Wise Inn

$8 million for the Wise Inn and tourism attractions

by Lewis Loflin

The Wise Inn in Wise, Virginia has stood empty since I was a child. It has no economic value it seems, it's just another empty building. But to the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) it's industrial development. They awarded $1.2 million to the Wise County Industrial Development Authority for the restoration and redevelopment of the "historic Inn" project. The funds are "subject to final approval after the business plan for the inn project is completed. A preliminary assessment of the ambitious project - a joint venture of the Wise County IDA and the town of Wise." The "projected cost estimates approaching $8 million to complete all the recommended improvements. The preliminary plan includes new accommodations atop a parking garage along Lake Street and creation of a courtyard in conjunction with restoration of the original structure."

Note that Wise is in the LENOWISCO service area. How can this be justified for $8 million tax dollars? What jobs will it create? I first called it pork-barrel waste, then I asked some VCEDA officials and got the following that was left out of the newspaper reports:

Before you make those statements, understand that grant approval is conditioned on the entire funding package coming together - $6 Million in PRIVATE dollars, and the balance of about $2 M or so in public funds. There is a rather involved feasibility study that might explain it...Not one penny of the grant you mentioned will be disbursed until all the pieces come together - and it may or may not happen. Again, it attempts to build on the explosive growth at UVA-Wise, the Crooked Road, and the total lack of "quality" lodging in our region. It’s a small scale Martha Washington Inn, and it has to be self-sustainable.

This sounds reasonable to me with the private sector having to shell out most of the cost, let's wait and see. It is a nice old building and the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon is a very nice example. See The Martha Washington Inn, Abingdon VA

The "VCEDA board approved a loan for up to $1 million for a new metals manufacturing and processing business to be located in the Bluefield Industrial Park in Tazewell County. The business is expected to create more than 150 new jobs." But according to officials at VCEDA, we will never know of those jobs are ever created. I sent a letter to the Tobacco Commission, LENOWISCO, and VCEDA on this issue of verification of their job claims. Here is the VCEDA response that was identical to the other two in April 2005:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding job creation by the Virginia Coalfields Economic Development Authority (VCEDA)...I have included the job creation and expansion numbers announced by VCEDA since its creation in 1988. Not all of these projects are still located in the region, but this will give you an idea of what has located here and the projected employment associated with the projects.

We do not track job descriptions and pay scales, but VCEDA statute dictates that we can only assist companies that meet certain criteria for job creation, with one of those criteria being that the company must pay at least 1 ½ times the current minimum wage.

That's $7-8 an hour. Remember the term "projected" while local press reports stress "created" in years past. (I blame the local press for not clarifying the issue.) Perhaps it would be fair to note in this case VCEDA is at the mercy of the national job market, which seems bent on destroying its blue collar workforce. So what will this company in Bluefield produce for jobs? That too is at the mercy of the national labor market and the risk is well worth the $1 million loan.

Ref. 05/23/2008 Kingsport Times-News


Is this job creation?

More

January 11, 2005 Kingsport Times-News. VCEDA awarded a $105,000 grant to Lonesome Pine Arts & Crafts Inc. to be used for improvements to "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" Outdoor Drama facilities in Big Stone Gap. This has been here for decades and won't create any jobs. The grant came from the VCEDA's Tourism Capital Improvement Matching Fund established in 2002. The grant was matched by funds from the Virginia Tobacco Commission. VCEDA Executive Director Charles Yates claims this brings in 3,000 visitors per year. Total cost to taxpayers, $210,000. More information at www.trailofthelonesomepine.org.

I attended the play many years ago, it was very good and I'd invite anyone to go see it. I asked the following of several public officials: "How do you justify the money spent on Carter's Fold, the Ralph Stanley House, Trail of the Lonesome Pine etc. as economic development? These are not businesses, they don't turn a profit, etc. They have existed for years and will continue to without public welfare. Can you document any jobs this creates or how it expands the tax base? What about those cabins at Breaks Interstate Park?"

I think you err when you focus on these facilities themselves. It’s not about the Carter Fold or any of those facilities as "businesses" in that sense. It’s all about creating more capacity in tourism, based on our regional heritage. More and better venues with greater capacity generates more visitation. The "jobs" would be secondary - in food and lodging for instance. No, it's not high wage (and certainly not "technology") - but it is a sector of the economy that holds some promise if our goal is diversity (which it is). I worked on all those projects, and support the funding decisions that were made (which included the Governor’s office, Rick’s office, two Federal agencies, three state agencies and VCEDA). I will admit that measuring the economic impact is not easily or reliably done - but that’s why this was launched. In the absence of better ideas, why not?

It is true that a lot of state and federal agencies were in on this, but my study of state data shows tourism dollars after the completion of these projects actually declined. In the present era of $4 plus for gas and an economic slowdown, it doesn't look good. This is not to say these attractions are not worth a visit, click the picture.


Ralph Stanley Museum

Blockhouse Interpretive Center Natural Tunnel State Park

June 9, 2008 (extract from Congressman Boucher)

www.naturaltunnel.info

In 1998 Congress provided $500,000 in funding for the reconstruction of the historic Anderson Block House, the structure originally located in Wadlow Gap in Scott County where settlers gathered in the late 1700's and early 1800's to begin the long trek westward through Cumberland Gap. The funding was also to be used for land acquisition in order to preserve portions of the original Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail, the route followed by those settlers. The original goals of the grant, reconstruction of the Block House and acquisition of land along the Trail corridor, have been accomplished. 154 acres of land at Kane Gap on Powell Mountain have been acquired, and the Anderson Block House has been reconstructed here at Natural Tunnel State Park. Since its completion in 2003, the Block House has hosted numerous events and re-enactments and has become a premier tourist attraction in the region.

Using the approximately $200,000 in federal funding that remained from the original grant as a foundation, they were able to acquire the additional funding needed to construct a new asset at this site - the Wilderness Road Blockhouse Interpretive Center. The 800 sq. ft. Interpretive Center has 480 sq. ft. of exhibit space. Imbedded in the floor is a 210 sq. ft. map of the Wilderness Road from Long Island in Kingsport to Cumberland Gap, and we anticipate that the exhibits will be completed in September. The Center has flat screen video equipment and will have high speed internet access to enable historical research through the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress and university libraries. The Center has a reception desk, gift shop and restrooms.

Supplementing the federal funding, several key contributors provided generous assistance to complete this impressive attraction. They include the Eastman Credit Union, which provided a $50,000 gift for construction of the Center, and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, which furnished $20,000. The Appalachian Regional Commission made a $30,000 grant for acquisition of exhibits, the Virginia Tobacco Commission contributed $12,000 for interpretive panels, and the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association is providing $45,000 for equipment, exhibits and furnishings. Delegate Terry Kilgore and Senator William Wampler assisted in securing state funding in the amount of $55,000 for several related projects in Lee and Scott Counties, and a portion of that funding has been used to acquire exhibits for this Center, as well. The total cost of constructing the Center is approximately $270,000, and the cost of the exhibits, panels and furnishings is approximately $90,000.

In an article entitled “Where Do All the Welfare Billions Go?” (Human Events, February 6, 1982) M. Stanton Evans points out:

One has to wonder how it is possible to spend these hundreds of billions to alleviate poverty and still have the same number of poor people that we had, say, in 1968...It prompts the more suspicious among us to ask: What happened to the money?...[A] tremendous chunk of these domestic outlays goes to pay the salaries of people who work for and with the federal government - including well-paid civil servants and an array of contractors and "consultants," many of whom have gotten rich from housing programs, "poverty" studies, energy research grants, and the like...

 

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