DATE: Tuesday, November 25, 1997            TAG: 9711250005

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 
                                            LENGTH:   88 lines

LOCAL LEADERS DO SEATTLE: HOME OF HIGH TECH TO ATTRACT AND GROW HIGH-TECH COMPANIES, FOCUS ON EDUCATION AND TRANSPORTATION.

If Hampton Roads is going to prosper, it's got to enter and prevail in the global competition to attract high-tech jobs and those who create them.

Sixty government, business and education leaders from Hampton Roads flew to Seattle recently to learn how that hotbed of entrepreneurs developed its high-tech-based economy.

The trip was co-sponsored by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and the Hampton Roads Partnership, an organization of public and private leaders. That it was made at all speaks to the growing recognition among local leaders that a regional effort is required if Hampton Roads is to move forward.

As things stand, Hampton Roads' percentage of the state economy has been sliding, from 23.2 in 1969 to 18.7 in 1996, then up a tick to 18.8 today. Incomes here are a well below the state and national averages.

The six-hour flight to Seattle placed in close quarters public and private leaders who do not communicate with each other day to day. Alphabetical seating on the plane, for example, put the Virginia Beach mayor next to the the Norfolk city manager. Perhaps bonds were built that will bear fruit sooner or later. We can hope.

The message that Seattle area business and government leaders delivered was simplicity itself. To be in the high-tech ballgame, a metropolitan region must have:

Good schools. Without an educated work force, a region won't even be considered by high-tech companies. Most high-tech jobs require at least two years of education beyond high school, and high-tech employees expect excellent schools for their kids. Hampton Roads could truthfully claim, ``Our public schools are only a little below average.'' With high-tech companies, that is not good enough.

A world-class research university. The knowledge developed at the University of Washington in Seattle has spawned high-tech companies. Knowledge is the name of the high-tech game. One official defined a high-tech company as one that spends 10 percent or more of its budget on research and development.

Adequate transportation. Companies will settle where their employees can get to work and their products can get to market.

A physical and cultural environment that attracts smart people. Companies will locate where their employees want to live. Because the competition for high-tech employees is so great, they can choose where to live. They won't choose a region with dirty air, bad schools, clotted roads, low culture. They want amenities.

Affordable housing.

Entrepreneurial spirit and venture capital. Seattle has entrepreneurial fever. Hampton Roads is moving in that direction, but its decades of dependence on the military produced an inertia that is difficult to overcome.

Regional cooperation. King County contains 37 cities, including Seattle. If Washington had Virginia's absurd independent-city system, in which cities and counties are separate, King County would be in a fix. Instead, King County has considerable control over regional activities, so coordinated efforts are possible.

The message Hampton Roads leaders received was not news to them, but hopefully it reinforced what they were beginning to understand.

Provide transportation. Improve the public schools. Protect the environment. Nurture the community colleges and universities. Compete aggressively. Good times will follow.

King County has a record of identifying problems and solving them. For example, two years ago a $3.9 billion transportation referendum passed. The can-do spirit there is remarkable.

Interestingly enough, that region is in the process of imposing a car tax and has ruled out toll roads because they slow the flow of traffic. Here, of course, the car tax may be removed, whatever the cost to education, and there's talk of more toll roads in order to keep taxes low.

Seattle leaders seem to have a clear vision of what high-tech companies want and what's required to produce that environment. They've studied what their competitors are doing. They noted that Japan, too, is focusing on transportation, education and housing.

Everywhere Seattle looked, the centerpiece to economic progress was education. Strong backs used to matter. Strong minds are what count today. Schools make minds strong.

Local city councils too often view education as a regrettable expense that leaves less for their pet projects. In fact, without its research university, without its community colleges and capable public schools, Seattle might have nice industrial development parks, but it wouldn't be a high-tech giant. Business leaders in Hampton Roads seem to have a greater appreciation of education than elected leaders do.

Hampton Roads leaders need to visit at least a city a year to see what works and doesn't. Other metropolitan regions have been making such visits for more than a decade.

It's a safe bet that all successful regions will have some combination of the same essential ingredients. If Hampton Roads hopes to get in the game, it too must improve transportation and schools.

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