THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511030025
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By LEONARD I. RUCHELMAN
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Almost every day, it seems, there are announcements of high-profile companies that intend to move some of their operations to Hampton Roads. Prominently mentioned over the past few months are Avis, Trans World Airlines, Cannon Computer Systems, Panasonic, Gateway 2000 (PC manufacturing), United Parcel Service and MCI Communications Corp. These firms will be joining other recent Hampton Roads arrivals such as CIGNA Group Insurance, Household International, Issues and Answers Network, Competitive Media Reporting, Lillian Vernon Corp. and United Services Automobile Association.
The above firms provide new job opportunities and an expanded revenue base for local communities. To be noted, however, and of some disappointment to local officials, is that none of these moves represent a transfer of top corporate offices, and most of the positions being transferred are back-offices jobs - i.e., production jobs such as data processing, customer-service representatives, light manufacturing and telemarketers.
As compared to other southern cities, such as Atlanta, Richmond and Charlotte, Hampton Roads has not been able to attract a corporate headquarters of national ranking. It can boast of only one Fortune 500 company - Norfolk Southern Corp. Nevertheless, most people would agree that the potential for continued economic development is encouraging.
What is causing this recent growth surge in Hampton Roads? Answers could provide valuable insights as to how such growth could be better facilitated and perhaps upgraded to a higher level. One commonly heard response is that affordable wages, relatively low taxes and an amenable work force not subject to union militancy serve as incentives to outside firms seeking to relocate some of their activities.
But another often-ignored consideration is Hampton Roads' location in relation to other expanding agglomerations. To be noted is that the region is at the tail end of Eastern Seaboard ``megalopolis,'' a vast urbanized complex stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C., and known as BOSWASH. Here is where many of the nation's most influential corporations are headquartered and where decisions are made on questions of organization and location.
Virginia's urban corridor, ranging from Loudon County in Northern Virginia through Richmond and into Hampton Roads, has come to be recognized as an extension of BOSWASH. It is this area where 80 percent of Virginia's growth since 1950 has been concentrated and where 90 percent of the growth has taken place since the 1980s. Similar to the area around route 128 in the greater Boston region or the Silicon Valley in California, this is Virginia's high-tech corridor where the economies of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads are increasingly being drawn into new interdependencies, and these, in turn, are being increasingly linked to other economies primarily in the Northeast.
If Hampton Roads is to progress as a center of economic development, it must strengthen these linkages. Telecommunications combined with access to good air and ground transportation are critical elements. However, increasing congestion on the highways (I-64 and I-95) and summertime stoppages at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel pose serious impediments. Crowded airways also pose constraints in safety and convenience.
It can be argued, therefore, that the time has come to give serious consideration to a high-speed railroad connecting all key points from South Hampton Roads, through the Peninsula, through Richmond and into Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. It should not be viewed as a replacement for existing transportation modes but rather as an alternative that could provide more choices and complementary services.
Using the latest in technology, there are many good examples of fast, safe and efficient railways in Europe and Japan. In addition, such a proposed railway could serve as a rallying point for unifying Hampton Roads communities. For it relegates intraregional competition among communities to history and substitutes a broader vision of how the whole Hampton Roads region could benefit in preparing for the future. MEMO: Dr. Ruchelman is a professor of urban studies and public administration
at Old Dominion University. by CNB