THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604070191
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
More than once over the past couple of months, I've been asked why I haven't weighed in with an opinion about the proposed 20,000-seat arena for South Hampton Roads.
The answer is simple: I haven't gotten around to hiring a consultant.
I intended to hire a consultant but, to be honest, I still haven't advertised for the position.
It's much easier, I find, to come up with reasons not to hire one.
Or to make the hiring process so convoluted and lengthy that no real decisions must be made for months and months, maybe years.
It's not that I wouldn't appreciate the opportunity, now and then, to consult with someone.
Perhaps a consultant could tell me if Virginia Beach actually is interested in joining with other cities to make the arena a reality.
Or if the Beach's transparent policy of foot dragging is a strategy for eventually killing the project.
What was it Virginia Beach council member W.W. ``Billy'' Harrison Jr. said the other day?
``Our failure to participate in this initial stage ... might give a negative bent to the outcome of the study. It might be concluded that Virginia Beach isn't going to be a participant, isn't going to be a regional player.''
Whatever would lead anybody to think that?
Next thing you know, someone will accuse the Beach City Council of a craven, selfish attempt to protect its own interests at the expense of the entire region.
Not that I would ever do this. Not without first checking with a consultant.
I wonder, though: If I ever get around to hiring my own consultant, won't he or she simply try to tell me what I want to hear?
I don't know much about the consulting racket, but if it's like any other business, the goal is to please the customer.
I don't think you stay in the consulting game very long if you make a habit of telling the people who pay your salary what they don't want to hear.
So if South Hampton Roads officials believe the area's corporate base is strong enough to purchase at least 40 luxury boxes at $50,000 apiece, I suspect that a consultant would arrive at the same conclusion.
If the consensus of the region's 15 localities is that downtown Norfolk is the most logical site for a new arena, it would not shock me to hear a consultant say the same thing.
And seeing as how the region is interested in attracting an NBA franchise, it should not catch anyone off guard when the consultant's report rates South Hampton Roads as fertile ground for pro basketball.
In all this discussion, though, one question remains unasked: Who will consult the public?
If the probable fashion for financing the arena is a region-wide sales tax, isn't it only right to ask citizens if they wish to pay the freight?
It's naive, of course, to think that the world works this way.
Here's how it works: Whether hired by the Sports Authority of Hampton Roads (as desired by the Beach council) or the Greater Norfolk Corporation (as every other city wants), any consultant worth his expense account will return with a report favorable to the political consensus.
In prolonging an already tedious process, all Virginia Beach has managed to do is once again reveal its ancient animosity toward Norfolk.
A consultant, if one ever is found, would advise the resort town to move on. by CNB