THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408180223
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Right after the May election but before the new Council convened, the old Council settled on a new policy on home-building restrictions in the city's southern half, long a contentious issue. The first test of that policy arose in the first meeting of the new Council following its members' ``retreat,'' two days they spend trying to agree on Council goals, and to get along. They passed this first test famously, upholding the restrictions on a unanimous vote. Wow. New policy, new Council . . . new leaf?
Don't hold your breath. Because in their next breath, Council members were gnawing another bone of contention: Councilman John Moss' guerrilla letter-writing campaign to erode federal support for beach replenishment for Sandbridge. Opposed to this project despite local, state and federal approval, Mr. Moss cannot lick 'em. But darned if he'll join 'em.
Are his efforts the principled response of a councilman to the pork-barreling of his colleagues? Or is he cheating?
There's something to be said for the politician who sticks to his guns - if he comes out blazing. Mr. Moss' letters came out sneaking: He notified only his allies on Council.
Now, if Council had to wait for open agreements openly arrived at, city business would halt. And Mr. Moss alludes to negotiations with state officials to revive the Sandbridge plan in which Council as a whole was not involved. But there is a difference: Those talks were aimed at changing the minds of several Council members by allaying their expressed objections to the city's hefty share of the tab, not at bypassing Council altogether to scuttle a vote duly taken.
The odds that Councilman Moss' pleas would win Washington's support are about as low as the odds are high that those letters cost him considerable standing among Council colleagues. Especially on revisited city business - like Sandbridge, car allowances for constitutional officers, the Southeastern Expressway - a council member needs colleagues more than the feds. Mr. Moss lost on Sandbridge, and he lost on trust. Other than recementing votes from his usual anti-tax-and-spend base, what did he hope to gain?
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL
by CNB