http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/river_city The News Virginian's River City 2020 project to help spur economic development in Waynesboro. en rwolverton@newsvirginian.com Copyright 2009 2009-03-27T21:01:03+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/unity_of_purpose/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/unity_of_purpose/#When:21:01:03Z Finding common ground on the vital topic of economic development. Among postmodernism’s maladies is what theologian J. Gresham Machen identified three generations ago as a hositility to precision in saying what we mean. “Indeed,“ Machen said, “nothing makes a man more unpopular in the controversies of the present day than an insistence upon definition of terms.“ Perhaps it’s my conservatism that makes me cherish that quote enough to have cited it frequently in print and again here. That probably also explains my distaste for lexicographers altering definitions, quite frequently to adjust for the gross misuse of terms, thus defiling what I like to think of as “A Second Good Book,“ the dictionary. So what does this have to do with economic development? Nothing. I just enjoy thinking about words. Now to resume rambling: Alterations to terms sometimes have benefits. The definition of conservative, for example, has been amended to include this from Merriam Webster’s: “... a philosophy calling for lower taxes, limited government regulation of business and investing, a strong national defense, and individual financial responsibility for personal needs ...“ Conservatism does not entail aversion to all change, as its definition commonly has been written, to the exclusion of even the implication of deeper philosophical views. In the case of economic development—ah, so there is a point!—conservatives see value in change done rightly just the same as many Democrats recognize the necessity of spending smartly and within means. People from both sides of the aisle (and, might I suggest, both factions) recognize the importance of the local economy to the community’s short- and long-term health. As River City board member Chris Graham said recently (in effect): “Economic development is not a partisan issue.“ That’s why in forming the River City 2020 board, we’ve been intentional about pulling in people from all philosophical walks, including Chris, chairman of the local Democratic Party, and Reo Hatfield, a conservative who has rubbed elbows with Sean Hannity. Among the ulterior aims is to demonstrate to others (hints here) that people of views widely divergent and strongly held can find common ground, and all without selling their souls. This is especially true when the subject is the good of Waynesboro. We know our elected city leaders know this as well as we do. To their credit, they’re going about finding that common ground practically every day. Our goal is to push that spirit of cooperation—not compromise, mind you; Webster’s will show you the difference between the terms—into the realm of economic development. We are supremely confident in the possibility of this. Because whatever our ideologies, each of us on the River City board and in the elected ranks of City Hall is one on building a better Waynesboro. What we hope is that all will recognize not the importance of economic development—for all know this—but the city’s role in making it happen. 2009-03-27T21:01:03+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/a_new_direction/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/a_new_direction/#When:21:29:08Z The sense of unease is palpable among city leaders with whom I speak on occasion. The sense of unease is palpable among city leaders with whom I speak on occasion. The city’s unemployment rate has inched to its highest level in almost two decades. Although the national economy has shown a faint pulse, the prognosis for recovery remains sketchy at best and grim at worst, at least for the time being. Some say perhaps a turnaround will begin late this year; others say that is optimistic to the point of delusion. So kindling excitement about the topic of downtown revitalization, the focus of the River City 2020 economic visioning board, is like trying to spark a notion in my head that my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates will somehow avoid another losing season. Still, after meeting this afternoon with Chris Graham, one of our River City 2020 board members, I’m hopeful that our group can craft an approach that will lead to a revitalized Waynesboro. The details will be rolled out at our meeting March 28, when we’ll gather feedback from the rest of the board. So I’ll hold off on discussing it further. Suffice it to say, we recognize that the imperative remains to push for economic development in Waynesboro, not in spite of the current climate but because of it. We are confident that brighter days will come. It’s up to all of us to ensure that when those days arrive, we are ready with a robust plan for growth that will help our city prosper for generations to come. 2009-03-18T21:29:08+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/lets_see_some_action/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/lets_see_some_action/#When:14:29:03Z Here we go, beating the drum again: The council needs to set goals and priorities for development, now.From the prevailing darkness, grab hold of a wee bit of hope. Carl Rosberg, the former nTelos executive and current chairman of Waynesboro’s Economic Development Authority, says his agency is stepping up to take a more assertive role in economic development, moving from what he calls the “rubber-stamp” days of old to making recommendations to the City Council about what ought to happen next. This is a valuable step. The council needs to take the next, setting goals and priorities in development and demonstrating in the process recognition that development matters and the city has a part to play in making it happen. That thum-thum-thum you’re hearing is us beating the same drum. We’ll stop when action happens. By this time next year, the economy either will be headed for recovery or Depression. If it’s the former, and I’m hopeful it will be, a race will be on between cities like Waynesboro and other towns across the United States to reel in new and expanding business. The time to start running is now. Next year will be too late. Now that the city has taken care of other pressing needs, like getting a reasonable noise ordinance (whew! glad we got that done), let’s get down to the real business of bringing in business. 