THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512280005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
As 1995 was fading, Norfolk City Council voted to remove the last physical obstacle, Fire Station No. 1 on City Hall Avenue, in the path of the $300 million MacArthur Center shopping mall, which will cap four decades of urban renewal. That action, which will raise the city's investment to about $103 million, was soon followed by a press conference at which the Michigan-based Taubman Co., which will invest $200 million in the center, announced the names of the general contractor and architect. A groundbreaking in late January is to be followed by a start on construction this spring, with completion of mall expected in late 1998.
These welcome signs of progress toward Hampton Roads' first regional shopping mall followed other happy developments in the old port city. The last week in November, Trans World Airlines broke ground for its East Coast reservations center at Lake Wright Executive Center (500 jobs, $16 million annual payroll) and Kmart for its first South Hampton Roads Super Kmart at North Military Highway and Norview Avenue; The New York Times Co. prepared to place in downtown Norfolk its financial-processing operation (100-125 jobs) and the U.S. Coast Guard announced it would move 478 staff personnel into the largely vacant Main Street Tower; and Richmond-based Target Stores announced that when it enters the Hampton Roads market in 1996, one of its stores will be in Norfolk (100-175 employees).
All in all, 1995 was a fruitful year for Norfolk.
For the first time in many years, recurrent spending in the nearly half-billion-dollar municipal budget is balanced by recurring revenues.
Attendance and revenue for Nauticus, the primarily city-financed multimillion-dollar National Maritime Museum on the downtown waterfront, have been disappointing, necessitating financial aid from the city that the attraction is supposed to pay back eventually. A new director will attempt to push revenue upward.
Waterside festival marketplace, an earlier city venture, finished the year with virtually all its space leased.
Harbor Park drew 560,211 people to Norfolk Tides games and Baseball America magazine named the facility as the finest minor-league park built since 1987.
The Norfolk Admirals ice-hockey team continues to play to full houses at Scope and the touring-company production of the spectacular ``Phantom of the Opera'' is a smash at Chrysler Hall. Owners of the Canadian Football League's Shreveport, La., Pirates said the team would be coming to Norfolk.
Tidewater Community College's downtown-Norfolk campus began to emerge on Granby Street between Freemason Street and College Place; classes are expected to be held in some of the buildings next fall.
Eastern Virginia Medical School announced that Old Dominion University researchers had calculated the institution's economic impact upon Hampton Roads to be roughly a half-billion dollars annually.
State widening and smoothing of busy Hampton Boulevard near Lamberts Point and ODU and through Larchmont and toward the Naval Base were finally finished.
General-cargo tonnage passing through the three Virginia Port Authority terminals in Hampton Roads increased by a million tons to 6.5 million, confirming need for the multimillion-dollar expansion at Norfolk International Terminal.
The prosperity of the Colley Avenue-21st Street business district was enhanced by new businesses and the city's acquisition and demolition of the old Sealtest building beside the railroad tracks at Lewellyn Avenue. The city invested $13 million in local and federal revenue to improve neighborhoods, and City Hall began meeting regularly with civic-league representatives and citizens at large.
Murders and violent crime generally were down, reflecting regional, state and national experience; temporary shrinkage of the youth cohort that produces a disproportionate share of criminals accounts for much of the overall trend, but the expanding Police and Community Enforcement (PACE) program contributed to public-safety gains in Norfolk.
The city jail is no longer a pit of horrors, thanks to the administration of Republican Sheriff Robert McCabe. The Republicans won a third constitutional office when lawyer Al Teich defeated City Councilman Randy Wright for the court clerkship. The Republicans will continue to win constitutional offices as long as the Democrats back candidates less qualified than their rivals. But Norfolk Democrats retained key positions in the Virginia General Assembly when state Sen. Stanley Walker, who will chair the Senate Finance Committee, and Del. Tom Moss, who is speaker of the House of Delegates, were re-elected.
Commerce Park, previously occupied by decrepit Robin Hood Apartments, is all but full. The transformation of Lafayette Shores from a crumbling low-income-apartments complex to an upper-middle-income neighborhood continues. And the renewal of East Ocean View, where the city is clearing the way for more up-scale housing, proceeds.
The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk opened its tiger exhibit to record crowds and City Council committed funds for construction of a full-fledged African-animals exhibit expected to open as the century turns. Norfolk Botanical Garden proceeded with construction and expanded programs in accordance with its master plan to become a world-class attraction.
Norfolk public schools implemented programs designed to improve the dismal academic performance of poor black youngsters as a group; that these programs will prove effective is unknowable for now. Helping its least-advantaged children to master the knowledge, skills, mores and habits required to lead successful lives is the city's most-daunting challenge.
Norfolk's average household income is markedly below its neighbors' and its real-estate tax higher. MacArthur Center alone cannot return Norfolk to the leadership in retailing in Hampton Roads, but it will accelerate the strengthening of the city's jobs and tax bases, which is key to further quality-of-life gains. by CNB