Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 2, 1995 TAG: 9510020059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
OK, so naming an asymmetrical piece of Western Virginia is harder than naming the Roanoke pedestrian bridge. At least some of you tried.
An invitation by The Roanoke Times to phone in your ideas generated about 40 suggested names for our region, which the New Century Council - a group of business, government and civic leaders - has been tentatively calling the New Century Region until it can come up with something better.
The response was less than the outpouring of creativity on behalf of the bridge, which drew more than 300 suggestions in a similar poll.
Then again, you can touch the bridge. You can walk inside of it. It has escalators.
The New Century Region, by contrast, got its length and breadth quite artificially through the placement of lines on a map. It is a political creature, really, the result of a visioning group combining the turf of each valley's economic development organization and the Roanoke-based Fifth Planning District Commission.
New Century is a 2-year-old effort to prepare a 20-year plan written by residents, business leaders and government officials for improving the quality of life in the Roanoke and New River valleys and Alleghany Highlands.
And therein lies part of the challenge: naming a region that has only recently been thought of as a distinct place.
Henry Luke, a Jacksonville, Fla., consultant who helped in the early stages of the New Century vision process, says the New Century Council is on the right track to solicit suggestions, go through them and see if anything stands out.
"It's not so important which name is picked. It's that you stick with it for a long time," Luke said. "There will always be people who want to change it."
Whatever name is chosen, it should be built around Roanoke, or Roanoke Valley, said J.M. "Mike" Mullis, a prominent Tennessee consultant who helps companies nationwide find new homes and sites for branch plants. Many people recognize ``Roanoke,'' says Mullis, who is familiar with this area, having helped A.O. Smith Manufacturing of Wisconsin find its new factory site in Botetourt County.
"Quick identity is important," said Sheri Mullis, his wife, who relayed her husband's opinion to the newspaper in response to an inquiry.
The plan was finished in July, but its execution has only begun and much work lies ahead. To this date, you won't find a ``New Century'' anything in the phone book.
The name is to become a marketing tool for economic developers, an identity to be circulated wide and far and a phrase adorning tourism brochures.
Jack Byrd of Hardy evidently had tourism in mind when he conjured up ``Friendly Valley.''
Edith Wright, who lives outside Clifton Forge, told us ``Pathway of Beauty'' ought to be considered because of the area's stunning scenery. Mildred Sadler of Salem wondered if ``Dogwood Valley'' might work. Laura Bullock of Botetourt County said ``Valleys of Virginia'' had a nice ring. Todd Jennings of Hillsville suggested ``Mountainia.''
Those who brainstormed for a name no doubt discovered that the region of nine counties and five cities defies easy description. It is both rural and urban, level and rolling. Roanoke is its largest city, but Virginia Tech is a comparable economic force a 45-minute drive away. From overhead, looking down, the region resembles little more than an amoeba. There is no easy way to refer to all of it.
``Vista Tech'' was Roanoker Charles E. Salem Jr.'s suggestion.
One who has been thinking about the problem suggested dispensing with physical descriptions. The region is a corridor, says Edward Lester of Blacksburg. He suggested calling the it ``The Corporate Corridor.''
Anne Piedmont, research director at the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership, says she understood where Lester was going with his suggestion. "If you name it, it will come," she said.
But Corporate Corridor brings to mind a grove of big corporations akin to what one sees driving into Washington, D.C., on Interstate 66, she says. That's not us - not now, at least - though this area is home to a few big companies, including Advance Auto, and regional headquarters, such as those of Norfolk Southern and First Union National Bank of Virginia.
Lester is also headed in the right direction in suggesting a moniker that would evoke a positive image, says Bev Fitzpatrick, the New Century Council's executive director.
It seems to Fitzpatrick the region has two choices: a name based on geography or on a desired image. He prefers the latter, but stressed that is his personal view, not that of council leadership.
If it's an upbeat moniker the region wants, O.F. Hall of Blacksburg suggested ``Watershed Region of Virginia,'' because watershed means "looking ahead toward new and improved ways."
The problem with a name based on geography, Fitzpatrick says, is it may exclude other areas from joining. Many have suggested incorporating Blue Ridge into the name. ``Blue Ridge Valley.'' ``Blue Ridge Corridor.'' ``Blue Ridge-Tech Corridor'' all were suggested.
Such a name might be an unfortunate choice if, say, Henry County ever wanted to join, because it lies outside the Blue Ridge Mountains, Fitzpatrick said.
To be sure, communities have found workable names with a geographical slant. Stafford touts its location near D.C. with the phrase, "On the Capital Edge."
