THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290263
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
When The Currents staff sought community leaders to talk to us about the year ending today and the future of Portsmouth, we expected an overwhelming, positive response. It didn't happen.
Several weeks ago, 30 letters asking for comments went out. By stretching our own deadlines, we finally received responses from about one-third of those who received letters.
The list included many persons in positions to make the future of Portsmouth. We were shocked at their failure to take a few minutes to communicate their thoughts to the public.
Only Mayor Gloria Webb and Councilman Cameron Pitts among elected officials responded. Other council members did not bother. The city manager and the chairman of the Portsmouth division of the Chamber of Commerce flatly refused. We had to push the Economic Development staff to get their answers to us.
By contrast, civic leaders were quick to let us know their feelings about 1995 and 1996.
We were puzzled by the lack of response from the leadership. Frequently, we hear from officialdom that we don't give them a fair shake. Yet, when we gave them an opportunity to say whatever they wanted to say to the citizens, they didn't take the time to do it.
I'm writing about this because I came back to work from vacation feeling very optimistic about Portsmouth after attending a couple of Vision 2005 sessions. Then I was confronted with reports of the apathy city officials exhibited when they failed to take this opportunity to communicate to citizens.
Those citizens are the main reasons Vision 2005 has taken on a life of it own. Citizens want to be involved to make it happen. They have taken time from their jobs and their families to participate in the planning process. They understand its importance and the necessity of being involved.
Many citizens who have worked on the Vision 2005 committees have great understanding of Portsmouth's problems. They also have great optimism about its future. Amid skepticism expressed by some of their friends and neighbors, they have pursued the plan for the future. They believe we can control our destiny.
They believe a healthy future in Portsmouth may depend on this effort. Being fully aware that it won't happen just by talking about it, they have worked hard to pump life into the plan, to make it come alive.
I admit to being one of those believers.
Many aspects of the plan are obviously what must be done to transform the city for the next generation. Many of the planned actions are not pie-in-the-sky but rather very realistic ways of dealing with problems that have been allowed to fester simply because nobody did anything.
No single effort can solve all the problems. The current plan is just the beginning. But if Vision 2005 takes on life and works for Portsmouth, the next steps will be easy. We will have learned how to deal with the future. We will have shown the skeptics that we can make good things happen.
It won't work without citizen involvement. Nor will it work without true commitment from the city's leadership. It must be a two-way street.
For too long, citizens have sat back and let things happen to them and their neighborhoods. For too long, they have let decisions be guided by those who act only in their own self interest.
For too long, many actions taken in Portsmouth have not been for the good of the entire community. Rather they have been piecemeal and isolated, done mostly in the interest of the politics of the moment.
Citizens often have been apathetic except in matters involving them personally. Talk to them about the future of the city and they ignore you. They'd rather gripe about what the city doesn't do for them, and that's really what usually brings them down to City Hall.
Vision 2005 has given many citizens an opportunity to look at a bigger picture, to get beyond personal comfort and gain, to help make the city whole again.
More citizens must be involved. Getting them to move beyond the personal will depend on the quality of leadership they see.
The failure of so many leaders to respond to the opportunity to communicate optimism about the future is itself discouraging. I would have expected every one of them to talk intelligently and enthusiastically about 1996 and to discuss openly and honestly the problems as they see them. by CNB