Published: March 20, 2008 11:32 pm      

Commission’s name getting a trim

ALTOONA — The lengthy name of the region’s planning and development commission is about to get a bit shorter.

The Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission is renaming itself the Alleghenies Development Commission, a more compact title that is in keeping with a trend to emphasize “Alleghenies.”

“We’re taking ownership of the whole mountain range,” said Deb Prosser, the commission’s director of business development.

The move, set to go into effect Oct. 1 in keeping with the federal fiscal year, supports a decision two years ago to adopt “The Alleghenies,” as a brand or slogan for Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Blair, Huntingdon and Fulton counties, which are covered by the commission.

The brand is used in marketing initiatives extensively in the Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia areas to attract visitors, especially bicyclists, hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts.

“After ‘The Alleghenies’ was revealed, we encouraged other organizations to change from Southern Alleghenies, and others asked of us when was Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission going to realign its name?” said Edward Silvetti, longtime executive director of the agency.

The “Southern” part of the name has prompted people to question at times whether the agency was located in Georgia, the southern tip of the mountain range, Prosser said.

The name switch for tourism purposes has been widely successful, Silvetti said, and is becoming recognized on a national level.

The Altoona-based agency, which has just fewer than 50 employees, is one of seven local development districts spanning the state that serve as a conduit for federal and state money and bring a regional perspective to tourism promotion, job training and business development and retention.

Still to be determined is whether the name change will be comprehensive or whether the Southern Alleghenies moniker will be kept as the legal corporate name, commission solicitor George Gvozdich said.

At least some members of the executive committee are recommending a complete change.

“If you’re going to change it formally, do it, do it all,” Bedford County Commissioner Steve Howsare said.