Seeking your help for city

By The News Virginian Staff

Published: September 5, 2008

Rains are expected to linger in the central Shenandoah Valley today as remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna roll into the upper Southeast, but they are unlikely to dampen the fun at the second annual Chili, Brews ’N Blues Cook-off, rescheduled from noon to 5:30 p.m. Sunday in the Constitution Park Pavilion. The event is a showcase for Waynesboro Downtown Development Inc., and, hopefully, an opportunity for the organization to generate badly needed revenues. Something less appetizing also will be on display: a downtown absent of the zest sure to be found in the chili.
Endeavoring to determine whom precisely should be charged with transforming that reality is akin to seeking to identify the culprit for the emptied cookie jar amid a roomful of what Hawthorne might call “little devourers.” All declare innocence while rubbing filled bellies. Meanwhile, opportunities crumble.
WDDI Executive Director Kimberly Watters, praised by merchants in a story published Friday in The News Virginian, points to 17 new businesses added since her arrival in April 2007. New businesses are always good news. But the texture of downtown has changed little in the past 17 months, or the past 17 years, for that matter. WDDI appears to be fully occupied, or almost that, by the work of staging annual events such as the cook-off and Christmas in the River City. Should the city expect more? Ask the “little devourers.” They still don’t know.
The answers appear no more likely to come from the City Council, whose factions have quieted to match the faint whisper of life on city streets. That body looks to us to have split along these lines: one group whose efforts at revitalization centered on funneling city money into the dilapidated Wayne Theatre and, that having failed, now silence, and another whose approach is a perversion of the “Field of Dreams” cliché – build nothing and hope somebody comes.
We credit the former with attempting something and the latter for the kind of fiscal conservatism government here and beyond so desperately needs. But under the watch of both groups, Waynesboro has been given two unappealing options: pour city money into repairing a ramshackle theater or distilling government’s role to the laudable but narrow purpose of limiting spending and taxes. Make no mistake, we view fiscal restraint as essential, and we stand firmly behind the council’s conservative majority on this point. But we dispute the notion that prudence in spending precludes elected leaders from playing a larger role in driving our community toward prosperity.
For the past year, we have championed Waynesboro’s merits and opportunities, and many of you have chimed in. We have stated the point with such frequency and, we think, clarity that we consider it no longer worth repeating, at least not this time. So for the moment, we will forgo redundancy.
What strikes us as being needed now is for those of us who live and work here to step forward and produce a vision for the place we believe our city can become, one that will provide enduring economic promise for generations to come. If our city officials cannot rally around a plan to revitalize the city, then perhaps the rest of us can and our leaders can follow.
Toward that end, The News Virginian is launching a revitalization forum that we will call River City 2020. We will compile a board composed of people drawn directly from the community, rather than the halls of government. Waynesboro is populated by extraordinary people: entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, doctors, lawyers and those who simply believe in their town and are willing to devote themselves to its betterment.
Do you know someone whose experience and community spirit are unsurpassed? We want to hear from you. We are accepting nominations from the community for people to serve on the River City 2020 board. Nominations should identify worthy candidates and explain in 250 words or less the nominee’s merits. Authors should list a daytime phone number and e-mail address. Nominations can be e-mailed to Editor & General Manager R. Lee Wolverton at with the subject line “River City 2020” or snail-mailed to him at P.O. Box 1020, Waynesboro, VA 22980.
More details on River City 2020 will appear in this space in upcoming weeks. In the meantime, we look forward to hearing from you.