THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501180191
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Joseph Banks
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
I'm not sure that the mayor, city manager and council members will agree, but in some readers' minds The Currents and The Virginian-Pilot/The Ledger-Star are too soft on City Hall.
Two weeks ago, I asked readers to call and comment about The Currents.
Only four calls were received. (By no means a scientific survey!) While callers were lacking in numbers, the comments were not lacking in conviction.
In some readers' minds, the newspaper must continue to critique City Hall, if not turn up the heat on the folks making the decisions affecting the city's some 103,000.
A resident of Hunters Point was equally critical of both the newspaper and City Hall.
There's no discussion in the newspaper of a ward system, elected judges, or crime in Downtown, the 50-year-old said.
The newspaper, he said, is failing to keep City Hall honest.
``There's no one at the newspaper willing to turn over leaves. . . . When the tax rate continues to go up, that translates to something wrong . . . The paper is lacking criticism . . . The paper is not carrying things that make people think . . . There's no in-depth criticism . . . Nobody seems to want to take the bull by the horn.''
His suggestion: ``We need a few public crucifixions here in Portsmouth . .
Meanwhile, he's canceled his subscription because the newspaper is too soft on City Hall.
While no less critical of City Hall, another caller was complimentary about The Currents and staff.
``One person who hasn't given up on Portsmouth is Ida Kay Jordan,'' said a woman from Cavalier Manor. ``She's forever beating the drum, but it seems to me that City Hall is not listening. There are a lot of letter writers who are beating the drum, but City Hall is not listening . . .''
She liked, for example, the columns and editorials that criticized City Hall for the manner in which it handled last summer's layoffs.
Encouraging The Currents staff to continue doing what it's doing, the woman, a retired accountant from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, said ``somebody has to slap City Hall in the face . . .
``The newspaper is the forum of the people. The Portsmouth editors are the ones who speak for the people. People are going to disagree with you, but if you have Portsmouth's welfare at heart . . .
``Currents is Portsmouth's newspaper, whereas The Virginian-Pilot tries to speak for Hampton Roads,'' she continued. ``Currents is the only voice that Portsmouth has; the only voice speaking in Portsmouth . . .
The caller, who as a child moved to Portsmouth during World War II and has lived in Cavalier Manor since the '60s, has not given up on Portsmouth either.
``Our time is coming,'' she said. ``We're a sleeping giant. But we don't have the leadership that recognizes what we can be. . . . Between the mayor and city manager, Portsmouth is stagnant.''
A social worker who, with her husband, lives in Churchland, noticed an improvement in the focus of The Currents. ``I encourage you to continue the issue-oriented philosophy,'' she said in reference to the statement that The Currents has been attempting to ensure a bit more substance at the expense of weekly features.
The Portsmouth native who left the city only to return in 1985 once was a Jordan critic, she said. Now she is ``a big fan of Ida Kay Jordan'' as well as Toni Whitt - the two reporters who spend a majority of their time watching City Hall.
While there were other comments about The Currents, by far the majority of conversation focused on City Hall. What I heard was the readers' expectations of The Currents; their encouragement to keep after City Hall; and their sense of ownership in The Currents. On one hand, disappointment with City Hall and the hope that The Currents will continue to do something about it; on the other hand, disenchantment with City Hall and The Currents' failure to do enough about it. MEMO: Agree? Disagree? The Currents would like to hear from you. Send your
thoughts to The Currents, 307 County St., Suite 100, Portsmouth, Va.,
23704-3702, or fax us at 446-2607. by CNB