, who manages Old World Carpets.
Blacks' comments were printed in an article in Thursday's New River Current on council's Finance Committee's failure to fund the full $2,896 requested by downtown business people to publicize and line up entertainment for Count Pulaski Day.
The committee came up with no amount to recommend, although one suggestion was to fund half of the request. The full council will have to make the decision.
Main Street merchants were upset and angry Friday, and some of that spilled over into an economic development meeting held at noon at the Bonfires Restaurant in Dublin.
The meeting, the last in a series on a five-year economic development plan for the town, ended with a recommendation that council adopt the five-year plan at its Sept. 6 session. The plan goes on to recommend that the town hire an economic development and marketing director for the community.
Paul Etzel, owner of the Renaissance Restaurant, questioned whether council would fund an economic development plan if it would not put up $2,800 to continue a festival with a 20-year history in Pulaski.
"You have a lot of people that are a little bit upset," said Karen Graham, owner of the Somethin' Fishy pet shop.
Councilman John Stone, who organized the economic development initiative shortly after his election to Pulaski Town Council, pointed out that council had not even seen the plan. He expressed confidence that it would be supported by most council members.
"It's not going to die," agreed Councilman Roy D'Ardenne. "I'm not saying that every budget request that comes up is going to be funded" but, he said, the majority of council is behind continuing the business expansion that has been taking place downtown in recent years.
He and Town Manager Tom Combiths noted that no funding request for Count Pulaski Day had ever been made to council, and may have taken some members by surprise.
"It just gets frustrating," Etzel said. "What I envisioned is that all the work that's been done here in the past weeks is going to come to an abrupt halt." He said he was glad to learn that was not so.
The draft plan got unanimous backing Friday from business and governmental leaders who have been working on it for six weeks.
Stone, following up on a suggestion from outside the committee, proposed that the town be divided into eight sectors to hold periodic community meetings. One of the eight council members would attend each meeting.
"I thought it was kind of a neat idea," Stone said. So did the rest of the group, which agreed to add it to the plan.
The plan calls for council to set goals, fund an annual work plan, review the program and modify it as needed. The director would recruit new business, draft the overall program as directed by council and keep council up to date on progress of the five-year plan.
The plan envisions a council-appointed board of economic development to work with the director and council on economic programs and maintain communication among economic development organizations to prevent overlapping.
by CNB