THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Aesthetic concerns on Norfolk's downtown Granby Street may strike some as an oxymoron. But appearance seems to be the issue in the city's stalling of one merchant's attempt to erect a security grille on the beleaguered thoroughfare.
City Hall's concern is understandable. Granby Street has long repulsed revitalizers' advances, including the ill-fated conversion to a mall some years ago. Now Norfolk is getting, decades late, its own Tidewater Community College campus. This construction is seen as the new key to a Granby Street U-turn.
The problem for Edward Lee is that TCC building plans required his Esquire Men's Shop location in the 300 block of Granby, forcing his recent move to the 400 block and subjecting him to new zoning rules.
Members of the Planning Commission, said a senior planner, Mary Miller, ``have questioned whether or not we should continue to allow security grilles on Granby Street. The concern was that they give the wrong impressions to visitors, and is there another way to provide the same amount of security but is more aesthetically pleasing?''
Were Mr. Lee bringing a business to Granby for the first time, application of more restrictive rules would be fair enough - though, we'd say, less than prudent on this street of vacant stores.
But, Mr. Lee reminds us, ``they took my building. I didn't want to sell. They made me sell. The other location was much better.''
When he opened on Granby at that preferred location seven years ago, he says his store was broken into seven or eight times in the first six months. Then he put up a security grille. The break-ins stopped.
So, because of the crime threat, Mr. Lee sometimes sleeps in his new, unprotected store, surrounded, by the way, by retailers equipped with metal screens.
Aesthetic goals are understandable, commendable even, but simple fairness in dealing with a local merchant is even more essential. Mr. Lee needs a security grille now. Let him have it without further delay and sleep at home, confident his store is safe. by CNB