THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9412290166
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: In the Neighborhood
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Don't mistake Jim Janata for an encyclopedia salesman.
It's Norfolk that he's selling from that large satchel of his.
More specifically, he's peddling the city's new official history book, ``Norfolk: The First Four Centuries.''
He packs eight books at a time and carries this baggage wherever he treads. Civic breakfasts. Zoning hearings. Parking garages. The place where he takes his poodle, Jo Jo, for grooming.
The man is relentless.
Many folks already know this. This bagman for history is the same Jim Janata who devotes hours every week fussing out hapless bureaucrats and politicians. Usually it's because someone at City Hall didn't treat his East Ocean View neighborhood the right way.
Is this a drastic turnabout, hawking history on behalf of City Hall?
Not really. From time to time, Janata is an advocate for city policies.
Like the history project. Janata thinks the new book can help Norfolk citizens better appreciate their city. He has learned from it, too.
He hasn't tackled this job alone. It has become a project of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues, which represents 42 neighborhood groups. Janata is first vice president.
Federation officers have sold more than 300 volumes at $20.90 each.
But few go about it like Janata, who sells the books in the unlikeliest venues, urban guerrilla-book fair style.
He sold three books during a hearing of the board of zoning appeals.
Then, leaving a city parking garage, he quizzed the cashier about the book. The man hadn't even heard of it, but Janata soon changed that, racking up another sale.
He said he also sold one to Andres Duany, the internationally famous urban planner who is designing a new community in East Ocean View.
Janata contends his efforts aren't siphoning business from bookstores.
``We've probably helped them,'' he said. ``If someone doesn't have the money to buy a book right away, we've at least stirred up their interest, and ultimately they will go to a bookstore.
``I think what we're selling is Norfolk,'' said Janata, who moved to Norfolk 23 years ago from New York. ``We're trying to help people understand their city. Most people here are not Norfolk natives. You adopt Norfolk, and some of that process is to understand the history of Norfolk, where it's been and where it's going.''
If you understand those things better, you're more likely to get involved in civic affairs, Janata believes.
Although he's a staunch neighborhood activist, Janata also says there's such a thing as going too far and losing sight of the big picture.
``I think people tend to equate themselves with their neighborhood but not with the city,'' he said. ``Some of that is the city's fault. I don't think the city has bent over backward making people feel they are part of the city.''
(Yep. He's still jabbing.)
``Some is the citizen's fault,'' Janata continued. ``I think this book will help.
``Part of what I'd like people to feel is that Norfolk is here not as an accident of geography but because people decided it should be here and were willing to take the time and energy to make it be here and survive and prosper. The idea is that people took an active role in shepherding Norfolk through its trials and tribulations.
``And if the people of Norfolk don't appreciate the city of Norfolk, then we're in a world of trouble.'' by CNB