THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240493
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
I just got around to reading Money magazine's annual survey of best places to live in the United States - and wished I hadn't.
Norfolk and its six sisters around Hampton Roads dropped from the 63rd most livable locale to 224th of the nation's 300 largest metropolitan statistical areas.
Blundering into that story was like stepping through elevator doors opening into the shaft on the 22nd floor and discovering the elevator is at the bottom.
Talk about a free fall!
But, friends, take heart.
Did Money but look, it would have found a net at the 21st floor level, and this area will as usual bounce back despite statistics.
Money lacks credibility.
In the article's first paragraph it descries ``a few pockets of gloom, particularly in areas hit by military cutbacks such as Norfolk, Va., and Monterey, Calif. . . .''
Of course, cutbacks occur in military facilities and shipyards, and we wince at layoffs among ways on the Elizabeth and James rivers.
But the blow is cushioned by Norfolk's being the U.S. Naval Capital.
Often, when the shrinking federal defense budget requires closing of military facilities in other states, the Pentagon shifts services to the Norfolk Naval Base or some other site in Hampton Roads.
And despite reports that a proposed aircraft carrier would never survive the congressional ax, a new carrier has been scheduled for construction at Newport News Shipbuilding along with other projects in the offing.
Many congressmen feel a growing unease about cuts as troubles erupt around the globe. The United States is a superpower because it, and no other nation, has aircraft carriers, retired Adm. Harry Train noted recently. ``We own the sea.''
Money's analysis errs elsewhere, including its critique of the arts. The imposing Harrison Opera House rears on Norfolk's skyline, thanks to donors throughout the region. The Chrysler Museum in Norfolk has become a vast art object in itself. The Norfolk Botanical Garden and the Virginia Zoological Park are expanding; and newly opened Nauticus is geared to children intrigued with electronics. Harbor Park is a spanking-new baseball stadium.
Virginia Beach's highly successful Virginia Marine Science Museum is enlarging. And there's the enticing, avant-garde Virginia Beach Center for the Arts and, in Portsmouth, the growing, innovative Children's Museum. Across the water, Hampton has the Air and Space Museum, and Newport News, the Living Museum and the expanding Mariners' Museum.
There are seductive Virginia Beach and Ocean View, and, for naturalists, the Dismal Swamp shared by Chesapeake and Suffolk and 300 black bears. There's no room for boredom hereabouts.
Money computed ratings from statistics. It visited only the Top 10 cities and the bottom five.
To be on the money, look deeper next time, Money. by CNB