THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507220101
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
This letter is not to complain but to praise. My wife and I were recent visitors to Virginia Beach for a short getaway from Richmond.
We have been very impressed with the many improvements that have been made to the beachfront and to the whole environment of the beach. The physical improvements are amazing and very attractive. The visible police presence was very comforting both during the day and at night. We felt very safe at all times while enjoying the constant parade of some very interesting characters who are worth the price of admission alone. We met folks from all around the world as well as spotting some old friends from back home.
The food, of course, is always a major attraction for us. There are so many great restaurants. They even pipe classical music over the loudspeaker at the 7-Eleven to soothe our spirits.
Virginia Beach is a living testament to what a city can do with a sound plan and the political commitment to carry it out. Our compliments to everyone concerned for creating such a great place to refresh the weary bones.
Karl and Jane Bren
Richmond
Shopping and tennis: Key to resort area's future
I had the privilege of serving on the Resort Area Advisory Commission from its inception 10 years ago.
All of us should be very proud of what was accomplished in the resort area. We have the tendency to forget these accomplishments and we are quick to criticize and compare ourselves with other resorts that we are not. Golf courses will help, but we cannot be Myrtle Beach. Gambling might help, but we cannot be Atlantic City or New Orleans.
Our convention facility needs expanding and, above all, it needs to be connected with the oceanfront and the Boardwalk. The cottages which exist on 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd streets up to Pacific Avenue should be turned into commercial establishments in an open-mall concept. These 60 individual commercial establishments can be transformed into unique shops from the Pavilion to the ocean with parking lots, bicycle lots and outdoor entertainment sites.
Visualize art shops displaying artwork - indoors/outdoors - in a controlled manner. Visualize the exterior walls of the shops painted with artwork in good taste; flower pots hanging from the windows; color-coordinated awnings that help merchandise and beautify the businesses and the area - 60 individual local businesses owned and operated by local businesspeople and families. A few examples:
If we can attract one of the busiest art shows on the East Coast to the Boardwalk once a year, we can certainly attract 10 art shops to permanently locate in our cottages.
10 ethnic restaurants with indoor/outdoor dining.
A stage in between these 10 ethnic eateries and light and quiet entertainment every evening from April till November.
One or two travel agencies offering, in addition to normal travel, tours and attractions such as Nauticus, Naval bases, MacArthur Memorial, Marine Science Museum, Art Center, Williamsburg, boating, fishing and reservations to hotels.
Three of the largest homes can become bed & breakfasts.
A bookstore.
We now have more prospective tenants than cottages and we now have one large pedestrian mall from the Pavilion Hotel and Convention Center to the Atlantic Ocean. They are the two great anchors of this projected superattraction that Myrtle Beach does not have, nor Atlantic City, nor any other resort with which we compete and compare ourselves.
If the city builds the infrastructure and the private sector puts together the homeowners either as landlords or investors, we can attract the tenants who, together, can attract thousands of tourists and locals who do not now patronize Atlantic Avenue.
These unique shops and tenants will not be in competition with existing businesses because of their unique and upgraded merchandise. They will attract a different cli-en-tele.
A facility such as this, with such a pleasant environment, will be busy at least seven months and do business and attract people year-round. I can see a revenue of $20 million conservatively. The real-estate tax base will increase and the city will benefit from real estate, sales, amusement and meal taxes. Property owners will increase their income ac-cord-ing-ly.
This is direct new money, plus benefits to hotels, restaurants and other metro area attractions.
I am sure the negatives will come out, but imagine what this area will look like in a few years if we don't bring it together.
In addition, we should make Virginia Beach the center for tennis activity, indoor and outdoor. Hire a big-name tennis pro to teach, hold clinics, promote tours, etc. It costs less than building golf courses. We can become a center for tennis without competition from others.
Make this shopping area and the tennis idea, along with the convention center and the ocean, the basis for expanding the season and the tax base of our city.
It will take a joint venture of city improvements, property owners, investors, merchants and banks. These new merchants can also qualify for small-business loans with support from our local banks.
So here it is. It merits immediate support, investigation, implementation and appropriation because it takes a long time to plan and produce. The longer we wait, the more we lose and the more it costs us.
Thomas C. Kyrus
Shore Drive
Roadwork at Rudee:
Plaything for adults?
For years now, the goings-on at the Rudy Inlet bridge and its approaches at Pacific and General Booth avenues have been astonishing, amazing and more than interruptive: They are disconcerting and dangerous - and expensive! Earth-moving machines, cranes, turcks, barrels and people have gone stark-raving mad, tearing things up and building things down, continually in motion and changing the format. Once it seemed I was directed, by barrels, to drive on the wrong side of the double-yellow lines. There were no other cars to follow, only barrels - going everywhere - directing the traffic flow. Every driver for himself! What fun.
Finally I understood: It was Erector Sets for Adults - contractor, engineer and politician adults. I had an erector set when I was young, my children had them. You could build things; some worked and some you had to tear down and build up again and again before you could make it right. They are wonderfully educational toys.
That must be what we are doing at Rudy Inlet: providing a game of Erector Sets for adults until they get it right. They certainly can't know what they're doing because a professional crew would have finished this job long ago.
Maybe the pipeline project from Lake Gaston is the same thing, except for adding in lawyers and financiers and more politicians. It must be another big game because anybody knows the water out at Gaston Lake belongs to those folks and ours should come from the ocean.
George K. Marshall
Terrace Avenue by CNB