THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501130194
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Strong opposition from neighbors to construction of a new 3,500-seat field at Woodrow Wilson High School is not the prime reason City Council should forgo construction of a new $900,000 football stadium.
Portsmouth simply does not need three new but inadequate football fields at this time.
It already has a new field at Churchland and appears committed to another to replace Frank Lawrence Stadium on London Boulevard. For a poor city, that's enough.
At this time of severe fiscal stress, all the money available for football fields should be put into a 5,000-seat regional facility, either on London Boulevard or at some equally accessible location not in the back yards of quiet neighborhoods.
A single, first-class field would enable the city to host post-season games, now played in Chesapeake or elsewhere in the region. Portsmouth games played in Western Branch actually produce revenue for Western Branch.
Even if the field were located on London Boulevard near the proposed new I.C. Norcom School, it should not be built as a Norcom field. Rather it should be as detached from the school as the old Lawrence Stadium is.
Portsmouth Stadium would be an appropriate name for a 5,000-seat regional field. That name would eliminate any arguments over whether it should be named for a white person or a black person. It would eliminate any association with either Norcom or Wilson.
Hampton and Newport News each have one field for all high school games. If it works for them, it should work for Portsmouth, a much smaller city than the others.
As one speaker at City Council said, the schools would be better served if the $900,000 were allocated for upkeep and maintenance budgets that have suffered as the city has struggled to assemble $35 million to build a new I.C. Norcom High School. by CNB