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

DATE: SUNDAY, April 9, 1995                   TAG: 9504100041
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`IF YOU'RE NOT MOVING FORWARD ... '

SUPPORTERS of economic growth in the Roanoke region say the region must grow more businesses and jobs or it will wither and die.

If the region wants to provide its young people opportunities and a reason to stay here, then it must create more and better jobs, the supporters of growth say.

"Moderate growth is good," says Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Economic Development Partnership. "If you're not moving forward, you're moving backward."

Others are wary, saying more growth will lead to crowded highways, polluted air and streams and the destruction of the natural beauty that is integral to the quality of life in the region.

"There are people who don't want another structure built in Roanoke," observes Wayne Strickland, executive director of the Fifth Planning District Commission.

Despite the debate over growth, the region has been growing, though at a slower pace than the state as a whole.

The population, the number of people employed and the wealth of the region all have climbed to higher levels over the past 15 years.

Those who study such things in universities say regional economies are in some ways similar to ecological systems. Old businesses die and new ones come on to take their place. If more businesses are being born than are dying, the region is growing.

But not necessarily developing, says Tom Johnson, an economist at Virginia Tech. Economic development requires that the new businesses provide better-paying jobs and that the standard of living of people improves.

Providing good growth for the region - economic growth that generates better-paying and high-skilled jobs as well as entry-level jobs and jobs for those with low skills - can be better assured, observers say, by something we have not done very well historically: Planning.

In today's Horizon section, a new installment in our Peril & Promise series takes a look at the issue of growth and how we can make it work for us rather than against us.

by CNB