THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512300112
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN
STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
LOOKING BACK OVER the year ending today, much has happened in Portsmouth that will change the landscape - and presumably the city's bank balance - in the years to come.
Many citizens joined with community leaders to embrace Vision 2005, a plan touted as an economic development tool that has become a vehicle to rejuvenate the city from Downtown to Midtown.
Residents of older neighborhoods affected by the plan see it as a means to accomplish what many of them have been pushing for a decade. The plan attacks deterioration that has threatened the edges of Olde Towne, slowed acceptance of Olde Town South and gnawed at Northside, Port Norfolk and other neighborhoods east of the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River and north of Interstate 264.
Although a few residents in other parts of the city have criticized the plan, most appear to understand the need to push outward from the core city to deal with Portsmouth's sagging economy.
In a spinoff of the Vision 2005 project, one of the city's dilapidated World War II housing areas, Riveredge off Hartford Drive, is schedueled for demolition in two months. More than 100 new, single-family homes will be constructed on the site which abuts several middle-class neighborhoods.
Portsmouth continued to lose large retail businesses, including Bradlee's, which is closing this week at Tower Mall. However, small retailers and service businesses continued to open around the city.
In addition, a developer wants to construct a new shopping center on the site of the old Churchland High School to harbor a large Hannaford supermarket, which should attract people from Suffolk and Chesapeake to spend money in Portsmouth.
The Churchland project originally included a Caldor discount store but that company subsequently filed a Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy which could impact on their plans for new stores. In addition, property owners in the Churchland area have filed a lawsuit against the city and some of its agencies in an attempt to stop the construction of the center.
Currently, two businesses are scheduled to begin construction in PortCentre. Direct Marketing Enterprises should start work within a few months and Mid-Atlantic Bell Comm, which already has moved from Chesapeake to leased space in Portsmouth, also should start building in 1996.
A decision by the Coast Guard to consolidate all of its east coast operations in Portsmouth was happy news. About 150 jobs will be moved to the old 5th District Headquarters in downtown.
However, Portsmouth lost out on its bid to be home to another 450 new Coast Guard jobs when the federal government opted to lease space in downtown Norfolk. Portsmouth had offered City Hall in its bid to get all of the new Coast Guard jobs on the downtown waterfront.
The Naval Shipyard appeared to stabilize in civilian employment and the arrival of the Carrier Roosevelt brought the number of Navy personnel up to more than 7,000, equaling civilian personnel. In addition, about 150 Navy jobs are scheduled to move from Charleston to Portsmouth.
City Hall has new faces in several key jobs including Ron Massie, new city manager. Massie, a retired assistant manager of Norfolk, was instrumental in Norfolk's downtown successes.
Massie recently hired former Norfolk public relations man Ken Wheeler to take over Portsmouth's information department. The manager is expected to name a new city planning director early in 1996.
But all the news is not good. Portsmouth's murder rate climbed to give the city a reputation as an unsafe city. Most of the crime can be traced to drug activity.
A new community policing project already is under way in some neighborhoods and will spread across the city in 1996, a year which holds out great hope to residents of Portsmouth. MEMO: [For related stories, also see page 11 of The Currents for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
GAZING INTO THE FUTURE
ABOVE: A new I.C. Norcom High is in Portsmouth's future. The new
school is scheduled to open at 1801 London Blvd. in September 1997.
AT RIGHT: The Children's Museum had its grand opening in 1995, along
with the TCC Visual Arts Center and several new retail
establishments.
ABOVE: Ray Gindroz developed the Vision 2005 Plan for Portsmouth. It
has been touted as an economic development tool that has become a
vehicle to rejuvenate the city from Downtown to Midtown.
Ron Massie
New city manager
Wayne Orton
Ex-city manager
Cover photo by
MORT FRYMAN.
All others
are file photos.
by CNB