THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9412310144
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Beth Barber
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
VIRGINIA BEACH, Jan. 1
City Council today con-vened its first retreat of 1996 to review the unfinished business of 1995.
Protesters demanded that Council disband, but the city attorney advised that popular demand was insufficient. A referendum would have to be held on the fourth Monday after the sixth month from the last election preceding the next, and then only if a quorum of the Council of Civic Organizations collected signatures equal to 62 percent of the registered voters who reported a pothole in their ward in the past year.
Three hours into the retreat, loud shouts of ``FERC,'' which beat out ``BRAC'' for newest entry in the lexicon of four-letter words, were drowned out by FA-18s roar-ing home to Oceana. A cheer rippled down Route 44, where 65,000 of the 243,000 cars a day that use the road since the tolls came off were waiting for the light to change at Witchduck Road.
Six hours and five minutes into the retreat, three members of Council emerged to avail themselves of the Port-a-johns in the parking lot, all restrooms in public buildings having been closed by recommendation of the Citizens Water Conservation Board. Trials begin Tuesday for the Helms' Angels, the guerrilla group from Gastonia that soldered the 600 finished feet of the Gaston pipeline shut.
A lawsuit filed by environmentalists fearful of lead contamination at the soldering site has prevented the pipeline's repair, pending environmental impact statements from three federal agencies and the flight paths taken by six fledgling warblers about to leave their nest.
Five hours into the retreat, Council came out for air and found it marginally cleaner than clean, thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency's kibosh on the 36th proposed route for the Southeastern Expressway.
Two members of Coun-cil jogged down the new bike-bridle path to Pembroke via Pungo, heckled by a horde of disappointed contenders for the seat Councilman John Moss vacated one day.
Two other members of Council set out on the exercise trail to the Oceanfront, but turned back to avoid recognition by picketers for School Board taxing authority, Kempsville families looking for a parking space and cruisers in search of what once was The Block.
The retreat reconvened with a delegation from the Sandbridge Six Hundred invited to leave their waders on the sidewalk and bring their federal flood insurance forms inside. The sheriff subsequently announced that jail inmate work crews were too busy blasting graffiti off derelict buildings to install bulkheads along Sandfiddler Road, even if they could sound it.
The city spokeswoman subsequently announced that the concrete and other rubble dumped at Atlantic Village would not be sufficient for an artificial barrier to protect the natural barrier that is Sandbridge, even when mixed with pieces of the Dome left unsold by Neptune Festival vol-un-teers.
Pressed by a reporter, the spokeswoman also confirmed that the rubble, etc., is unsuitable for construction of a jetty to accommodate the proposed riverboat casino Croatan Queen. She declined comment on a report that a Virginia Indian tribe plans roulette at the former Fort Story.
The new directress of economic development, however, did confirm that a playing-card factory is considering a site at Lake Ridge and a laundromat is looking at Corporate Landing.
After eight hours, Council adjourned to enjoy the mayor's slides from Singapore. by CNB