
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 10, 1995                   TAG: 9501100093
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BUDGET CUTTING DOES NOT TARGET SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA, ALLEN SAYS

Gov. George Allen said Monday that critics who say his proposed budget cuts would fall more heavily on Southwest Virginia are dead wrong.

Allen said the budget had no hidden regional bias and that his administration has devoted considerable resources to economic development projects in the area. He cited the state's sizable contribution to a $30 million incentive package for an expansion of the Volvo-GM plant in Pulaski County.

Allen also noted that his budget did no harm to planning for the so-called ``Smart Road'' designed to speed travel between Roanoke and Virginia Tech and draw high-paying technology companies to the area.

``No other part of the state is asking, 'Why are you building this road?''' he said.

The Republican governor was responding to critics who claim the proposed $403 million cuts in state spending would be felt more heavily in the Roanoke area. In a recent editorial, the Roanoke Times & World-News offered up evidence that one-third of 30 museums and arts organizations hit with 50 percent cuts in state funding are located in the Roanoke Valley.

Allen said all so-called nonstate agencies were treated alike.

``I didn't just decrease funding for nonstate agencies in Southwest Virginia,'' he said.

by CNB