Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200023
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Add Henry Street in Roanoke to the list? Maybe.
It's now called First Street, and it once was a happening place, where jazz greats like Louis Armstrong entertained throngs of people.
It could be a hot spot again, says longtime Roanoke businessman and civic leader Cabell Brand. A handful of developers and others apparently are talking about reviving the old, historically black neighborhood as a nightspot, he says.
A rejuvenated Henry Street could be one positive change for the Roanoke Valley for the year 2000, Brand predicts - if we play our cards right.
"I hope we do more and better long-range planning," says Brand, who heads the Cabell Brand Center in Salem. Brand is a strong proponent of "sustainable development," a term for sustaining a healthy environment while developing a secure economy. Planning is essential to achieving that, he says.
Five years from now, our game plan for sustainable development could revolve around "ecotourism," with such features as an entertainment center based in Henry Street, the renovated and improved Hotel Roanoke, a revived downtown, Explore Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, a network of "greenways" linking parks, the Roanoke River and other natural resources.
These enterprises could boost the local economy and improve quality of life, Brand points out. Other ventures that fit into the sustainable-development picture include:
Continuing to push the region as an ideal location for mail-order operations and distribution centers.
Brand ticked off about 10 such companies, starting with the Home Shopping Network center that grew out of Brand's shoe company. Others include the Orvis Co., Hanover Direct Inc. and its Tweeds Inc. subsidiary.
To its credit, Southwest Virginia is located within two days' drive of two-thirds of the U.S. population, and offers available workers and land, Brand says.
Such jobs don't pay as much as more traditional manufacturing, but they do provide opportunities for part-time work and flexible hours. And they are jobs, Brand says.
"There's no smokestack, no pollution," he says. The buildings, usually landscaped to blend in, don't need a lot of water and don't create much waste.
Staying on track as a target for technological firms, fiber optics and environmental engineering.
R. Frazier Inc. in Salem is an example of a local business providing an environmental service and jobs, Brand says. The company recycles computers and other electronics, with operations in Europe and Asia, and employs 70 people.
People who develop environmental technologies are generally environmentally sensitive people to begin with, Brand believes, and want to live in a clean, beautiful place - like Southwest Virginia.
Virginia Tech is the key here, with its research and development projects holding the potential for manufacturing jobs in our back yard.
Other communities have something to help enviro-entrepreneurs that Roanoke does not, Brand says: a pool of investment capital to help emerging environmental industries get start-up money.
"I think everything we do, we should have sustainable development in mind," he says. The New Century Council, a consortium of leaders and average folks from the Roanoke and New River valleys, is heading in this direction. A subcommittee, on which Brand serves, is focusing on sustainable development.
Brand looks upon the council as the beginning of the end of regional factionalism, which he sees as one of the major roadblocks to progress, any kind of progress. Rather than fighting among themselves to nail a big, new industry, local governments will turn to cooperative planning and encourage existing businesses and start-up businesses to grow, which is the root of most economic expansion, Brand says.
Maybe they can all celebrate the turn of the century with a night on the town.
On Henry Street, maybe.
by CNB