THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610190016
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 60 lines
Forward Hampton Roads has kicked off a campaign to raise $10 million by announcing that it has already raised $5 million. That suggests the group, the economic-development arm of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, has got the right slogan - The Time Is Now.
It isn't easy to keep track of the many groups dedicated to regional cooperation and progress, but with this campaign Forward Hampton Roads has clearly made itself the lead dog in the hunt for more and better jobs.
Forward Hampton Roads is a public-private partnership. Co-chairs include all five South Hampton Roads mayors and private-sector leaders from business, education and ports. The campaign is being energetically chaired by John Matson of Signet Bank.
The goals of the group are simple and ambitious: to create 20,000 new industrial jobs in the next five years, to attract $1.2 billion in capital investment and to close the large per-capita wage gap between the region and the nation.
This is urgent business. Hampton Roads is being badly outspent and outperformed in the search for new employers and outside investment. Competitor cities like Richmond, Charlotte and Jacksonville spend two, three, five times as much on the chase.
The region's failure to attract more and better jobs means that Hampton Roads has lagged 15 competing regions in per-capita-income growth for more than a decade. Members of the younger generation must leave Hampton Roads in search of well-paid employment.
Forward Hampton Roads will target prospective employers and try to recruit them. It will market the region to the nation and the world, establish a regional data base, host red-carpet visits and generally sell what Hampton Roads has to offer.
All five cities are being asked to contribute one dollar per resident per year for five years. That would raise half of the $10 million needed. The mayors are aboard and Suffolk and Portsmouth have made the first-year commitment already. Private companies are also being solicited and many have pitched in. They are doing so not just in a spirit of corporate good citizenship but of economic self-interest. Their continued prosperity is predicated on regional growth and competitiveness.
Forward Hampton Roads is no panacea. It has a narrowly defined mission - to sell the region. Hampton Roads has much to recommend it, but it also has weaknesses that must be addressed. Improved access to I-95 and I-85 is essential. Traffic congestion must be eased. Public-education and training programs must produce a quality work force. A pool of business sites is needed. A hub airport would help. And a reliable, abundant supply of water is paramount.
Making those improvements lies outside the scope of Forward Hampton Roads, but for the effort to succeed in its mission such problems must be solved. The very existence of Forward Hampton Roads gives hope.
The fact that the group has raised so much money so fast and attracted so many top public and private leaders indicates that there's fundamental agreement that regional cooperation is essential. Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach should hasten to join their sister cities in funding the effort. If Hampton Roads doesn't move forward now, Hampton Roads will be left behind. by CNB