THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409270139
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: In The Neighborhoods
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
If a stranger flashed some cash your way, would you give him the key to your house and look the other way?
Probably not. But apparently, that's how some Ocean View landlords do business these days in a current crime hot spot.
And they don't even ask the names of their tenants.
``They had the green. That's all that mattered,'' said a disgusted policeman, Major Curtis Todd. ``In fact, they didn't even ask for deposits from some of them. It was really crazy how they were renting.
``One of the people who knew the least about the tenants lived. . . right across the street from the property. He did not know any of his tenants.''
So police now have another role: explaining the facts of life to certain landlords who are either too dumb or like playing dumb.
And these facts, Todd said, include telling these landlords they can be held responsible for criminal activity conducted on their property by nameless tenants.
Moon gazing. Don't complain about police response time around Bob Bayliss, president of the Ocean View Civic League. He'll give you an earful in praise of police. . . and then some.
``Over the years I've had the opportunity to call them quite a few times,'' Bayliss told the Mayor's Ocean View Committee.
``A lot of times when you call, they're there, you just don't see them. They can be real sneaky when they want to. I bumped into them in the bushes at 3 o'clock in the morning the other night!''
After the hoots and laughter died down, there was only one point still in question. What was Bayliss doing in the bushes at 3 a.m.?
Another vote for czar. City Councilman Herb Collins isn't alone in wanting a ``public housing czar.''
Ulysses Turner, School Board chairman, told Collins he likes the idea.
Collins proposed the czar position as a way to concentrate on improving public housing and the lives of tenants. He floated the idea at a meeting of the Downtown Norfolk Council's safe and clean community committee for the Church Street-Brambleton Avenue area.
The city councilman said Dave Rice, executive director of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, does well in general but is too overworked to pay enough attention to public housing issues.
In supporting Collins' idea, Turner compared the proposed housing czar job to the work of Fred M. Oliver, a new assistant to the Norfolk schools superintendent. Oliver's main mission is to boost academic achievement of poor and black students.
For the record, Rice says he already has an assistant executive director, a department of resident initiatives and many other employees working to improve public housing conditions and opportunities for tenants.
Trucking. Latest plans for MacArthur Center shopping mall call for moving Fire Department headquarters and the downtown station from 540 City Hall Ave.
Zoo's front door. The 35th Street Merchants Association began pushing the idea years ago: move the entrance to the Virginia Zoological Park to 35th Street.
That way, businesses on 35th Street in Park Place could benefit from zoo improvements.
The idea has gathered momentum. Mayor Paul Fraim says, ``It's something I want to do. . . It would provide better access in addition to helping the merchants. I really think that's the direction we'll go.'' MEMO: Comment or suggestion for Mike Knepler: contact him at 446-2275 or The
Compass, P.O. Box 449, Norfolk, Va. 23510.
by CNB