News Virginian
Published: January 30, 2008

Two stories in Tuesday's edition of The News Virginian point to opportunity for Waynesboro. One detailed the state's renewal of the city's Enterprise Zone status. The other reported the council's approval of a performance agreement between the city and the Wayne Theatre Alliance.

The former provides state money for development that creates jobs. The latter requires the Wayne Theatre to pass a series of benchmarks before the city releases over nine years $500,000 of the $700,000 promised for the rebuilding project. In both cases, money is linked to action. This is as it should be.

Our city has arrived at a critical juncture in its history. There is a fresh, new-car feel about retail development in the west end and residential growth along that section's edge and in nearby Stuarts Draft and Fishersville. Excitement abides over the recent opening of Target and other outlets. But excitement is bound to wane unless some new source of energy is created to keep it pulsing.

Energy is in short supply in many locales with the Enterprise Zone tag, which is linked to economic factors. The want of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit frequently is what leads to cities and counties receiving the designation in the first place. Traveling through some of these places with their familiar and clichéd boarded windows and desolate downtowns gives one the feeling that the title should instead be Dead Zone.

It needn't be this way, not in Waynesboro. Ours is a city with more to offer than we suspect many of its own leaders realize. Developers sense as much, too. The buzz about town is that several are eager to build along the South River, but haven't yet struck a deal to their liking.

The Enterprise Zone program gives the city tools to make something happen. Up to $250,000 in state money is available under the initiative to help fund construction for projects that create jobs. The city, of course, can also kick in money to help advance development. For several years, riverfront designs commissioned by Waynesboro Downtown Development Inc. have gathered dust. Now is the time to blow aside the dust and move the designs from paper to reality.

Only the Wayne Theatre appears to be inching forward. Backers tell us that a refurbished Wayne will serve as a catalyst for downtown development. We think the theater could be a component of a revitalized downtown, but we doubt its promise as a development engine. That is why the conditional nature of the performance agreement makes sense. To get city money, the theater must line up shows, fill seats and invest in advertising; the alliance, in other words, must demonstrate the theater's merit in real numbers rather than just grand promises.

Similarly, Waynesboro leaders must step to the fore and utilize the Enterprise Zone program to accomplish its intent - to stir cities to life. Like the theater, retail outlets and eateries in the west end are a component of a stronger, more prosperous Waynesboro. The heart is the downtown core. So long as that district flounders, Waynesboro must live in the shadows of its own potential.