THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240579
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
On Saturday, the experiment begins.
City officials, civic-league leaders and other residents will gather at Lafayette-Winona Middle School to find ways to make Norfolk neighborhoods more attractive.
But it might not stop with better programs from City Hall.
The bureaucrats, politicians and civic-league presidents all say they are willing to experiment with a new relationship between citizens and government.
They don't know what will result.
Mayor Paul D. Fraim wants the workshop to be more than a gripe session. He admits that City Hall needs to connect more with Norfolk citizens.
Civic-league leaders say they don't want to hear the same, dissatisfying City Hall excuses about blighted houses, overgrown weeds, junk cars and garbage in the streets.
One hint of possible change is found in the workshop title.
Two weeks ago, it was ``How to Do Business with City Hall,'' reflecting something of a shopping transaction between a consumer and a department store.
Now, it's ``Community Partnerships for Effective Neighborhood Code Enforcement.'' The phrase ``community partnerships'' probably will be included in future workshops on other topics, Fraim said.
Saturday's workshop will include presentations about an anti-blight volunteer program in Bayview and anti-crime citizens patrols in Lafayette-Winona, Fairmount Park and Ballentine Place.
There's also a panel on the purpose of civic leagues.
Still, there is uncertainty about neighborhood partnerships with City Hall. Civic-league leaders have varying interpretations, and government officials don't know how far to go with public participation.
For example, Fraim says, the local government has changed its outlook about civic leagues.
There used to be ``a sense at City Hall that civic leagues or citizen organizations were groups that needed to be `dealt with' and not really brought into the process as true partners,'' he said. ``There's now more potential for greater input from the civic leagues, and City Hall needs to listen more to what they are saying.''
At the same time, Fraim reminds civic leagues that a city council is elected to make final decisions after considering many factors, including opinions from other civic groups, business associations or individuals.
Still, civic-league leaders assert there is more room for citizen participation.
``What we're talking about is untraditional responsibility,'' said James Janata, president of the East Ocean View Civic League and a member of the mayor's nine-member citizens advisory panel for the workshops.
``We don't want citizens to tell the city what the problem is, and then for the city to go off and huddle and decide if and how to solve the problem, and then come back and tell us what they're going to do,'' Janata said.
``That's the `us-and-them' philosophy. We need to get to a `we' philosophy.''
But citizens often do not participate unless they perceive an immediate crisis, said Roy Graeber, president of the Riverfront Civic League.
So Graeber said he hopes that Saturday's workshop produces ideas to develop ``a more active citizenry, not a more active minority who are already active.''
``I guess we're probably trying to change the culture of what it means to be a citizen of Norfolk,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: DETAILS
What: Citizen workshop on ``Community Partnerships for Effective
Neighborhood Code Enforcement.''
When: 9 a.m.-noon Saturday.
Where: Lafayette-Winona Middle School.
For information: Call 441-5145.
by CNB