Quality of Life
Enhancing quality of life is a key component of the City’s economic development strategy and will remain important as the City transforms itself to compete in the twenty-first century global economy. To compete, the City must provide a community environment that is attractive and beneficial to all its citizens.
Such communities are important to the City’s tax base. They enhance the City’s quality of life by providing highly attractive places to live and work. Because they provide upscale amenities, they attract more high-quality retailers, restaurants and developers to the City. The City, through its Economic Development Authority, must enter into mutually beneficial public-private partnerships and other mechanisms to encourage the creation of such "new urbanist" (7) communities, when public involvement is necessary. As the momentum for new urbanist development builds over time, the City can confine its role to setting and enforcing quality standards through the zoning process.
The City and its Economic Development Authority can leverage quality of life improvements in transportation, recreation and cultural amenities. Public contributions support private sector and institutional investments in air service enhancement, museum expansion, public art, cultural facilities and visual improvements to public rights-of-way. One example is the Newport News Green Foundation, which buys and preserves critical undeveloped and visually significant properties along the City’s thoroughfares. Public funds need to continue to be made available to support these efforts.