THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503080013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
In the fall of 1993, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority released results of a $30,000, 1,150-person attitude survey that revealed Norfolk's image problem.
Of the 100 area real-estate agents included in the study, only 6 percent rated Norfolk homes excellent. About half of those surveyed said the quality of life was better in their cities than in Norfolk.
Norfolk has many splendid old neighborhoods in good repair, but it needs more middle-class homes - the kind real-estate agents are eager to show middle-class buyers. Needless to say, middle-class folks are the heart and muscle of a city - working hard and paying taxes, owning their own homes and keeping up their neighborhoods.
So it's a pity the redevelopment of a 90-acre tract in East Ocean View will have to be done in phases, for want of money.
As staff writer Mike Knepler noted in a recent article, ``The proposed community would be reminiscent of a village, with tree-lined streets and fashionable houses with front porches.''
It would contain homes that real-estate agents would rate as excellent.
``In an ideal world,'' said Patrick Gomez, the NRHA community-development director, ``We'd have enough money to clear the entire area before beginning with construction. But we realize that's not possible today. In years gone by, that's what we would have done. That's what we did in other places.''
So now the question is, can the splendid project be done piecemeal?
If only small chunks are developed, the new homes may be too close to the remaining blight. Presumably a new home in a completed village would be of more interest to real-estate agents and buyers than one in a small cluster amid decrepitude.
Hovering over the development is a legal fog. The NRHA is engaged in a drawn-out legal battle over the condemnation of a 102-unit apartment complex in the project area. The authority valued the complex at $1.3 million, but a condemnation panel awarded $2.6 million to the complex owner. Circuit Court has yet to resolve the dispute.
The authority has a $9 million bank loan for starters but needs about $35 million. More than half the initial $9 million went to buy 37 properties. Meanwhile, present homeowners in the area are in limbo, with no idea when they might lose their properties.
Our fear is that the slow-going in East Ocean View represents the future, as fund-strapped government agencies fight blight at a snail's pace. by CNB