The editorial below came from the Charleston Gazette's opinion page.

Unify
195,000 city

Hurrah. Both chambers of the Legislature approved Senate Bill 239, to let a simple majority of local voters approve merger between cooperative local governments.

Hurrah. Both chambers of the Legislature approved Senate Bill 239, to let a simple majority of local voters approve merger between cooperative local governments. We hope Gov. Manchin swiftly signs this teamwork measure into law.

As soon as the former 55 percent voter approval requirement is gone, we hope Charleston and Kanawha County plunge boldly into their much-discussed plan to unite, creating a far-flung capital city of perhaps 195,000 population.

Such a merger would prevent Charleston from slipping below 50,000 in next year's census - a dismal prospect that would leave West Virginia with no Class I cities above 50,000. Huntington is doomed to drop to Class II, and no other Mountain State city comes close to 50,000.

Expanding Charleston to countywide size is a win-win idea. It wouldn't affect Kanawha's other 14 municipalities, which would retain their current identities and individual governments. But all jurisdictions might save taxpayer money by streamlining and merging some local services.

The need to unite is spurred by relentless population loss that has afflicted the mid-Kanawha Valley during the past four decades. In the 1960 census, Charleston had 86,000 people, and Kanawha County had 253,000. Next year, the current Charleston seems certain to slide below 50,000, and the whole county will drop below 200,000.

Quadrupling the capital's size would boost this locale's standing in America's commerce. Matt Ballard, president of the Charleston Area Alliance, told a legislative hearing that reducing the voter approval threshold to 50 percent would improve chances for Kanawha-Charleston unification, which would improve chances to attract new business and industry. "This bill is about economic development," Ballard said.

As introduced, the bill aimed just at Kanawha, because it applied only to counties above 150,000 population.

Local residents owe gratitude to state Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, who championed streamlining local government - and to Kanawha Commission President Kent Carper, who pushes for unity - and to Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, who urged cutting the voter approval rate to 50 percent - and to many other local leaders backing teamwork.

SB239 was the first measure passed by the Senate, on March 2, with the support of all four Kanawha senators. In Thursday's House approval, Kanawha's three Republican delegates voted no, while all Democrats voted yes, except for Bonnie Brown, who was absent.

Now that the vote threshold has been eased, it's time to move rapidly to create a state capital of nearly 200,000.

Ashley Furniture Opens in Charleston


Some pictures from Ashley Furniture Grand Opening at Southridge. One of the neatest things about this facility was the video games section, where kids can be occupied while mom and dad look for furniture.

Officals attending the event included Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, and President of the Charleston Area Alliance, Matthew Ballard.

Ballard Ready to Lead Alliance

From the Charleston Daily Mail

New agency chief to focus on job creation, education, ambitious marketing

Cheryl Caswell

Daily Mail staff
Monday January 15, 2007

Matt Ballard acknowledges that he is young to be holding the reins of the area's primary community and economic development agency.
But Ballard, 30, considers that an advantage that affords him energy, ingenuity and a particular perspective to the needs of young professionals.
In December, he was named president of the Charleston Area Alliance, a group formed three years ago to merge the efforts and interests of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, the former Charleston Renaissance Commission and the former Business and Industrial Development Corp. (BIDCO).

He has an ambitious vision for the city that encompasses business and economic development, education initiatives, neighborhood renewal and aggressive marketing strategies.
"We're going to continue to bring jobs into West Virginia," Ballard said. "And we have to market ourselves aggressively because we come to the table with less chips than everyone else.
"We also want to help the businesses we have stay here," he said. "We're going to focus on quality of life issues. We have a lot of what people like -- green spaces, outdoor spaces -- and we need to attract some good jobs to go along with that.

"I'm very excited about the future of the county and state," he said. "This is a multi-faceted organization with a lot of things going on, but that makes this very exciting."

Ballard's career history is relatively brief, but intriguing. A native of Harrison County, he attended Alderson Broaddus College and received a nursing degree. But his experience there in student government and interest in public policy led him to go on to earn a master's degree in public administration from West Virginia University.

His graduate work landed him at the legislature assisting Senate majority leader Truman Chafin and then a job working with state Tax Secretary Brian Kastick.
"I did a lot of special projects and worked with some interesting issues like the sales tax holiday," Ballard said. "Then the southern part of the state was hit with two major floods back to back and I worked on economic recovery of the businesses, especially in Wyoming and McDowell County.

"I became very interested in the economic hardships they were having there," Ballard said. And development people took notice of him, as well. He was appointed executive director of the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority in February 2003. During his three-year tenure, the organization boosted its domain by 200 miles and more than doubled its revenue.
"We made it the hottest tourist attraction in the state with aggressive marketing and appropriate management," Ballard said.

When Ballard learned of the merger of Charleston's three development organizations into the new Charleston Area Alliance, he threw his name in the hat with several hundred other prospectives. He was hired as executive vice-president to work under Bill Goode and took his place Dec. 1.

His office is in a remodeled Smith Street warehouse that also serves as incubator space for a number of start-up companies. But his work takes him out regularly to meet with business owners, consultants, developers and others.

In his spare time, the Elkview resident enjoys golf and spends time with this wife and 10-month-old daughter.

"But work is play for me," he said. "Even when I'm watching television, I'm watching C-Span."

Contact writer Cheryl Caswell at cherylc@dailymail.com or 348-4832.