THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503210123
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: In the Neighborhoods
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
We all know Norfolk's goal to become the business, educational and cultural hub of the mid-Atlantic.
Now add this: the presidential hub.
Sure was looking like that last Thursday night when Mayor Paul Fraim convened his first quarterly meeting with civic league presidents. About 100 neighborhood leaders attended, although nobody took exact count.
And, Fraim, too, is a president. His official title is ``president of the City Council.''
Too bad nobody announced: ``And now, the president. . . '' Nearly everyone in the room would have taken a bow, a true display of American equality.
Yet, that was what the meeting largely was about - equality. Getting equal time at City Hall. Equal access. Equal voice. An equal share.
To raise the issue, Fraim referred to someone who wasn't there, a former president named Raymond L. Fields, who led the Ingleside Civic League for 13 years.
Fraim noted that a letter from Fields was published in the March 16 edition of The Compass. Fields wrote about how City Hall seems to provide a higher and quicker level of service to advocates of downtown development than to neighborhood civic leagues.
``A civic league representative can call and will be transferred from department to department and then must complete forms for assistance. I don't consider that equal treatment,'' Fields wrote.
He continued: ``We all feel that while the improvement of Waterside, Nauticus, MacArthur mall are all great, how about resurfacing the streets or repairing the curbs in the neighborhoods?''
Fraim told the meeting of civic-league presidents that he first became ``defensive about it.''
But ``then it sort of struck a chord with me. I thought it was very thoughtful,'' Fraim acknowledged. ``It focused on something we could talk about tonight: Are the neighborhoods really competing with downtown for attention?
``Those are the things that you want to talk about. Those are the things I hear about all the time, the questions about your roadways, about your sidewalks, your parks, your schools. Are we spending more money on developing economic opportunities than maybe we should be?''
When told of Fraim's comments, Fields was pleased. Good things are going to come, he said, ``if the mayor continues on his present course of reaching out to people and if the people respond in kind.''
Fields and Fraim share common ground there, too. It's another issue facing presidents of all kinds: How do you get more people involved in the civic life of their community?
The question has frustrated him, said Fields. But despite dwindling membership in the Ingleside Civic League, he still enjoys helping neighbors and devoting time to neighborhood improvement.
``I guess I'm just a civic-league person,'' he said. ``To me, they're the cornerstone and foundation of democracy. It is direct people involvement. . . It's people acting and performing what democracy is.''
At his meeting, Fraim asked civic-league presidents to help ``nourish a sense of civic engagement.''
``We want to open up more communication with the city,'' Fraim said. ``I think we'll have a more responsive city government that will focus more on community development so you will feel more responsible, so you will feel closer to what we are doing and share a sense of responsibility.''
Norfolk, the hub of presidents? Or something even more?
The hub . . . Make that the hubbub . . . A city rich in the hubbub of democracy. by CNB