THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407130098
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
A consultant working on an image and economic strategy for the city recently talked about the ``rather rude rear ends'' that stick out in every direction.
Most of these ``rather rude'' areas are located on the roads into the city with very high traffic counts. Driving by these areas is the only exposure some people ever get to Portsmouth, so it's no wonder the city's image suffers.
Former City Manager George Hanbury, an outsider and a visionary when he arrived here from Virginia Beach, was on to this particular problem. He immediately began a project to divert traffic to the Naval Hospital from dirty, cluttered Effingham Street to Crawford Street. Later he pushed for the streetscapes on Effingham Street that since have become a reality. No doubt, Portsmouth already looks a little better to all the thousands of people who either work or visit the Naval Hospital.
Hanbury also was on target with his efforts to renew and revitalize the southside of town. How can we expect strangers to believe that Portsmouth is a charming and safe community if they see no evidence?
Whatever some people might think, I believe we can overcome the image thing. Remember Ghent when much of it was less than desirable? I lived in Pembroke Towers in the mid-'60s, when it was the tallest, most visible thing on the Norfolk skyline. Olney Road was a very crude backside of Norfolk. Old and dirty grocery stores, a couple of neighborhood beer joints and a Chinese laundry were about the only businesses around. An excellent mom-and-pop grocery hung in there delivering wonderful meats and vegetables to nearby residents, but its days were numbered.
Center Theater had deteriorated from the place I remembered from my youth when plays and concerts were so good that they enticed us to drive from North Carolina. Downtown Norfolk was going fast, even though the old department stores still struggled, and 21st Street offered nothing positive.
That was 30 years ago. Even then, both Portsmouth and Norfolk were trying to ``do something.''
In Norfolk, Scope was on the drawing boards but still unnamed. The Golden Triangle (now a Howard Johnson's) was a gleaming new showplace. The MacArthur Memorial was a brand new - and much disputed - investment for the city. The Norfolk Museum had not been adopted by Walter Chrysler, so it was a very small operation.
From Pembroke Towers, I looked at the new structure across the river known as Number One Crawford. Crawford Parkway had been constructed and the Seawall was a reality. Olde Towne was beginning to seem like a good bet.
Norfolk kept at it. Piece by piece, Ghent came together. And it worked. Since I returned to the area 15 years ago, Norfolk's downtown waterfront has been transformed.
Portsmouth also has tried over the past 30 years, but somehow we never kept pace.
Why? It's a question I ask over and over.
Since I wasn't here during the very crucial 1970s, when money flowed freely from Washington, I don't have first-hand knowledge. I only can suppose it was a problem of divided leadership that caused radical zigzags in the direction of the city project for personal political benefit rather than for the good of the whole city.
In the past decade, we've gone in a variety of directions but seldom have followed any to the end. We've done a lot of studying and spent a lot of money but we've never quite made the city work.
Each time it doesn't work, citizens become more discouraged and more pessimistic. The study now under way of the entire eastern portion of the city may give them some reason to hope for better things this time.
Still, nothing will come of it unless all of us buy into a plan and stick with it. Both elected officials and the powers-that-be in the background need to get the message that we're tired of going nowhere. by CNB