THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9409300185
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
What will make Portsmouth better? All of us have our own ideas and sometimes they conflict.
Sometimes the conflict among various interests is strong enough to stop a project that would have been good for the entire city. Sometimes people don't understand a project and believe the time and money could have been spent on their neighborhoods.
Currently, the Gindroz Plan is in process. Part of the process has been including citizens who have told the planners about their ideas.
The Gindroz group has used local brainpower, meeting many times with a variety of local residents to hear what people think.
They have picked up information they otherwise might not have had and heard suggestions that could improve on their professional ideas.
The value of consultants is that they are able to see the good points as well as the bad points of a city with far greater clarity than those who live in the community. At the same time, they are unable at times to have detailed knowledge that comes from living nearby.
This particular group of consultants really has listened to people.
Their knowledge some weeks ago was amazing. Since then, they've talked to hundreds more local people. They continued last week with their meetings.
The proposals put forth so far by the consultants are based on good logic. Even if you disagree with one idea or another, you can see where they are coming from.
Much of what they are saying is not new. Much of it is just good solid city planning. But, by putting it together into one document, they show how it all comes together.
That is the important aspect of this plan. It's not for one neighbordhood or another. It's not one group vs. another. It's designed for the good of the entire city.
It would be one continuous effort toward a mutual goal.
City Council and the public must adopt the plan with the total good of the city in mind.
By having a plan that systematically will be put into place over a period of five years or so, the city will be better able to talk to prospects to broaden the city's economic base.
It's pretty hard to convince somebody in New York or anywhere else to come to Portsmouth to open a business in the middle of a dilapidated area. The potential investor, willing to take a chance here, must be convinced that Portsmouth has a plan to deal with its problem areas.
It's well documented across the country that private investors will move in when a city seriously begins revitalization efforts.
A good example, of course, is right across the river. Norfolk's continued efforts to make its downtown waterfront work have paid off in the form of Nordstrom's and Macy's department stores, which will open in a soon-to-be-built mall.
We in Portsmouth have our own example of how public investment spurs private entities. Downtown streetscaping, a favorite project of former City Manager George Hanbury, came out of an earlier plan.
The improvements cost a lot but City Council kept at it. As a result, stores like Crockin's and Phil Brodie's furniture stores (on opposite ends of the High Street project) were remodeled and both are doing more business than ever.
Places such as the Commodore Theater and the restaurants probably would not have been undertaken by private owners had the city not improved the streetscape.
Within the next few months, we'll see the completion of the Children's Museum of Virginia and the TCC School of Visual Arts, two major examples of public investment that should set downtown off and bustling again.
Of course, Portsmouth still has to deal with a lot of other parts of the city that have dragged down its image. But it's well-documented by vacant land that simply tearing down is not enough.
The city also must show its future intentions by adopting a plan and sticking with it, by begining to implement it in a systematic way.
For that to happen, everybody in Portsmouth needs to get going in the same direction.
If you have some ideas, voice them now. Don't wait until a plan is completed and then try to undermine it. by CNB