THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9508310308
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
Re ``Fines Doubled for Illegal Parking in Disabled Slots'' (Virginian-Pilot, Aug. 8), City Council is to be publicly commended for its responsiveness in meeting a perceived injustice toward disabled individuals. It deserves to be questioned at the same time.
Council at its Aug. 7 meeting unanimously approved raising the fines associated with able-bodied individuals parking in clearly identified and posted handicap spaces from $50 to $100. And if not paid on time, the fine doubles.
This action was an outgrowth of a discussion item at the July meeting of the Mayor's Committee for Persons with Disabilities. This all-volunteer committee meets on a regular monthly schedule to bring enhanced awareness to the city of people with disabilities. The committee's stated goal is to make Virginia Beach the most accessible city on the East Coast for persons with disabilities.
This action clearly indicates that citizens working together can make a positive impact on the well-being of any community. Possibly, other Hampton Roads cities might follow Virginia Beach's lead in accommodating the disabled.
Individuals with a disability should be recognized by their able-bodied peers as contributors to the community, well capable of performing most tasks and definitely a community asset.
My cynical question: I cannot help but wonder had the proposal not been to increase revenue to the city, would it have ever received a hearing, let alone unanimously passed?
Regardless of the answer, disabled individuals in Virginia Beach know they have a voice in improving their quality of life. How about other Hampton Roads cities?
Ted Clarkson
Virginia Beach Family appreciated article on missionaries-to-be
In this day of much criticism and little gratefulness for a job well done, I would like to say a word of thanks to correspondent Dawson Mills for the article he wrote and published about my son Malcom and his family as they prepare to go to Bolivia as missionaries (Beacon, July 7).
The article was well written, truthful, unbiased and also uplifting to God, who is the real reason Malcom and Debbie and the family feel called to go and tell the good news: that there is hope in this life though Jesus, God's son.
Patricia Massey
Norfolk Hurricane Protection Plan
The city's newest proposal? That we should incur another debt for the South End, this time to the tune of $92 million. A project with only a 50-year lifespan, the ``Hurricane Protection Plan'' has added maintenance costs of almost $13 million per year. While the plan promises to protect our current investment at the South End, it does not explain expensive features that have nothing to do with hurricane protection: elaborate concrete walkovers, beach access facilities and a ``new'' Boardwalk. What are our priorities? Protection or expansion?
I hear how much the tourist industry does for Virginia Beach, contributing $32 million annually in taxes, but I never hear how much of our tax dollars are spent to keep this industry alive.
Obviously the city has staff, offices, resources devoted for tourism; in looking through the phone book, I was easily able to identify those such as Beach Management, Beach Operations, Convention and Visitor Development (of which there is a promotion division), Resort Man-age-ment, the Visitors Center, Beach Events, Resort Area Special Services and Events. Mind you, these are only the ones that I could readily identify for tourism.
What about the additional staffing and manpower required in other departments not earmarked for tourism? Tourism obviously requires additional police, fire and rescue; likewise, extra staff would be needed in administration because there are more departments and people. What about services such as lifeguards, landscaping, custodial, garbage collection on the Boardwalk and sweeping the beaches every morning?
We know the city spends millions currently to dredge, haul and dump sand on the resort strip beach, but most of us don't think about the other costs besides providing a beach.
There are extensive and expensive advertising promotions outside the area to bring tourists here. There is the entertainment we spend for them when they arrive, festivals that begin in early summer and continue through November.
Then there is live entertainment on the new stages at the Boardwalk that this year include the Kingsmen, America, Wilson Pickett, Christopher Cross, Leon Russell, The Band, Kool & The Gang, Rare Earth, Three Dog Night, and the Beach Boys - a lot of them free to the public because they are paid for by us the taxpayers.
There is also a never-ending list of capital expenditures, projects that we as taxpayers will be paying on for years and, once completed, will have annual maintenance costs of their own. All these expenses did not exist before.
Tourism is this bottomless pit. The more we spend on projects for tourism, the more projects line up. Often, before one project is completed, much less a profit realized, the city is pushing forward a ``new'' capital improvement plan. The problem is that each project can cost millions and only benefit one area - the South End.
How much debt are we incurring on behalf this fair-haired child?
Of completed projects costing millions, I can think of the purchase of the 24th Street Park and the building of its stage and bath facilities; a new stage at 17th Street; the expansion of the Virginia Marine Science Museum. Let's not forget the resort beautification project at $60 million.
The Hurricane Protection Plan at $92 million is the single most expensive item to date. Furthermore, the plan includes frivolous items such as ``space age''-looking walkovers, beach access facilities, and a ``new'' boardwalk. In the meantime, the protective part of the plan, the seawall, is not designed to work for a category 4 or 5 storm. What are our priorities? Government spending is out of control at every level.
Leslie Culbertson
Ocean View Avenue by CNB