2009-03-08T14:29:03+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/selling_the_river_city/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/selling_the_river_city/#When:21:27:26Z As debate swirls over how far government should go in helping right the economy, here’s an approach around which all sides can unify in building a better Waynesboro.These are difficult times to be discussing economic development, as has been acknowledged in this space before. Businesses are about the business of battening down hatches these day to keep the rising waters of recession from flowing in. Many are forced by circumstances to focus on survival rather than expanding or relocating. But some things are constant. Communities that keep costs low for business have an edge over communities that do not. The concept seems simple enough but not all get it. That’s why talk of government investment prevails these days, carrying us into just the sort of argument that River City 2020 has aimed to avoid, one over the role of government in the economy. My position is as it long has been that government—especially local government—does have a part to play in de-veloping local economies. But this does not necessitate government spending. In fact, the current environment, I contend, precludes that approach. This is particularly true in a town like Waynesboro, where Invista and others are laying off workers. These are difficult times for the people who pay government’s bills. What the downturn does not preclude is government officials doing all within their power to create an environment that eases as much as possible the burden on business and open the way for others to come, perhaps businesses looking for a place that minimizes overhead at a time when costs are an even larger concern than usual. That’s why Forbes magazine uses what it calls “low cost of doing business” as one of its key criteria in forming its “Best Places for Business and Careers” list. Waynesboro offers benefits in this regard with property and machine tax rates that compare favorably to most cities in the state as well as the rest of the country. Waynesboro has not done such a good job of selling this point. Further, Waynesboro could do itself good by advancing just the kind of tax incentives package that helped transform the West End from fields to retail mecca. In addition to that retail base, the city needs the kind of economic driver that companies like DuPont and Invista once provided. A program of tax breaks to pull in businesses—perhaps high-technology companies like those River City 2020 member and Augusta Free Press Editor Chris Graham has talked about—could fill the void. Maintaining a low tax rate and crafting sensible, pragmatic programs that can help businesses slash costs could provide the city a partial formula for success. But the city then will need to sell to decision makers these points as well as Waynesboro’s excellent location and quality of life. Otherwise, officials will be left hoping somebody hears about all the town has to offer. Keeping costs such as taxes down also might encourage existing businesses to expand, or it may simply help them survive. In either case, both the businesses and Waynesboro win. This approach is one on which people of all political stripes can agree. We’ll leave the arguments about precisely how far government ought to go in the use of taxpayer money to the editorial pages of this newspaper and online media. My hope is that River City 2020 can stay free of such entanglements and focus attention on points on which all of us can unify. Selling this city as a great place to live and work, I believe, fits that description nicely. Business Outreach 2009-02-16T21:27:26+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/looking_to_a_cause_that_unites/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/looking_to_a_cause_that_unites/#When:21:29:17Z Reaching beyond political differences to stir economic growth is crucial to a city committed to realizing its promise.Sitting down with Chris Graham today for lunch on his nickel at Chickpeas just down Main Street from his office and The News Virginian’s, we found, as we already knew, that two people who agree on little in the world of politics can find much on which they agree when their attention shifts away from the Beltway. The first involves the ribbing we take from our ideological pals for our working together on the River City 2020 economic visioning project. I neither took notes nor recorded the conversation, but Chris said something to the effect of: “People say to me, ‘How can you work with that guy?‘“ I hear the same. The second point on which we agree answers the questions. We both believe in Waynesboro and the great economic promise this city holds. Chris recognizes the importance of economic development in the life of Waynesboro. Where Republicans can be faulted for excessive emphasis on money matters, Democrats can be faulted for a want of practicality on the subject of money. Chris knows that however important other issues—like, say, the environment—might be, economic growth is a necessity in any community. Here is where our views converge, and so we might expect, those of the people charged with leading this community: We are convinced that Waynesboro’s economic promise is real and bright, but we know that it cannot and will not be realized absent an active, concerted push to make things happen. This is what River City 2020 is all about. And this is why two guys who likely can’t agree, politically, on the time of day have teamed with other smart, committed local business and community leaders to drive the effort. We hope others will look with us beyond our differences to causes around which we can unite and rally. This is among the essentials in building a better Waynesboro. 