THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503090217
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ron Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
The year 2020 seems so far in the future that many of us don't even feel it's worth worrying about yet.
So I wasn't all that interested when I got the invitation to participate in a forum designed to make sure life is still good on the Outer Banks a fifth of the way through the 21st century.
But slowly it came to me that 2020 is but a quarter of a century away - and I may still be paying off my house loan.
Although it sounds like never-never land, 2020 is only as far from now as 1995 was in 1970.
And to many of us, 1970 seems like only yesterday.
Unfortunately, in 1970 nobody really was concerned about what life would be like on the Outer Banks 25 years in the future. That was too bad, because thoughtful people looking ahead might have been able to prevent many of the problems that plague us today.
Those problems are going to get worse in coming years if we don't do something about them. That's why the Outer Banks Community Foundation asked a cross-section of residents to ``Create the Vision for the Outer Banks in 2020.''
About 45 of us met for two hours Wednesday and talked about what we would like to see happen in the next 25 years to retain the charm, the beauty, the feeling of safety that keeps natives on the Banks in Dare, Hyde and Currituck counties and lures newcomers from far-away places.
There were lots of suggestions. Here are some of the proposals that seemed to have wide support:
Control development in such a way that the small-town atmosphere is preserved.
Curb crime so people will continue to feel safe on the streets, the beaches, and in their homes.
Provide a water and sewage system that will be healthy and adequate in a growing community.
Develop income-producing activities to broaden the revenue beyond tourism and provide year-round jobs.
Establish a four-year college focused on marine studies.
Protect the wetlands, the beaches, the forests, the sounds and other environmental attractions.
Preserve the fish supply for both commercial and recreational fishermen.
Establish recreational facilities and programs up and down the Outer Banks for youths and for adults.
Set up an efficient public transportation system.
Improve health care.
Develop a cultural center.
Provide affordable housing for the less-affluent among us.
Improve the educational system at all levels.
Unite the various governments and agencies into a single, more-efficient community.
The last item was listed by many of those in the forum. Most agreed that merging the various entities on the Outer Banks is the key to addressing many of our other needs.
But consolidation also probably must overcome the most roadblocks before it can become reality.
The needs and the goals of the counties and the towns vary drastically. Southern Shores faces different problems than Ocracoke. Manteo's needs are different than those at Corolla.
Merger would eliminate jobs, titles, prestige, positions of power. Nobody gives up those things easily.
But accomplishing many of the other goals would require support from up and down the Outer Banks. A transportation system, a cultural center, a college .
And the communities and the people of the Outer Banks have long and proud traditions of independence. Parochialism won't go away overnight.
So when you tote up our needs and our hopes, and check off the number of obstacles that can keep us from achieving those dreams, 2020 doesn't seem very far away at all. by CNB