THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503240149
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
They were talking about our future in Norfolk on Tuesday night. But Portsmouth folks apparently weren't too interested. So far as I could see, Councilman Jim Martin might have been the only Portsmouth face in the audience.
``One City - Where Do We Draw the Line?'' was the topic of Talk of the Town, a program sponsored by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. Nor was the Chamber of Commerce too interested in Portsmouth, Suffolk or the Peninsula, I might add. The panel only included folks from Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake - and former Chesapeake Mayor Sid Oman apparently was an afterthought since his name wasn't on the program.
Even if Norfolk and Virginia Beach don't care about anybody else, we should care about what they're doing. Everything that happens in Hampton Roads affects the rest of us too.
After listening to the panelists talk for almost two hours, I left feeling pretty discouraged about the future of Hampton Roads.
Even the ferry ride across the Elizabeth River to Portsmouth did not lift my spirits as it usually does.
While the elected politicians avowed they were willing to work together, citing ``regional cooperation'' in such agencies as TRT, SPSA, etc., some of the other panelists were a little more to the point.
``We're dysfunctional as a family,'' advertising executive Dan Ballard declared. Ballard originated and pushed for the ``Virginia Waterfront'' promotion of the region.
``I have been astounded by the lack of cooperation between people who make their living in tourism,'' he added.
``We spend too much time looking at each other,'' said Gerald Divaris, a Virginia Beach real estate developer. ``The back-biting at each other is amazing.''
Everybody should think of ``what is good for the region as a whole,'' Divaris said.
``If only we could capitalize on each other's strengths,'' he said. ``Unless we pull together, we won't be able to use all our assets.''
Norfolk developer Hunter Hogan and Oman both talked about talking about regionalism for a long time.
``Forty years ago we were talking about merger with Portsmouth,'' Hogan said. ``But there was always a clash when something came up. When we needed land, Sidney Kellam made Princess Anne County into a city and the creation of Chesapeake blocked Portsmouth.''
During his lifetime, Kellam was a powerhouse in Princess Anne.
``They say we can cooperate,'' Oman said. ``When are we going to start? I'm hearing the same things now I heard in 1980 and before that.''
Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said the answer lies in being able to share tax income from a new business moving into the region.
``There's no incentive to work together if we can't share revenues,'' Fraim said.
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf had a rebuttal.
``When we talk about revenue-sharing, we need to look first to sharing resources,'' she said. ``Regionalism is not going to be a reality unless we share resources.''
Translate ``resources'' to water, by the way. Oberndorf talked a lot about water.
``Water is a problem,'' she said. ``One place is always using it to club another down.''
Fraim hit on one point that should interest Portsmouth when he admitted he would ``substitute payroll tax today for real estate tax.'' Portsmouth probably would benefit more from a payroll tax than almost anyone. I would like to see Norfolk and Portsmouth get together to pursue that tax which would get both of them some income on all the property the federal government has taken off their tax books.
Regional public transportation, trash and sewage disposal are fairly safe ways to cooperate. Most citizens don't really care who's doing it as long as the trash and sewage goes away and the buses and ferries run.
We need to move on to other issues, the things that really will make a difference in the future of the region.
Old Dominion professor Wolfgang Pindur made the pithiest comment of the Tuesday night discussion when he observed that ``we have coordination but not integration'' in the region.
Whether any good possibly could come from the panel discussion is questionable. However, I really get concerned when I don't see Portsmouth folks participating in these things - especially when they start talking about water.
Maybe the Norfolk-Virginia Beach schism could be bridged if other Hampton Roads cities showed some leadership in creating a viable region. by CNB