2009-02-06T21:29:17+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/heres_how/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/heres_how/#When:22:25:00Z Harrisonburg gets a point we have been laboring to make about local economic development, as Augusta Free Press Editor Chris Graham explains as part of his work for River City 2020.Harrisonburg gets a point we have been laboring to make about local economic development, as Augusta Free Press Editor Chris Graham explains as part of his work for River City 2020. Check out his report here. One of the highlights: Chris describes a meeting with the cofounder of a Web and software development company called Immerge Technologies, based in Harrisonburg’s Downtown Technology Zone. Justin Creasy and his business partners, all James Madison University products, were looking to start a business. “They weren’t thinking Harrisonburg,“ Chris writes, “but that’s where they are. “‘Basically the city recruited us,‘ Creasy told me. ‘The mayor at the time, Larry Rogers, met with us personally and told us that it was important to the city that our kind of business locate in Harrisonburg.‘“ Is anybody in Waynesboro listening? The city recruited Creasy. The mayor led the charge. Great concept, that one. It’s easy to suggest, as some board members did when Chris presented his report at our River City 2020 meeting last week, that Harrisonburg is aided by JMU’s presence. This is true, but only to an extent. Allow me to enlighten from the perspective of a former Pittsburgher but only with two caveats: first, as a fan for more than 30 years, I accept any and all congratulations for the Steelers’ record-setting sixth Super Bowl victory; second, let me assert my Southern credentials, having been born in Atlanta and having ancestors from Prince William, family in Elkins, kids in Charlotte and a father who’s never lived north of the Mason-Dixon line. Back to the point at hand: Pittsburgh is home to several major universities, among them Carnegie-Mellon, Pittsburgh and Duquesne and others scattered throughout Western Pennsylvania. What Pittsburgh is not home to is a stable population of bright young minds. A Baltimore Sun columnist noted a few weeks ago, before the Steelers ended the Ravens’ season (ha!), that the reason there are so many Pittsburgh fans spread across the country is because there’s nothing to keep them in the City of Three Rivers. True. While it may be the City of Super Bowl Champions, Pittsburgh is a town in fast fade. Its downtown core has been depleted of young people forced to go elsewhere to find work. The problem revolves, in large part, around fragmented government and the turf wars that produces. Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located, is made up of more than 130 municipalities and dozens, literally dozens, of economic development agencies. Waldo could more easily have been found at the presidential inauguration than a place in Pittsburgh to get one-stop answers on opening a business. So many businesses simply go elsewhere. Harrisonburg is not luring in businesses such as Immerge merely because JMU is there. The town is reeling in such businesses because it is actively seeking them. This is an example Waynesboro must follow, or else risk irreversible decline. Our city’s leaders must actively recruit businesses and they must actively work to be ready with a plan to make development happen. We may lack Pittsburgh’s roster of colleges, but we are getting closer to them every day, which is not a good thing. Pittsburgh’s population has been graying for decades and so is ours. Pittsburgh is awash in debt, with fewer working people to drive the local economy and provide a tax base. That, too, could happen here if we do nothing. It’s time to get to get a plan and hit the recruiting trail. Harrisonburg shows us the way. Thanks to Chris for his work in giving us an inside look at a model that should inspire flattery by way of imitation. Business Outreach 2009-02-03T22:25:00+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/join_the_good_fight/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/join_the_good_fight/#When:16:14:23Z Waynesboro’s best days may be ahead of it, but not if the city’s people and leaders watch as its future slips quietly away.And so the news worsens. Another 60,000 jobs will be lost nationally in the wake of a series of massive layoff announcements earlier this week. Smaller layoffs are trickling through the Valley to no less effect. This prompts me, as we prepare for our second River City 2020 meeting tonight, to return to beating a drum into which holes have been worn already. Layoffs and downsizing are beyond the control of any of us. Those decisions come from ivory towers in places where numbers fail to add up and bottom lines sag (insert additional gloomy cliches here). What is happening here is what must not, which is to say little to nothing. In the business of newspapers, when economic clouds form and advertisers tell our sales representatives that budgets have tightened, the reflex response is to point out that difficult times are precisely when advertising is needed. That, among other things, is an action response rather than the preferred method of some to retreat into a far-flung corner and wait for the sun to shine again. The same thinking applies to the city’s current state of affairs. Slashing spending wherever possible is a necessary task in times like these, both for businesses, government and the folks at home who are struggling to get by to