THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
History repeats itself and change is slow. A headline in the July 30, 1964, Virginian-Pilot read ``Regional Action Urged.''
The article, by Raymond L. Bancroft, Virginian-Pilot staff writer, began, ``Tidewater Virginia must shift its economic gears and develop a framework of regional politics to meet the challenge of a changing urban society.''
He continued, ``That's the theme of a 1,500-word Statement of Goals for the Tidewater Region, prepared by a group of 28 prominent area citizens who attended the recent Urban Policy Conference.''
The signers of the document came from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake; they had participated in the Norfolk Urban Policy Conference.
Thirty-two years later, the headlines in The Virginian-Pilot are similar, only changing ``Tidewater'' to ``Hampton Roads.'' I hope the responses and action toward regionalism will not wait another quarter-century or more.
JAMES E. ETHERIDGE JR.
Norfolk, Feb. 21, 1996 by CNB