THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250385
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 54 lines
To spark regional discussion about job creation, the executive committee of the Hampton Roads Partnership on Wednesday laid out some of the strategic groundwork that it would address.
The Hampton Roads Partnership - a regional group encompassing 53 members of the military, business, educational, civic and political communities - was established to set the region's economic agenda and set priorities in core industries vital to the area's health.
At its first meeting, the executive committee decided to convene meetings with top military leaders and retired generals and admirals to discuss how to pursue privatization. A port development subcommittee announced it is working on a report about strategic partnerships that may be formed to serve as a catalyst for job creation.
Members of the technology subcommittee are considering forming a steering committee to oversee technology in Hampton Roads as well as a sub-team to promote that technology in the region.
Tourism team members will begin looking at tourism promotion activity and related efforts so that it can consider more regional coordination.
Transportation was deferred to a future meeting.
After recent elections, six cities in Hampton Roads have new mayors. They will become the new representatives for their cities on the Hampton Roads Partnership board. The new partnership board members are James Councill of Franklin, Joe Frank of Newport News, Gordon Hetsel of Poquoson, James W. Holley of Portsmouth, Thomas G. Underwood of Suffolk and Gil Granger of Williamsburg. Talmage Jones, the new Hampton Roads Civic League president, and Coast Guard Vice Adm. Kent Williams will replace their former counterparts on the partnership board as well.
The partnership's executive committee recommended that Mayor William Ward of Chesapeake replace former Suffolk mayor S. Chris Jones on the executive committee.
Executive committee members initiated discussion about how the partnership will relate to the Urban Partnership initiatives, Barry DuVal, president and executive director of Hampton Roads Partnership, said.
The Urban Partnership is a statewide consortium of cities and counties trying to promote more regional cooperation by changing laws that would consider revenue-sharing among cities and other proposals.
Temporarily housed in the NationsBank building in downtown Norfolk, the partnership will move into its permanent offices in the World Trade Center on Sept. 1.
DuVal, a former mayor of Newport News, will hire two people: a director of administration and communications, and an administrative coordinator. He is sorting through more than 300 applications for each position and plans to winnow the applicant pool to about 60.
The three-person office will occupy about 1,800 square feet of space under a five-year lease, said Donald Crigger, vice president and director of office leasing at Goodman Segar Hogan Hoffler. by CNB