Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250031
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: G3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEVERLY FITZPATRICK JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As we began the process, two things were apparent.
First, with re-engineering, downsizing and mergers, many decisions affecting our future were being made outside the region. More than 8,000 people were to be out of work within 50 miles of Roanoke. The real question: Who is really determining our future, us or them?
Second, we continued to see many of our brightest young people leave the area because they could not find good jobs. The question: Why are we giving away our greatest asset, our children, to the Raleighs, Richmonds and Charlottes of the world?
The resounding answer from more than 1,000 volunteers of The New Century Council was that we want to control all we can and we want to stop the brain drain caused by our young people leaving the New Century Region.
To focus on these issues, these 1,000-plus people spent thousands of hours and met hundreds of times to assemble strategies, action steps and timelines that could create a preferred future for the nine-county, five-city region.
The critical element in this document is to remember who wrote it - the citizens of the New Century Region. We know of no other area of the United States where more than 1,000 citizens from all walks of life assembled to dream about what their region might become.
Clearly, they love the quality of life the region provides, and they want to protect it. However, they also understand that to create better jobs for ourselves and our children, growth must be part of that preferred future. The real question: How do we ensure that we manage growth in the New Century Region instead of letting it manage us?
These people dreamed about the future and catalogued their ideas about what we can accomplish by working together. Time and time again. they concluded that in a global economy we could accomplish much more by working together to better everyone's future. We can no longer afford to face the future as individual communities, nor can we expect the citizens to pay for the false luxury of non-cooperation.
Some ideas might seem far-reaching and unbelievable, and surely will have their critics. But, these volunteers have shown the essential ingredient we need to have a great future - involvement!
Citizens of the New Century Region need to be involved and proactive in making a positive future a reality.
We in Western Virginia seem frequently to forget that we can determine our own future. If we do not, someone else surely will determine it for us. We cannot afford to let that happen. We, the citizens, the backbone of the region, must be the leaders of our own preferred future.
What are the larger issues that cut across the lines of our 26 committees and the thoughts of more than 1,000 participants?
We need a positive regional identity, a name to be proud of and rally around. We need to focus on higher education and research, the economic engines of our future.
We need to cooperate meaningfully and must develop a regional advocate to stand up for our best interests in Richmond and Washington. And, we need to train and retrain our citizens for the jobs likely to be created in the region over the next 20 years.
All in all, these New Century volunteers did a wonderful job. They have created a plan for a positive future for the region by sharing their ideas and dreams.
They have made democracy a reality in the region. If something is citizen-driven, it is democracy in action, and it lets the most important people, the citizens, decide their future.
These volunteers are to be congratulated and, more important, given assistance by even more citizens to ensure that the New Century vision becomes reality.
It has been a privilege to participate in this exciting project. Our thanks to the citizens of the region for a job well-done. They have truly made a difference shaping the future of the New Century Region.
If you would like to participate in the implementation of these citizen-driven ideas, please call us in the New River Valley at 540-231-8931, or the Roanoke Valley at 540-982-3720. We need your help.
Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. of Roanoke is director of the New Century Council.
\ Editor's note: The New Century Council, a citizens' effort to craft a 20-year vision for the region and strategies for reaching it, this summer issued a 250-page report filled with ideas and proposals.
Earlier this month, we asked readers to comment on the council and its ideas. Responses were published Tuesday in a Readers Forum on this page.
We also plan to publish commentaries from time to time by people with particular interest in specific ideas in the report. To kick them off, we asked Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr., the council's director, to comment on the New Century process in general.
by CNB