THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9503010005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Bayview Civic League in Norfolk can't be the only grass-roots group of its kind to have assembled and deployed neighborhood residents to combat neighborhood blight. But - as staff writer Mike Knepler reported in last Sunday's Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star - the Bayview bunch, working with Norfolk City Hall, has been systematically scrutinizing its surroundings and sending property owners letters urging them to correct specific code violations.
Polite appeals to neighbors to bring their property into conformity with city codes is preferable to first turning the matter over to an inspector. There's always a risk in neighbors asking a neighbor to shape up, however tactfully. But does a knock on the door by a city official make the bad news easier to bear?
Mannerly ways improve all neighborhoods. And most people strive to do the right thing most of the time. Most are likely to respond constructively to civic leagues' reasonable requests. Compliance with Bayview Civic League's requests is encouraging: Most flaws pointed out to property owners have been corrected.
The Bayview approach strikes us as a splendid way to check neighborhood decay and to foster community feeling. Thanks to the ``Community Partnerships for Effective Neighborhood Code Enforcement'' meeting last Saturday at Lafayette-Winona Middle School, a couple of hundred people learned about the Bayview program.
They learned, too, about the Fairmount Park, Lafayette-Winona and Ballentine Place citizens' patrol that strengthens these neighborhoods' defenses against criminals - and about street adoption, anti-crime watches and how the city can help residents make neighborhoods safer, cleaner, more attractive.
The late longshoreman-philosopher Eric Hoffer observed that ordinary people are ``lumpy with talent.'' Few neighborhoods are entirely bereft of human and material resources for creating an environment in which people can thrive.
The trick is to stimulate, motivate and appropriately assist residents to upgrade their neighborhoods. It's unrealistic to expect that the ``Community Partnerships for Effective Neighborhood Enforcement'' gathering in Lafayette-Winona will trigger a dramatic flowering of civic spirit and neighborhood uplift throughout Hampton Roads - but, oh, how we wish. by CNB