The case of Stafford also shows that a community can market itself by its regular name, followed by a catchy phrase. Chesapeake is given to saying, "Where Business Comes to Life."
The communities of Bristol and Johnson City and Kingsport, Tenn., decided this summer to call themselves Tri-Cities Tennessee/Virginia and to use the slogan, "Where America's Moving."
At the moment, however, the New Century Council seems to be seeking a name more than a slogan. The communities of Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem, N.C., are perhaps the closest to us to have successfully named themselves. They chose ``Piedmont Triad,'' and it has endured for years.
Many also point to North Carolina's Research Triangle, a private research and development park opened more than 30 years ago. The park got its name and purpose from three nearby universities: the University of North Carolina, Duke and North Carolina State.
Today, Research Triangle is in some circles synonymous with the greater Raleigh-Durham area, but that's a case of the communities naming themselves after something, rather than thinking up an original name.
Something similar happened to a state road near Boston where software, hardware and other high-tech companies do business in great numbers, in part to operate near MIT and Harvard. Because of the business distinction, the region is referred to as ``Route 128, America's Technology Highway,'' by those who promote the area.
The New Century Council would be pleased with something more along the lines of Silicon Valley. A newsletter writer in 1970 first used Silicon Valley for a center southeast of San Francisco for high-technology activities, especially microelectronics. The area is home to Cupertino-based Apple Computer. Fortune magazine gave Silicon Valley mainstream usage, and it has stuck.
Silicon Forest has since the mid 1980s referred to the area in and around Hillsboro, Ore., west of Portland. It is home to Intel and other technology firms and lush from ample rain.
The lessons appear to be: Highlight strengths, and be clever.
``Virginia's New Concept?'' ``The Old Dominion Combine?'' ``The Blue Ridge Industrial Plateau?''
If nothing seems to fit right now, that's OK. The choice can't be rushed, a geographer says. It may be better to wait and tackle other aspects of the vision, said Virginia Tech's Bob Morrill.
No region can equip itself with a name until its inhabitants feel a kinship, he said.
At this point, Morrill isn't sure conditions are right. "Do the people in Covington identify with the people in Christiansburg as being members of the same region? I doubt it ... and vice versa."
Then again, maybe we already have our name. Blue Ridge resident Nancy Young cast her vote for ``New Century.''
A NAME FOR OUR REGION?
The New Century Council wants to come up with a single name for the Roanoke Valley, the New River Valley and the Alleghany Highlands. These are the names suggested so far to the council and culled from a recent Roanoke Times poll:
o Alleghany Alliance
o Appalachian Industrial Plateau
o Blue Ridge Industrial Plateau
o Appalachian Jewel
o Blue Ridge
o Blue Ridge Basin
o Blue Ridge Corridor
o Blue Ridge-Tech Corridor
o Blue Ridge Triad
o Blue Ridge Valley
o Com-Ban
o Coalition Corridor
o Confluent
o Corporate Corridor
o Dogwood Valley, Region or Belt
o Favored Valley, Region or Belt
o Friendly Valley
o Gateway Corridor
o Greater Roanoke area
o Greater Western Virginia Region
o Green Corridor
o Heartland of Virgnia
o Highland River Valleys
o Letein Area
o Mountainia
o Mountain Empire
o Mountain Region
o Mountain Valley Plateau Paradise
o New Century
o New Economy Region
o New Opportunity Zone
o New-Roanoke Valleys of Virginia
o New Valley
o New Virginia
o Ninead Counties
o Nine County Region
o Old Dominion Combine
o Pathway of Beauty
o Progress Region
o Region 13
o Rising Star Region of Virginia
o Roanoke-Tech Corridor
o Smart Valley
o Southern Highlands
o Southern Horizon
o Southwest Virginia - Tech Corridor
o Star Mountain Empire
o Starnet
o Star Region of Roanoke
o Star Region of Virginia
o Star Triad
o Southern Highlands Summit
o Tech-Blue Ridge Corridor
o Technology Triangle
o Three River Combine of Virginia
o Three Rivers Valley
o Twin Valley Region
o Twin River Valleys
o Valley-Ridge
o Valley and Highlands Region
o Valley Highlands
o Valleys of Virginia
o Valley-N-Vistas
o Virginia's New Concept
o Virginia's New Horizons
o Vista Tech
o Vistas
o Watershed Region
o Western Gateway
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The New Century Council said it will continue searching for a name without any deadline for making a decision. Suggestions can be mailed to the council at Crestar Plaza, Suite 675, Box 18084, Roanoke, 24014. Submissions may be faxed to (540)982-3954 or sent over the Internet to this e-mail address: new.centurybev.net
by CNB