THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509210161
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Look in Beach back yard for new superintendent
Supposedly, the Virginia Beach school system has a deficit of more than $7 million and the School Board members are working with Sockwell and Associates to find a leader to succeed former Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette. Come on, board members. Enough is enough! Why don't you stop spending taxpayers' money and shop in your own back yard and look what Dr. Jim Pughsley is doing for us. He is tackling this situation head-on.
I am sure there are a lot of Beach citizens who feel the same way I do. Let Dr. Pughsley do his job and get us out of this mess and lead our schools into the 21st century.
Laura Barnes
Cypress Point
Why the mayor's surprise at `schools debacle'?
Mayor Meyera Oberndorf, who was apparently surprised by the schools' fiscal debacle, commented to the newspaper, ``It's like thinking the sun's out and walking outside and finding out you're in the middle of a hurricane.''
While this is certainly a good analogy, I believe a more appropriate one might be, ``The citizens depend on us to run their government and we haven't a clue.''
Ho-hum, the folly of it all.
Jerry J. Sharf
Virginia Beach
Who benefits from City Council retreats?
Retreat is currently in vogue with City Council, retreat being the ecologically and politically correct equivalent of the old smoke-filled room. These log-rolling events are quite newsworthy, meriting cover-story status in both the Aug. 4 and 11 editions of the Beacon.
The two articles are well written but require close reading. Buried therein are some interesting items, quotes and a few inanities that may shed some light on the inner person of our councilpersons. Some of these things are amusing; others are scary!
At the top of the latter category is, ``City Council was energized . . . and ready to tackle as many as 50 new projects.'' Can you imagine 50 more ARPs, Sandbridge sanddollar shell games, Lake Ridges, Corporate Landings, Resort Beach Christmas light schemes - and their cost?
You thought midnight basketball was dead? In Washington maybe, but in Virginia Beach: ``Entertaining (kids) at late-night basketball games will . . members said.
Council is miffed with our local Virginia state legislators, who just happen to be the most influential city voting bloc in the legislature. Solution: Hire a $250-an-hour lobbyist! I'll bet if each delegate and senator were approached with civility by a councilperson assigned by the mayor, all kinds of communicating would be done.
Councilperson Nancy K. Parker lamented, ``It's very frustrating that we have to pay this money for people who should be working for us.'' Many of my friends and acquaintances say the same thing about City Council.
There is a school of thought that says laws should be applied and enforced equitably. A corollary is that governmental services should be distributed likewise. I believe Councilperson Robert (``Porky'' to his councilperson chums) Dean may occasionally catch some flak for espousing this cause. Councilpersons John A. Baum, Louis R. Jones and W.W. Harrison Jr. appear to take the opposite tack.
Councilperson Baum warns, ``You're going to lose a city inspector or two'' if you uniformly enforce development standards. Is there a Blackwater-Pungo militia lurking in the swamps?
Councilperson Harrison wants to clean streets only in those areas where ``residents don't have the time or the commitment to clean up for themselves.'' This doesn't seem to provide much of an incentive for anyone to do much of anything! ``If we don't respond to some of these needs, we're going to end up with some slums,'' Councilperson Jones chimes in. Would responding in the proposed manner stop slum formation? Or only result in slums with clean streets?
Another goal of the retreat was to minimize bickering, which appears to be the term applied whenever one councilperson voices a position contrary to that of another. A split vote on the council chambers vote-tote board documents bickering, which leads to extended meetings. Departed councilperson John Moss, who relocated out of town, seems to have earned the title ``bickerer'' by doggedly pursuing education and fiscal-control interests. Some councilpersons lamented his departure by saying that ``his departure has made it easier . . councilperson Moss' favorite topics might benefit the taxpayers.
Years ago an acquaintance, an experienced politician, proven by the fact that he was the only Republican borough president in New York City, told me that political memory is nine months long. By May the content of these stories will probably be forgotten, unless some challenger clips and retains them. The real beneficiaries of this retreat and coverage of it as of now are the incumbent councilpersons who, at no charge, got their photos and names prominently displayed.
In true Columbo style, just one more thing: How about a ``Truth in Politics'' law requiring, inter alia, that every picture of a politician, or political wannabe, prominently bear the date it was taken?
Donald E. Babcock
Virginia Beach by CNB