THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502020411
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
The Federation of Civic Clubs of Portsmouth, a vital part of the city's civic life for nearly 30 years, is dissolving because of lack of participation and a conflict over the group's purpose.
A committee of the federation, after waiting months to gather enough people to act, has recommended dissolution. The group's board has not met to discuss the action, but its officers say the organization is certain to break up.
``I've been devastated by the way we've been going for the last five years or so,'' said Mary Shanks, a longtime member. ``It seems like the general public is - well, I don't know how to state it. They want to debate. They're anti-government. They want to criticize, criticize, criticize.''
Karen Jordan, the current secretary, said, ``The organization was designed not to be an adversary but a source of communication.''
Portsmouth has left a period of consensus and compromise in public decisions, members of the federation said. They described the city as locked in cycles of competition and debate between factions and neighborhoods.
It could be related to a trend described nationally, in which some authorities have noted fewer Americans taking part in consensus-building, community organizations, even bowling leagues, in favor of groups that accumulate members to lobby and make demands on government.
The Portsmouth federation was begun in 1966 by the Jaycees and other organizations with the expressed purpose of working together toward a common goal.
A history of the group places its first meeting in April 1966, and includes a description of its aim as ``coordinating a body of civic organizations to promote projects for the betterment of the City of Portsmouth in general, and not that of a neighborhood's individual problems.''
It began with 22 smaller groups, very few of them neighborhood-based civic leagues. In its early years, the federation backed an anti-littering campaign, juvenile rehabilitation, a Halloween curfew and other projects.
Eva Teig, former state secretary of health and human resources, said, ``I was involved with the federation when it was really very vital in the city's resurgence in the 1970s and early '80s. It was one of the key constituencies. It was a force in the renaissance of Portsmouth.''
But in the late '80s and early '90s, members said, participation started to drop. From a peak of having 50 organizations under its umbrella, it dropped by at least half. Explanations vary about why.
``A lot of people had gotten older, and they were not coming out anymore,'' said Anne Green, the current president. ``And younger people just did not start coming to the meetings.''
J. Brewer Moore, president of the Hodges Manor Civic League, said, ``You cannot get people to come out to meetings. Younger people are too busy with two jobs and raising families.''
In the past several years, Moore has spoken out at City Council on numerous issues, often in the name of the federation.
Some members described Moore's activities as either typical of the group's problems or even directly responsible for its end.
Moore saw a need to look into problems at City Hall.
``There was a delegation within the federation who felt it was their civic duty to pursue that,'' said Moore, a legislative aide to state Sen. Frederick M. Quayle, R-13th District, who represents parts of Portsmouth and Chesapeake. ``Others in the federation said, well, we represent garden clubs and civic organizations. This is not just a council of civic leagues, and a lot of these groups don't want to get mixed up in these controversial issues.''
But Moore, president of the group Government Reform in Portsmouth, said someone has to keep a sharp eye on City Hall and also watch out for the neighborhoods' interests. ``I mean, five of the council members are from Churchland,'' he said. ``Who's looking out for Hodges Manor?
``As far as consensus-building is concerned, if there's someone who wants to get a group together, they can do that.''
Although Green said ``there were people who wanted to make it more political,'' she, Shanks and others insist no individual members were to blame for the group's demise.
``We always had people who were cool, calm and collected,'' said Shanks. ``It seems like the civic leagues always have something to fight about.
``Or maybe we've just become superfluous. Maybe we're not needed.'' by CNB