THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411280240
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: In The Cities
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
A meeting of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues seemed to be an odd setting for Mayor Paul D. Fraim to promote regionalism.
Most times, politicians talk about cooperation between cities when they're speaking to regional planners, chambers of commerce, legislative fact-finding committees, academicians and, of course, other politicians. Civic leagues aren't usually on that list.
Fraim voiced the traditional concern about the urban core, but he said the region must find a way to meet challenges from beyond Hampton Roads.
``Our competition is increasingly becoming not Virginia Beach and not Chesapeake, but it's becoming Charlotte and Nashville and Jacksonville and Raleigh-Durham,'' he told the civic leagues. ``We need to decide as a region what type of region we're going to to be and how we're going to implement a strategy to achieve our goals.''
OK. But why take this message to civic leagues?
Neighborhood groups usually want to hear about what City Hall is doing on issues such as crime, street repair, housing code enforcement, parks, and schools.
Fraim gave them that.
But he devoted at least half of his speech to the need for Hampton Roads cities to work better with one another.
In doing so, he may have opened a new realm of possibilities. Maybe neighborhood groups can advance a cause that city governments and business leaders often seem to fumble.
Proponents of regionalism have been missing the grassroots angle for years.
Political leaders need to realize that meetings between government and business leaders are not the only ways cities talk with each other. Cities converse every day through their citizens who have friends, relatives and co-workers living and shopping throughout the area.
Local government leaders could build on these natural-occurring relationships. Some examples of what could happen:
City Hall could go beyond holding ``nuts-and-bolts'' forums with Norfolk civic leagues on how to access better services from municipal agencies. Norfolk also could equip neighborhood leaders with more information about issues that challenge the region.
Cities could take turns organizing annual gatherings for civic leagues from throughout Hampton Roads. Workshop topics would run the gamut of locally based issues, such as housing code enforcement. But they could promote regional discussions as well.
Coalitions of civic leagues could promote dialogue through their own activities. For example, a group of civic leagues in Portsmouth could invite Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf of Virginia Beach to discuss her perspective of regional cooperation and what it means on the neighborhood level. There could be a series of reciprocal events in each city.
Leaders of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues say they like the idea of grassroots involvement in regional discussions.
They see it as an opportunity for exchanging information and ideas about neighborhood problems with their counterparts in other cities. They also would like the chance to discuss the challenge of making Hampton Roads more competitive with other regions.
Eloise LaBeau, president of the Norfolk Federation, believes city halls will find neighborhood folks more willing to cooperate across city lines than are politicians.
And, it could make support for regionalism more broad based.
``Anything that affects Norfolk, affects Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and all the areas because we're all so close,'' LaBeau said. ``We could all meet and take it back to the people in our civic leagues. We get the word out. That's what it's all about.
``We need to get started. It needs to be grassroots. No one has tried to do it like that before.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Paul D. Fraim
by CNB