THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412160217
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Another View
SOURCE: JAMES R. REVELL
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
I disagree with the column by Ida Kay Jordan (Currents, Dec. 11) that says high crime statistics and urban sprawl unfairly burden the City of Portsmouth.
Once people relocate to other cities, they are no longer citizens of the former city. I assure you that it is not the citizens who moved that are committing the crimes referenced, but rather other citizens that still reside within Portsmouth's boundaries. This little game of ``if'' just doesn't hold water and your argument is not valid.
The truth is more likely that Portsmouth exports rather than imports more crime. If anything, Portsmouth probably has driven up the crime rate in surrounding communities.
While an argument could have been made in the past that many relocated families looked to Portsmouth for services, this argument has diminished over time and is now virtually gone.
It is now a fact that Portsmouth citizens patronize Chesapeake and Greenbrier malls, restaurants, doctors, etc. not located in the city.
Portsmouth is not the victim of
suburban sprawl. It is rather the victim of its own inability to forecast and manage its own resources.
In the mid-1950s, City Council adapted the slogan ``Progressive Portsmouth.'' The slogan and subsequent economic plan presented floundered from the very beginning. Eventually, businesses began moving to newer digs located at MidCity Shopping Center. This center thrived for years until Tower Mall was constructed. Again, there was a mass exodus. Look at both of these shopping areas today.
When you consider the limited land resources available and the geographic layout of the city, its hard to rationalize why the city has chosen the most valuable land for a municipal complex and jail. The fact that these facilities are located at one extreme boundary of town rather than being centrally located also speaks unfavorably of the city and amplifies the city's lack of a true visionary. This original mistake in location created in the mid-1960s was continued rather than rectified when the present City Hall was constructed in the 1970s.
Also as pointed out in your column, many Portsmouth families have chosen to relocate to the surrounding suburbs of Chesapeake and Suffolk. They have chosen to move to these areas because it became apparent that Portsmouth was failing to resolve many of its concerns.
I don't believe and I don't believe that you believe for one moment that those families that followed the ``siren call of developers'' and choose to relocate ever expected a free ride as implied in your column.
Quite frankly, until the citizens of Portsmouth unite and elect competent leaders who are able to share a common vision and work as a cohesive unit toward accomplishing that vision, the city will remain doomed.
All of Hampton Roads knows that Portsmouth is grabbing at straws.
Recently, plans were conceived and backed to create a race track in the Fairview Homes area. To this outside observer, it appeared that the unwritten agenda was to force these families out of their homes and into other low-rent housing provided by surrounding cities. In this way, a double ``victory'' could have been achieved. First, by acquiring a glaringly needed revenue stream from gaming dollars; secondly, by reducing social service entitlements.
Once this plan failed, Portsmouth immediately began expounding the virtues of riverboat gambling.
Get real! Portsmouth is looking for the quick fix, the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
City Council has undermined several reasonable plans that have been presented over the last years in placating those citizens who complain the loudest regardless of the merits of their dissatisfaction. This ``squeaky wheel'' philosophy will never accomplish anything.
If you believe in what you are doing, you must stand your ground and move forward regardless of the consequences. Portsmouth doesn't appear to have the ability to follow its own convictions.
While Portsmouth citizens hate to look to Norfolk for direction, perhaps there is a lot to be learned by following its methods. Norfolk has added business and industry. Portsmouth's significant contribution has added only residential development in areas that would have been good for supporting business and industry.
I, myself, contacted Portsmouth officials about relocating my business there two years ago. I did not receive the type of support or encouragement that would have been expected from a city desperate for tax revenues.
Although we were a very small company, our payroll and subsequent tax burden have grown rapidly. We now are looking to purchase an acre of land and build a new office facility.
Portsmouth will not be an area that we consider due specifically to the high crime rate, lack of forward thinking government, and quick access to good roads.
As for myself, I remain convinced that these problems will soon disappear. Lack of a true visionary will eventually lead to Portsmouth becoming a suburb of either Norfolk or Chesapeake, providing that these cities would be willing to tolerate a temporary rise in the crime rate. MEMO: A 28-year resident of Portsmouth, Mr. Revell lived in Cradock, Prentis
Park and Grove Park. Now living in the Western Branch section of
Chesapeake, he is owner of Mid-Atlantic Bellcom, a communications
business.
by CNB