THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080520
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 147 lines
It's not quite in the same category as Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame.
It's 10 minutes with the mayor of Norfolk.
But the first few Norfolk residents who signed up for Mayor Paul D. Fraim's new office-hours program left impressed.
``If you see something that can be improved, it's always a good idea to say something about it, to try to do something about it instead of just complain about it,'' said Robert Floyd III, the first citizen to meet with Fraim.
Floyd, an artist, came to the mayor with ideas for luring more shoppers and tourists to downtown: have more public art and create an art festival that includes more of the city than the downtown waterfront.
Fraim took notes on a yellow legal pad.
Others, like Phyllis Eschert, an Ocean View apartment manager, came with complaints. She protested that her water bill was too high after changes in city billing practices.
``This is fabulous,'' Eschert said about her visit. ``It's person-to-person service. I think I'm going to hear back from somebody after this. They might not do anything about it, but I'm glad for the person-to-person service.''
The two hours of individual meetings with residents Tuesday night was the beginning of a citizen-outreach program by City Hall.
``We're trying to make city government more accessible to the cit- izens,'' Fraim said.
Meetings with residents will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of every month, he said.
Also planned are quarterly workshops to help citizens work more effectively with City Hall and quarterly meetings between the mayor and civic league presidents.
The first ``How to do Business With City Hall'' workshop will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Feb. 25 in the Lafayette-Winona Middle School. In it, department directors will explain how residents can get better service in areas such as housing code enforcement, pothole repair, traffic control and streetlight improvements.
The topics were generated by a survey this winter.
But beyond improving City Hall's service to neighborhoods, the program has sparked some reconsideration of the relationship between local government and citizens.
City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. said he was concerned that the mayor's office meetings and the quarterly workshops would encourage an attitude that residents are ``clients'' of City Hall instead of citizens of Norfolk.
Oliver said meetings and workshops also should promote ways for citizens and civic leagues to share responsibility for neighborhood improvements.
He said he's looking for more volunteer programs such as Adopt-a-Street anti-litter projects, crime-prevention citizen patrols and neighbors helping elderly people with home repairs.
``I hope that the focus would not be so much how the city should do more with less, and I hope that citizens do not see their role only as asking for more services,'' Oliver said.
``We need to develop a broader view about addressing the city's needs, co-production of the solutions, the community taking more responsibility.
``It seems to me that as we reinvent government, we ought to also reinvent citizenship. . . . A lot of it may be going back to the future of more community-based strategies.''
As a result of Oliver's prodding, the workshops now are being organized to include discussions ``about ways citizens can be involved as part of the solution,'' said Heather Stone, a management analyst. ``Hopefully, each department will have some examples.''
Future workshops will include time for civic leagues to explain what they do and how residents can join, she said.
``We're on a learning curve about this. We've never done it before,'' Stone said.
Citizen activists seem to be responding favorably to the approach.
``It's got to be something else besides us and them. We can't expect them to do everything for us because we're not willing and we can't afford to pay the amount of taxes for that level of city services,'' said James Janata, president of the East Ocean View Civic League. ``So we have to identify the problems and develop with them the most cost-effective, most efficient ways to solve them.''
Janata will be part of a citizens advisory board that will help City Hall develop the workshops. The opportunity to participate in planning meetings makes him optimistic about chances for success.
``We have been saying all along that in order for us to be true partners, we need to be involved all along, involved in the decision-making process,'' Janata said.
Janata said he will use the advisory board to springboard one of his pet ideas: that the workshops must include participation from lower-echelon city employees as well as department heads.
Evelyn Powell Porter, secretary of the Inner-City Federation of Civic Leagues, will be another advisory board member.
She said she'll try to promote better citywide understanding of poverty issues, such as hunger and homelessness.
``I think this will be a great change. At least citizens now won't feel that City Hall does what it wants without asking,'' she said. ``There could be a lot of things that come out of this new partnership. We'll be working with civic leagues from all around the city. I think more people will want to get involved.''
City Hall's venture into citizen workshops may be new in Norfolk but the need for community involvement in problem-solving already is being discussed nationwide, most often by university scholars and civic foundations. President Bill Clinton also promoted the theme in his State of the Union speech on Jan. 24.
Also, other cities in Hampton Roads and across the nation have created outreach programs of varying stripes.
Last August, Portsmouth launched a program of annual citizen forums to help the City Council develop goals. The priorities are listed on a chart outside council chambers at City Hall.
Since then, council members have gone in pairs to civic organizations to discuss the goals and get feedback, said City Clerk Sheila Pittman. The council has scheduled a six-month public review for Feb. 27.
Virginia Beach is in its fourth year of a leadership-training program for certain neighborhoods. It helps civic leagues get organized and teaches leaders to make effective presentations and resolve conflicts, said Carol Williams, neighborhood services administrator.
Two intensive training sessions are held each year, but the program also convenes monthly meetings of a neighborhood executive leadership council where participants share experiences, Williams said. The program also promotes partnerships between neighborhoods and nearby businesses, she said.
In Norfolk, City Hall is not the only entity recognizing the importance of developing citizen leadership.
A recently formed panel, headed by Joseph A. Leafe, a former mayor, plans to start a leadership training program that is accessible to a range of residents.
``The business of the community needs to be done differently than in the past,'' Leafe said. ``This city and the region needs to identify and promote a broad range of leadership in order to marshal all our resources.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Phyllis Eschert went to the office of Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim to
complain about water bills she is receiving for rental properties
she manages. ``This is fabulous,'' she said afterward. ``It's
person-to-person service.''
Graphic
HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE
Individual residents can meet with the mayor from 5 to 7 p.m. the
first Tuesday of every month. To make a reservation, call the city
clerk's office at 441-2831.
Workshops on ``How to do Business With City Hall'' will be held
quarterly. The first is 9 to 11 a.m. Feb. 25 at Lafayette-Winona
Middle School.
Civic league presidents will meet with the mayor quarterly. The
first meeting will be in March; a date and location have not been
set.
by CNB