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What Martinsville
can learn from Danville
by
John Peters
for
Virginia Business
April 2003
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Call
it a tale of two cities. Danville and Martinsville,
just 25 miles to the west, were once prosperous Southside
towns whose economies were fueled in large part by tobacco
and textiles. By the late 1990s, manufacturing in both
cities had been devastated by global competition and
the decline of the Golden Leaf.
There,
the similarities end. Danville has its act together
rebuilding itself. Martinsville does not. Comparing
the two cities is a revealing story of how sound strategic
thinking and a unified local front can determine survival
in the tough new world of 21st-century global economics.
Its lessons are important for the rest of Virginia,
especially in areas that rely upon manufacturing.
Danville
and surrounding Pittsylvania County, for example, are
getting back on their feet with clear and comprehensive
plans to replace lost jobs with serious training programs
and efforts at creating a strong base for applied research.
The area is bent on upgrading its workers by training
them in higher end jobs for work in businesses large
or small that would be harder to export to spots like
Mexico. Unluckily, Martinsville and surrounding Henry
County, with an unemployment rate of about 11 percent,
double Danville’s, have been beset with local squabbles,
no clear vision and an embarrassing scandal that put
its former county administrator in jail for embezzling
so he could pay his mistresses.
As
it charts its way, Danville relies heavily on adjacent
Pittsylvania as an equal partner in its new economic
development efforts. The two localities even share taxes
on a 50-50 basis at two industrial parks, one in the
city and one in the county. By contrast, Martinsville
and Henry County are at each other’s throats. Back
when state law allowed cities to annex land from counties
and Martinsville was growing, Martinsville treated Henry
County rudely. With only 16,000 people, Martinsville
has suffered by being landlocked ever since the General
Assembly changed annexation rules. Henry County has
returned the favor, often treating Martinsville as a
leper.
Yet,
in Danville and Pittsylvania County, everyone seems
to be on the same page. The region’s development
goals are the same. The city, county, a community college,
a local four-year private college, even Virginia Tech,
are all involved and working together. Even the local
school systems are in the game. Pittsylvania County
has added advanced mathematics and engineering courses.
The community college has developed a program that teaches
electronics, pneumatics, hydraulics and mechanics, specific
to the needs of industries in or looking at the Danville
region.
Not
so in Martinsville and Henry County. The schools in
Henry County have commissioned no less than three studies
in recent years to address problems caused by a dwindling
student population. Each one recommended consolidations.
Yet consolidation talks got nowhere. Despite progress
elsewhere, the community college has dumped thousands
of dollars in a furniture lab to train students in an
industry whose domestic base is dying.
The
region even managed to dismantle its successes. A county-city
effort, the Patrick Henry Development Council, sought
new development so skillfully that it won national praise.
Yet, two years ago, then-Henry County Administrator
Sid Clower pushed for the county to go it alone. He
eliminated the county’s share of the agency’s
$750,000 annual funding. Instead, he hired development
maven Wayne Sterling, just fired from his last job attracting
business for South Carolina, for a whopping $200,000
a year. Clower is now in jail, convicted of embezzling
$750,000 from the county’s Public Service Authority,
in part, to finance his love affairs. Despite being
in office for more than one year, Sterling has personally
managed to land about three firms.
To
be fair, Martinsville’s smaller size and heavier
dependence on vulnerable industries make for tougher
problems. It has been overwhelmed by rapid job losses
- up to 10,000 in a decade. Still, Danville is a model
for not only Martinsville, but for all of Virginia.
Editor’s
note: Martinsville journalist John Peters is
former managing editor of the Martinsville Bulletin.
Virginia
Business - April 2003
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