ROANOKE TIMES Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310045 SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
NOT EVEN THE MARKETING PROS could come up with a name for our region that the planners liked better than the working title.
This is the New Century Region. It's official.
So reports the New Century Council, whose nearly yearlong quest to give the region a name ended with a decision to keep the old name. You'll see it on billboards this summer.
The phrase "New Century" was intended from the start as a temporary, working title for a regional planning effort headed by Western Virginia business and government leaders.
The one who suggested it was John Lambert, head of a Roanoke public relations firm. That was in 1993, as the planning body set up its board of directors and launched a series of public meetings. In those sessions, residents of the Roanoke and New River valleys and Alleghany Highlands wrote a vision for better schools, economy, government, health care and general living standards. The effort was funded by a $600,000 state grant.
In the 11 months since the planning document was completed, the New Century Council's leaders called on residents to suggest a new name by which the region could be known to the world. They said a good name would jazz up marketing of the area to prospective employers and tourists.
The hope was that somebody would come up with something as clever, say, as Silicon Valley, which refers to the region around San Jose, Calif., inhabited by computer pioneers.
The region's creative juices flowed, and a suggestion list grew. Among the names on it were "The Friendly Valley," "Blue Ridge Corridor," The New Opportunity Zone" and "Bev's Villages." The latter presumably was in honor of Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr., the council's executive director.
But in the council's boardroom, the suggestions hit with a thud. "There wasn't something that just caught everybody's imagination," said Thomas Brock, chairman of the New Century Council.
The council also consulted at least 50 advertising and public relations firms - all the listings in every phone book in the region - with no better result, Fitzpatrick said.
With nothing that surpassed New Century, the board voted in March to stick with the original name. Brock said the council should have put out an announcement at the time, but didn't. Fitzpatrick revealed the decision in an interview Thursday.
"The feeling is pretty strongly that there is an identity that the New Century Council has developed that is important not to lose," Brock said. In the circles in which Brock moves, which include various planning and business organizations, the New Century name comes up often, he said.
Mamie Vest, a Roanoke image consultant who offered her advice to the council, said the New Century name "speaks with freshness, energy and a positive attitude toward the future. It has been tested, and the investment made thus far in promotion, community volunteer involvement and monetary expenditures should not be lost to reinvent" a new name.
Reaction from those who submitted names was mixed.
"I think my name sounds better, but that's all right," said Mildred Sadler of Salem, who recommended "Dogwood Valley."
Laura Bullock, a Botetourt County resident and spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, had submitted "Valleys of Virginia."
She said the New Century name, "on one hand, has been around long enough that a lot of local people are recognizing it. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to do what I thought they set out to do, and that was to come up with some kind of definition for the region to make it more real for people who aren't familiar with our area."
H. James Gear of Roanoke, who suggested "The New Valley" and "Valley Highlands," worried that even though New Century doesn't refer directly to Roanoke, the council and name were born in Roanoke and that could be a turnoff for New River Valley residents.
"There's not really any reaction I have to it at all, because I don't think it really says anything," Gear said.
In an unrelated matter, three Southwest Virginia localities have joined the New Century Council process, becoming the first new members.
Wythe County and the towns of Wytheville and Rural Retreat are now partners in the plan to improve area living standards during the next 20 years. The communities had asked to participate, and Bland County is expected to follow suit.
The council has established seven implementation committees and has commitments of participation from 44 organizations and government agencies, Fitzpatrick said.
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