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June 23, 2005
 
Community Development Specialist Praises Hinton's Focus on Arts, Tourism, Technology; Urges Strong Local Financial Support
 
by David M. Kinchen
Editor, Hinton News Network
 
Hinton (HNN) — This community of 2,800 where three rivers meet is on the right track - an apt metaphor for a railroad town - as it emphasizes the arts and cultural tourism, according to an internationally known community development expert from Mississippi.
 
Dr. Vaughn L. Grisham, a cousin of best-selling legal thriller writer John Grisham, praised a 61-page strategic vision plan "Hinton 2010: Planning for the Future" for its emphasis on establishing a "cultural zone" for artists, craft people, and musicians in the part of Hinton adjacent to the CSX railroad tracks.
 
Grisham, 65, a professor of sociology at the University of Mississippi and director of Ole Miss's McLean Institute for Community Development, spoke to about 75 of the community's movers and shakers Monday, June 20, 2005 in the Memorial Building. His informal talk followed a Power Point presentation of the plan by Rick Moorefield, WVU Extension agent for community and economic development, based in the Summers County courthouse.
 
The plan, covering a wide range of issues in the historic community, benefited from extensive input from the community's burgeoning arts community, which is spearheading a plan to attract artists from all over the country. The plan is modeled on a very successful program in Paducah, Ky., a community with about 25,000 city residents.
 
Grisham cited four communities in various parts of the country that have based their redevelopment strategies on the arts: Morrilton, Ark., population about 6,600; Colquit, Ga., population about 2,000; Houston, Minn., population about 1,000; and Marquette, Mich., population about 22,000.
 
"All of these communities had strong local investment strategies, not relying on the state or national government to fund everything," Grisham said. "They realized there is no Santa Claus in the state capital or in Washington, D.C."
 
Contrary to Grisham's statement, Hinton is relying on "Santas" in both Washington, D.C. and Charleston to help its redevelopment program and pay to alleviate a natural disaster. Funding secured by public officials, including Rep. Nick Rahall, D, W.Va, has made possible the Hinton Technology Center nearing completion on Summers Street.
 
The 72,000-square-foot building will house CSC and other technology firms already in place in Hinton - a growing segment in this community where the New, Greenbrier and Bluestone rivers meet.
 
State funding of $856,000 has been secured to repair damage caused beginning last fall to the area around 10th Avenue and Temple Street plagued by a massive, slow-moving landslide that has damaged several houses and Temple Street (Route 20).
 
Turning the statement of legendary Chicago architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham about making "no little plans" on its head, Grisham suggested that a successful little plan - he called it a "weak idea" -- is better than a "brilliant idea that doesn't get done."
 
Grisham said community development people should read New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman's best-selling book "The World is Flat," as well as books by academic Richard Florida about the "creative class" and its impact on community development. Florida devotes most of his attention to larger metropolitan areas, but they're applicable to small cities as diverse as Tupelo, Miss., Oxford, Miss. (Grisham's hometown), Paducah, Ky. and Asheville, N.C., Grisham said.
 
"Half the people in Asheville work in 'creative class' fields," Grisham said. "The arts account for $1.2 billion a year in western North Carolina."
 
Talking points for Hinton - and other southern West Virginia towns seeking revival and renewal, include the following, according to Grisham:
 
* Interstate 77is one of the most beautiful, well-maintained highways in the nation and is a key to community renewal because it "brings people from all over to your beautiful state." Grisham said he makes several visits a year to West Virginia where he consults with the hardwoods council based in the Mountain State. "When people ask me what West Virginia is like, I tell them it's one of the most beautiful states in the union," he added.
 
* Communities have to give people a reason to visit downtowns. "You have to have restaurants, shops, cultural attractions." He cited an example from Oxford, Miss., home of Ole Miss, where a well-known chef from New Orleans arrived in town and started a restaurant that has attracted national attention and is packed by locals.
 
* The cultural district concept promoted in the Hinton vision plan is a good example of strong "structure building," Grisham said. Officials and community leaders in Oxford, Miss. promoted the college town of 13,000 - about the size of Bluefield, W.Va. - as a retirement center and it has since made all the lists of top retirement communities.
 
* Build on Hinton's reputation as a tourist destination, a reputation that includes the entire county thanks to Pipestem Resort State Park and Bluestone State Park, among other recreational amenities, including two whitewater rafting concerns. "Tourists have no downside," Grisham said. "They don't require schools or other taxpayer funded services." They come, deposit money, leave and come again, if there is a reason to do so.
 
At the conclusion of Grisham's well received talk, he was presented with a framed photograph of the city taken by Curt Messer. Messer, a native of Detroit, Mich., is part of the artists' coalition promoting a cultural district centering on the Hinton Railroad Depot - undergoing restoration -- and buildings along Commercial Street. Arts development in the region is promoted by the Three Rivers Arts Council and the Mountain River Artisans. The community includes many residents like Messer, Jon Averill, Peggy Rossi, Mark Rosenberg, Gayle Rancer and John Clark, to name just a few -- transplants from other parts of the country who came to Summers County decades ago and stayed. Around these parts they're called NOFHs: "Not Originally From Hinton." The present writer, who arrived in 1992, is a member of this NOFH group.
 
Web site resources: Vaughn L. Grisham: www.olemiss.edu; vgrisham@olemiss.edu Rick Moorefield: Rick.Moorefield@mail.wvu.edu City of Hinton: www.hintonwva.com

David M. Kinchen is the Editor of HuntingtonNews.Net, responses and article submissions can be made to .
 
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