THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502140104
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS
SOURCE: MIKE KNEPLER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
City Manager Jim Oliver welcomes your skepticism about his ideas on neighborhood involvement in problem solving.
After all, it is your city. But that's also Oliver's point as he goes around talking these days about ``reinventing citizenship.''
City Hall, Oliver says, not only can't provide all services that citizens want, but most citizens also don't want government to stretch that far.
For one thing, there's a lot of public concern, he says, about government getting too big.
Then there are taxes.
``They don't want more taxes,'' Oliver said. ``I think the community has been saying pretty firmly that government is restrained by those resources.''
Another of Oliver's notions is that a city is healthier when its residents help solve community problems instead of leaving most things to government.
That's part of what makes a resident a ``citizen'' instead of a ``client,'' Oliver says.
Oliver says he hopes the upcoming series of public workshops on ``How To Do Business With City Hall'' does more than instruct residents on how to get better service from government. The first session will be 9 to 11 a.m. Feb. 25 in the Lafayette-Winona Middle School.
``I hope it doesn't get into the mode of the client mentality, in which the citizen identifies what he wants and says to government, `Now you provide it,' '' he said. ``In many ways, people defer to government as an easier course to take.''
Oliver would like the workshops also to be forums for sharing ideas about citizenship and neighborhood involvement.
``It ought to be a free-flowing discussion,'' he said.
For example, Oliver likes to tout the Bayview Civic League's participation in enforcement of property codes. Such forms of neighborhood involvement, he said, ``usually reflect the values of a given community.''
``So in the case of citizens getting involved in code enforcement, it means we could be more sensitive. It probably means we could be more effective if the citizens are really willing to be in a leadership position.''
But the question arises: Is Oliver promoting volunteerism and community involvement to ease his job of managing city finances and shrinking government?
``I think there's some truth to it,'' Oliver acknowledged. ``But when you're stuck with certain necessities, you still need to get it done.
``I like to see government life from a positive view, that we're trying to be more responsive to what the larger society is saying: They don't want more taxes, that the government model hasn't been effective.
``I'm always convinced that citizen solutions are usually better solutions. So I don't think I'm being very revolutionary or reactionary in saying that the community has a real role. I don't think that I'm unloading any responsibility.''
Council quips. After a particularly contentious City Council discussion about property code enforcement last week, Councilman Mason Andrews lightened the mood.
``I have some tranquilizers if anybody wants one,'' he joked. Nobody took him up on the offer, even though Andrews is a doctor.
Andrews' humor has been on a roll lately. Recently, City Manager Jim Oliver briefed the council on some new assignments for the four assistant city managers.
When Oliver announced that Shurl Montgomery now will have the somewhat ethereal title of assistant city manager for ``continuous improvement,'' Andrews deadpanned a line about Norfolk next needing an assistant manager for research and enlightenment. by CNB