THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9503310242
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
Now that the Virginia Beach City Council has ignored the pleas from residents who will be affected by the amphitheater, it is time for the voters and the news media to hold accountable those who voted for it.
Every claim made by the amphitheater supporters should be followed up with newspaper articles and television reports. Record the real-estate values in nearby neighborhoods now and track them through the amphitheater construction and for the first few years of its operation. Take sound-measuring instruments into the neighborhoods or spend a night with a family trying to sleep during one of the rock concerts. Observe what would normally be a five-minute trip to the grocery store extend to a half-hour commute. Carefully weigh the promises made during the debate against the reality after the project is completed.
The media should also investigate and publish the names of financial contributors to council members/candidates who supported this project in spite of the vigorous opposition of city residents.
Finally, voters should be wary of council candidates capable of plastering their placards all over the city. Lucre used to purchase signs may also buy influence.
George M. Murray
Autumn Harvest Drive Kellam hits positive note with `Sound of Music'
There's so much panning of the educational system in this country going on at this time that I would like to speak in a positive mode for a change.
Recently I attended a performance of ``Sound of Music'' at the Landstown Middle School given by Kellam High School faculty and students. The excellence of the performance was achieved by a large number of people - students, teachers, parents and community members - working together toward a common goal.
I was particularly impressed by the orchestra - about 26 young men and women, responding as a unit to their vigorous and able director. So often in productions of this kind certain sections are audibly out-of-sync with the rest of the group. Not so here. What's more, they were able to achieve a modulated blend with the tender voices they accompanied. A rare treat in itself!
Everyone seemed enthusiastic and involved. There was a warm camaraderie that was palpable between the performers and the audience. It was a wonderful example of all the essential goals of our educational system being met. Congratulations, Kellam High School people!
Cecille F. Greenberg
Beethoven Drive `Second-class' city with `third-class' schools
In the past 12 years, Virginia Beach has become a second-class city with a third-class school system. An influx of real-estate developers and real-estate salespeople, plus all the retired Navy population who never return to their native states, has resulted in an overflow of tract houses and overcrowded schools. There are very few professional people or outstanding business people living in the area.
The schools' teachers are a large majority of tired, middle-aged women who have picked up a few courses to get recertified, and a good number of the teachers are retired military trying to supplement their retirement income. They are also taking a course or two to qualify. Does this make a good teacher?
What we need are some fresh college graduates with new ideas and lots of enthusiasm instead of a bunch of middle-aged mothers trying to raise children and teach, plus tired Navy men who are not trained to teach.
There are quite a few mothers teaching in the Virginia Beach school system who send their children to Norfolk Academy, as do the vice mayor and another council member whose wife teaches in the Virginia Beach school system. Do these mothers not have enough confidence in their teaching ability to send their children to school here? They must think the schools are really bad. Why should our children be subjected to a school system that these teachers feel is not good enough for their own children? I hope Dr. Faucette doesn't decide to send his children to Norfolk Academy.
Margaret Stuart
Virginia Beach Divaris, the Beach, the `eagle' and the future
Beth Barber's column ``The Clash Zone'' (Beacon, March 26) combined a series of points guaranteed to light civic fires in Virginia Beach.
Gerald Divaris is a man ahead of his time, and his vision is often wasted on us. His dreams are slowly materializing, however, along Independence Boulevard leading into the Pembroke office area and mall, where the city is completing what will soon be our ``Champs-Elysees'' flowing into the Central Business District.
Divaris' views on the military are arguably true, but understated. The military is not just an asset or a crutch; it is the economic lifeblood of this area. It does impede a great deal of cultural progress in creating the blight that we see in disparate areas of Tidewater, such as East Little Creek Road and the eastern end of Virginia Beach Boulevard.
We cannot dictate good taste which is what Divaris and many of us are anxious to infuse. But without that ``eagle'' on those thousands of biweekly paychecks, we would still be growing corn and peanuts in most of Virginia Beach.
The solution to this dilemma is education, imagination and inventiveness. We can't expect citizens who dine in their baseball caps in chic restaurants to help this area stride into economic development. Conversion is the key to the diversification of our economy here. But a growing military presence dissuades us from serious thought in that direction. And our parochial attitude toward regional unification does not render me optimistic for the future.
We will continue to grow, like topsy; money will continue to be the driving force behind our culture; Gerald Divaris, like Voltaire, will continue to poke fun at our foibles. And with time, and the appearance of more persons of educated vision, our city may improve in pride and lasting achievement.
A. P. Pirrone
Thoroughgood by CNB