the next paycheck. But smart businesses are concerned more with spending wisely, eliminating waste, than simply determining not to spend at all. And smart businesses know, above all, that now is no time to wait for business to come. Revenues must be sought doggedly. So it is with this town. City officials cannot afford simply to wait for businesses to come, nor can it be assumed that those here will stay in perpetuity. Now is the time to attack, to vigorously pursue economic development, with the temporary hope being to ease the current economic sting and the more permanent hope to build an economy that can weather tough times in the way Waynesboro did during the Depression. That’s why when I’ve been asked whether now is the time for an economic visioning forum like River City 2020 to be going to work I say now is precisely the time. Join us in the effort. Don’t sit idly by while the city’s future slips away. Respond to this blog, e-mail me at , stop by our offices, contact your elected officials, make suggestions, demand action, raise Cain. Waynesboro’s past need not represent its best days. Those may yet be ahead, but not without the impetus of its people. That means you. That means all of us. 2009-01-29T16:14:23+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/whats_the_plan/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/whats_the_plan/#When:17:26:13Z The Mohawk layoff is the latest example of why city officials need now to step forward with a concrete plan to spur economic development.The flow of drear news continues without ebb. Mohawk Industries, another company (like Invista) heavily dependent on housing, is laying off 73 workers. A Web viewer in a comment to Jimmy LaRoue’s story on the move Friday asks a poignant question: “Has the city got a plan together for the rest of small businesses that will go under once people can not go out to eat etc.“ Notice how ferry captains did not sail by Thursday as a US Airways jetliner slipped deeper into New York’s frigid Hudson River? City officials watching passively as the local economy slides is an equivalent sans the implications for life and death. Firm, decisive action, not panic, is needed here on the part of our city leaders. Has the city a plan? Providing one would allay some fears initially and perhaps later produce what is most needed, results. Failing to provide one represents a failure to lead. 2009-01-16T17:26:13+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/a_call_to_leaders_to_act/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/a_call_to_leaders_to_act/#When:23:52:44Z No matter how our leaders interpret the current economic times, now is the time for them to step forward to forge a vibrant future for our region and our people.For those feeling like the rest of the country, punch-drunk in the face of a reeling economy’s billows, here’s another bit of sobering news: A Stuarts Draft plant is laying off 53 workers, or 14 percent of its work force, by month’s end. Word of the cuts at Ply Gem, a maker of vinyl siding and accessories, comes on the heels of a series of layoff announcements, the biggest and most devastating at Invista in Waynesboro, where 210 workers are expected to lose their jobs next month. Like Invista, Ply Gem has been hit hard by the housing slowdown, the effects of which are bound to linger. So what say the leaders elected to serve the central Shenandoah Valley? Well, not much. Some have taken to budgetary bunkers, seeking to slash costs. This is a right aim. Government should live within its means and respect the necessity of taxpayers doing the same in a period economic uncertainty. But there is more to do than simply whittle spending. Others are of the persuasion that times are not so dire as they have been depicted. This is perceived by some leaders, so-called, as cause to ignore the need to kindle economic growth. I submit that no matter what their thinking, leaders ought to consider economic development an imperative, one driven not by lip service but by concrete action. Leaders could start by identifying point people on government staffs to work with the business community—the one here and the larger one beyond our boundaries—to build incentive packages to help lure movers and shakers here. A vital question: What do businesses want? The building blocks already are in place: two major interstates pass through the Valley, recreational amenities abound, the quality of living is extraordinarily high and the region offers a friendly tax environment that officials should preserve by lowering rates to offset increased property values under recent reassessments. Those of us who live and work here know well what our area has to offer. How will others know unless our leaders tab champions to spread the word? The River City 2020 visioning board understands well the need to act. My hope is that our elected leaders soon will demonstrate they comprehend it, too, and then show as much by waging the good fight to secure a future prosperity that otherwise will remain the subject of soft talk rather than hard reality. Business Outreach 2009-01-13T23:52:44+00:00 http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/valleypolitico/numbers_paint_bleak_picture/ http://www.mydailyprogress.com/index.php/site/numbers_paint_bleak_picture/#When:11:47:01Z Manufacturing statistics provide little reason for encouragement.It’s anybody’s guess what this means to Invista and other area manufacturers, but numbers aren’t encouraging. New orders at U.S. factories fell in December to the lowest rates in 60 years when the measures first were recorded, according to The Wall Street Journal. Overall manufacturing activity dropped to its lowest rate since 1980. No sector reported growth. The drops were sharper in Japan, but were mirrored around the world, in Britain, the rest of Europe, China and India. This all means the recession is bound to extend well into this year. Buckle up, gang. 2009-01-03T11:47:01+00:00