THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411040261
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Chatterbox is a not-quite-newsy look behind the scenes from City Hall to City Park.
SIDEWALKS TO WHERE? Construction of sidewalks on High Street on both sides of the Churchland Bridge should be completed by Thanksgiving - if traffic light poles arrive from the manufacturer.
The new signals will be installed at Shirley Road and High Street and at Rodman Avenue and High Street.
As for why the sidewalks on a street mostly traversed by people on wheels, Assistant City Engineer Rock Bell said it's city policy to install curbs, gutters and sidewalks whenever any work is done on a street.
``We have put a new turn lane at Shirley Road, so that explains the sidewalk,'' Bell said.
City policy would have permitted the sidewalk to run about 200 feet beyond the intersection and stop mid-block. ``The residents asked us not to do that, so we stopped at the intersection,'' Bell said.
The work at Shirley also included installation of yard drains at the intersection ``to pick up some of the water runnoff,'' Bell said.
The $980,000 project included straightening Rodman Avenue for a perpendicular intersection with High Street, widening High Street to five lanes at Willett Drive, installation of curbs, gutters and sidewalks from Rodman to Shirley, and installation of two new computerized signal lights.
- Ida Kay Jordan
RENTAL REVENUE: Back in July, Commissioner of the Revenue A. James Fillion notified some 600 to 700 rental property owners that they had failed to pay business licenses fees.
Nearly three-quarters of those who were mailed delinquent notices have since paid the $12 that's required for each unit.
``I'm not certain how much money we've actually collected,'' Fillion said, ``but a lot of people have come in and paid.''
In August, Fillion estimated the city could collect as much as $300,000 if all licenses were made current.
- Judy Parker
COMING HOME: Tommy Newsom, the Cradock native who appeared for years in the band on the Tonight show, is coming home.
Newsom has purchased a house on Sterling Point Drive at the intersection of Lake Circle Drive.
Newsom and his wife have been looking around the area over the past six months or so and finally settled on the house being sold by Warren and Olivia Jones.
- Ida Kay Jordan
WHAT TIME? The city still has a problem keeping time with the public clock on City Hall Plaza.
Assistant City Manager Luke McCoy said the clock has been repaired at least once since he learned from Chatterbox that it was malfunctioning. ``I'll go right down there and check it now,'' he promised Wednesday. ``If it's not working now, it will be working soon.''
- Ida Kay Jordan by CNB