THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406300209
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
EARLY ON A HOT, windy Monday morning, Rob Hudome, resort manager with the city's Department of Convention and Visitor Development, stood somewhere in a school of bright blue, land-locked, slightly menacing fish in the 28th Street connector park.
``Let's face it,'' Hudome said, sweeping his arm in the direction of a particularly cantankerous appearing fiberglass finned creature, ``we've done a whole lot of work out here, but the one thing the tourists remember when they get back home are these.''
These, in this case, are the fish and other sculptures which grace a dozen or so Oceanfront stub streets between 5th and 33rd.
Enchantingly whimsical, they are a part of the city's long-term attempt to make the area appeal to tourists and locals alike.
Known as the Atlantic Avenue Streetscape and Connector Park Improvement Program, the $46-million, eight-year project, now in its sixth year, has already turned the once tacky strip into the kind of street that would do any resort city proud.
Since the project began in the mid '80s, utility lines along Atlantic Avenue have disappeared from view, eye-polluting signs have been replaced by eye-appealing storefronts and awnings, colorful cafes and pushcart vendors have brought food to the boardwalk and colorful mini-parks have sprung up.
Earlier this year the Streetscape and Connector Park Improvement Program received an Award of Excellence for Outstanding Public Improvement from the Virginia Downtown Development Association.
The award was received by Roger Newill, chair of the Resort Area Advisory Commission, the citizen advisory group which realized a decade ago that something had to be done to save the resort strip from the tacky and tawdry fate to which beachfront resorts are particularly prone.
Recognizing the problem was one thing, funding and implementing the solution was another.
Major funding came from a 1/2 percent increase in the hotel and restaurant tax. Cooperation between area merchants and the city led to a work schedule which had five to seven block sections of Atlantic Avenue under heavy construction in the off-season, but ready for business as usual when the bulk of the tourist trade arrived.
According to Hudome, the cooperation between the city and the merchants has been the key to the program's success.
``The business community got behind and supported us. Everybody really got excited when the first section (20th to 25th streets) was done. They started anticipating it getting to their area.''
That cooperation was part of what the Virginia Downtown Development Association recognized.
``This entry was judged outstanding because it reflects a long-term philosophical commitment and significant financial investment to support and enhance the development of a key business district by the public sector,'' they said in somewhat bureaucratic terms.
To the thousands of tourists who add in excess of $40 million to the city's coffers each year, the project has a somewhat different meaning.
On Monday morning a child from Pennsylvania came to a dead stop on his sprint from the boardwalk to Atlantic Avenue.
``Hey, Mom, look at the neat blue fish,'' he yelled.
And that, as Hudome well knows, is what the Pittsburgh family will remember long after the Mastercard has been paid off and the memory of wire-free streets, pretty flowers and attractive storefronts has faded. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JO-ANN CLEGG
``We've done a whole lot of work out here, but the one thing the
tourists remember when they get back home are these (fish and other
sculptures),'' says Rob Hudome, resort manager.
by CNB