Downtown won’t revitalize itself

The News Virginian / News Virginian
Published: January 6, 2008

Here is something that ought to disturb anyone looking for a revitalized Waynesboro: Some city leaders do not expect the town to take on anything new in 2008.

To be sure, officials are not suggesting that nothing will happen here but rather that the city is not looking to add to a long list of projects, including $60 million in upgrades under way on the city's ailing water system. Officials say they also are optimistic about more businesses coming to downtown and the chance to invest economic development resources into that district. But, as is commonly the case with city officials, they provide little in the way of specifics.

Mayor Tom Reynolds points to development along routes 250 and 340 and Lew Dewitt Boulevard in the west end among the city's past triumphs and continued bright hopes. "There's been a continual growth pattern," he told staff writer Jimmy LaRoue of The News Virginian, "but we've been able to localize the commercial development in particular" to the west end.

We agree that west-end growth and the advance of plans to fix the city's infrastructure are worth celebrating. With the impetus of voters getting behind $6.2 million in stormwater system improvements and the addition of a west-end fire station, the council's majority faction is finally nudging the city ahead on work that, in some cases, is long overdue.

However, the council and our city cannot afford to assume that more businesses - or at least significantly more - will settle in the downtown district, or that the city's hub will thrive without a concerted and well-constructed effort to make things happen. This is true anytime in any place, but especially so now given the stagnancy of the state and national economy.

This should and needs to be the year that change comes to downtown, not necessarily in its physical makeup but in the community's vision of what that district can become and how we can work together to turn it into reality. Resting on the vague hope that downtown will be revitalized simply as a matter of course - something that has not happened for decades - is not leadership.

That is precisely what Waynesboro needs now from the people voters have put in office. Otherwise, voters should consider their options carefully when the time comes to decide on three of five seats up for election this year.