Alexandria Chamber of Commerce's new chair is a man with a plan.
After only six weeks in office, Huey J. Battle, the first African-American to head the Chamber, has outlined an ambitious blueprint with three strategic goals, all aimed at increasing the Chamber's influence in both Alexandria and the Northern Virginia region.
"I want the Alexandria Chamber to have a more regional focus. Our members are more involved in doing business on a regional basis than ever before and we need to support those activities," Battle emphasized.
Sitting in the Chamber's newly furbished offices at 801 N. Fairfax St., having just finished an executive committee meeting, the area manager, Virginia Public Affairs for Washington Gas, seemed anxious to outline the priorities for his year at the helm.
"I have formed three task forces to accomplish three goals in the year ahead," he said. "The first is to increase our relationships with the non-profit community. With the budget crunch, the non-profits are going to be doing a lot the city and state can't do.
"I hope to bring them all together in a non-profit forum to assess the needs and work out a plan for their involvement. When I speak of non-profits I'm mainly speaking of charitable groups such as The Campagna Center, shelter organizations, and others like that."
A NATIONAL DESTINATION
The second aim is to try and develop a large scale event that would have national appeal. Battle explained that, "People do not now come to Alexandria for a large scale event. They come here for the historical significance or as an offshoot to their visit to Washington."
Some of the possibilities he mentioned were a national skull racing event, classic and antique auto show, and wine tasting. He also saw this as a way of presenting Alexandria to a broader tourist base on a national scale.
"We need to utilize the waterfront and river much more effectively," he argued. "We've already talked to the city and the Visitors Bureau and they are very interested. The purpose is to revitalize tourism."
Battle cautioned however, "There are a lot of details to be worked out in addition to deciding on what type of event. Things like which type of event best represents Alexandria? Are we going to charge or will it be free with the only costs being hotels and food? Answering these questions will be the job of the task force."
MORE AND YOUNGER LEADERSHIP
Battle's third goal is to establish a leadership program to encourage more, and younger, participation in the city's political arena.
"Alexandria has become more and more of a bedroom community where people live but are not involved in the political process," he insisted. "We want to get our message out to the various civic associations and other groups, to get more people involved in the community's priorities. By the end of the year we hope to issue a Call To Action."
Battle also had some opinions on two of the most controversial subjects affecting the region — the proposed sales tax referendum and electric power deregulation, which officially kicked off on Jan. 1.
"The Chamber is supportive of a regional transportation initiative and for a statewide referendum on education, with the state returning 75 percent of the money collected in this area to Northern Virginia," he said.
SALES TAX AND DEREGULATION
He estimated there were presently 12 bills in the legislature addressing the subject of a referendum on increasing the sales tax. "We don't want to pin ourselves into a corner on the details of any particular approach," he stressed.
"There are dual approach bills which call for a one cent hike with a half cent going to education and another half cent to transportation. There are also separate bills, one based on a regional approach for transportation only and others calling for a statewide referendum on education," Battle said.
"I do know the Speaker of the House wants a composite approach. He does not want a regional approach for both issues. Northern Virginia is more inclined to the local option approach but the rest of the state is not. The local option has gained no traction at this time," he said.
Battle said, "The one half cent amount seems to have the most traction for both transportation and education." But he expressed the view, "There is a better mechanism out there than raising the sales tax." When asked what that was, he didn't offer any clarification.
As for deregulation of electric power, Battle noted, "Natural gas has been under deregulation since the 1980s. But deregulation of electric power has a lot of growing pains to go through. We need to proceed cautiously."
He conceded, "Commercial deregulation has been championed by business. The jury is still out on individual users. Northern Virginia may see some increase in prices or they could also enjoy a lowering of prices. We are right between the higher cost states to the north and the lower ones to the south."
As the public affairs manager for Alexandria, Fairfax City and County for Washington Gas, Battle's responsibilities include covering the political and business relations of the company. His career with Washington Gas has spanned 21 years and ranged from engineering design to information technology.
In addition to the Alexandria Chamber, Battle's civic activities encompass the Central Fairfax and Vienna Chambers, Northern Virginia Urban League, Northern Virginia Workforce Board, and the American Association of Blacks In Energy.
He resides in Springfield, near his present office, with his wife Cheryll and their two daughters, Erin and Logan. He has been active in the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce for more than eight years.
Battle showed unbridled enthusiasm for the redone Chamber offices. "We got into our new offices very quickly and on a very cost effective basis. We have been very lucky to have had super leadership," he said.