THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120375
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, PHILIP WALZER AND ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Gov. George F. Allen and Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim have struck a deal to save Tidewater Community College's Norfolk campus from the budget ax.
Allen will stick to his plan to cut $1.25 million in funding for the campus for the 1995-96 year, but he will maintain the state's promise to provide up to $1.3 million annually for the subsequent 20 years.
Fraim said the city would make up the $1.25 million with other public and private funds.
``We're delighted that the governor has agreed to let the project go forward,'' Fraim said. ``I'm confident that the campus will be built and the school will open on time'' in fall 1996.
News of the deal was sprung on local delegates Wednesday - as was the governor's original announcement last month that he intended to eliminate funding for the campus. They were angered both times for being kept in the dark.
State Secretary of Education Beverly Sgro said Wednesday that, during a private after-Christmas meeting with the governor, Fraim convinced Allen that the project was worthwhile.
A key factor, Sgro said, was that the federal government last month named Norfolk an ``Enterprise Community,'' recognizing the city's efforts to restore downtown.
In a letter faxed to Fraim on Wednesday, Allen wrote that the enterprise designation ``demonstrates the importance of the community college campus to your job-creating efforts.''
He said he also was swayed by the project's potential to create jobs and by the city's willingness to find other sources for the $1.25 million.
``This accords with my strong conviction that taxpayer dollars should not be committed where private sector resources can instead be utilized,'' Allen wrote.
Sgro said that state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, had agreed to introduce legislation this session to provide state support to pay for the project's completion, including $1.3 million for 1996.
``I'm delighted to be able to say there is a resolution to this,'' Sgro told members of the state Senate finance subcommittee on education.
Sgro broke the news to members of the panel during a contentious meeting to discuss details of Allen's budget. Instead of rejoicing, Hampton Roads legislators on the panel reacted as if they'd been slapped in face.
Norfolk Democrat Stanley C. Walker, the city's senior senator, and Senate Majority Leader Hunter B. Andrews, D-Hampton, angrily demanded to know why the governor had not consulted them. They also were incensed that Allen had turned to Stolle to carry the legislation when Norfolk's legislative delegation, including Walker and House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., D-Norfolk, has been working for years on the TCC project.
``I've been up here a long time, and I've never experienced anything like this,'' Walker said. ``It's not right.''
``It's a discourtesy,'' Andrews said. ``It's so difficult to cooperate when the lines of communication are not open.''
Walker said Allen's backpedaling ``goes to prove what many people think, that the governor didn't give any real thought to this budget.''
Sgro said the governor developed the budget before the federal government's recognition of Norfolk, which highlighted the important role the campus played in the city's downtown economic development plans. Sgro also said that Fraim had asked the governor to reconsider.
``This is a state responsibility; it's not a city college,'' Andrews snapped back.
After the meeting, Walker said he still was unclear what the deal meant for the project.
``I hope certainly the governor has seen the light and we can proceed,'' Walker said. ``It may be a happy moment. I just think the administration mishandled the thing.''
TCC President Larry L. Whitworth had no such reservations.
``I'm thrilled that we've finally gotten it back on the table,'' he said. ``I was reasonably confident that once all the information came to light, it would be put back in place, but I'm surprised that it has come back this quickly.''
Local political and education leaders had put restoration of the campus at the top of their legislative wish list. The campus, expected to draw 5,000 to 10,000 students a year, is seen as a linchpin for the economic development of downtown Norfolk.
The campus will provide job training to help low-income residents get jobs at the planned MacArthur Center shopping mall.
City leaders say the campus helped them win $33 million in federal loans for the mall, as well as the enterprise designation.
``There are a lot of economic implications,'' Whitworth said, ``but the main aspect is that it provides access to higher education for thousands of people who don't have it. . . . Our current campuses are not readily accessible for people without cars.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Bill Tiernan, Staff
The campus, a key to downtown's economy, is to open in fall 1996 in
the former Smith & Welton on Granby Street.
KEYWORDS: TIDEWATER COMMUNITY COLLEGE NORFOLK CAMPUS GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB