Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 22, 1994 TAG: 9412220105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The failure to win federal "enterprise community" status may stall redevelopment efforts in Roanoke's decaying and aging neighborhoods, delay ambitious plans for expanding job-training and child day-care programs, and slow small-business growth within the city, experts on the program said.
Nationwide, 520 communities applied for grants under the $3.8 billion Urban Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Communities programs, centerpieces of the Clinton administration's urban-renewal initiatives.
The White House announced the 105 winners Wednesday. Norfolk was the only city in Virginia to win enterprise community status and the $3 million in federal aid that goes along with it.
"It makes me sick. ... It's not the end of the world, but it certainly is a punch in the stomach," said Ted Edlich, president of Total Action Against Poverty, the local community-action agency.
The big winners in the federal sweepstakes were the six big cities designated as ``urban empowerment zones'': Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia-Camden, N.J. Each will be eligible for $100 million in extra social service aid and business tax breaks to lure industries to their areas.
Because it's relatively small, Roanoke never was really in the running for designation as an urban empowerment zone, but city officials had great hopes it would be named an enterprise community. Still, they expected stiff competition from the beginning.
The city's application was submitted last spring after an 11-week rush to come up with an urban-renewal plan. The process ultimately involved more than 125 people, including neighborhood leaders, businesspeople, government officials, church members and nonprofit agency representatives.
The Roanoke plan was adopted by City Council on March 14. It focused on seven census tracts where poverty levels exceed 25 percent, including the neighborhoods of Gainsboro, Gilmer, Old Southwest, downtown and parts of Southeast Roanoke.
Had the city's plan been accepted, businesses would have been eligible for tax incentives for expanding or relocating to the designated areas. Millions in social-service grants would have paid for job training, affordable housing, day care, housing rehabilitation and environmental-quality programs, said John Marlles, chief of community planning.
"We're obviously disappointed," he said. ``I'm inferring that it's a reflection of the fact that we're not as economically distressed as some older, inner-city areas of the country.''
Edlich noted that, demographically and politically, Norfolk may have been the best choice for the state's sole enterprise zone. One in four needy Virginians lives in the Tidewater area, and it is one of the state's few remaining Democratic strongholds.
Marlles said Roanoke's failure to gain the designation is not a total loss. The city intends to use information developed during the application process in drawing up a plan for future federal aid.
New guidelines require urban areas to submit a master plan for federal aid. Previously, different categories of federal money were handed out by four or five separate agencies. That required several different applications.
"It's like this: As a result of going through the enterprise communities strategic-planning process, we have a much better handle on the problems in the inner-core neighborhoods of the city than we would otherwise," Marlles said.
by CNB