THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240373
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Faced with distrust by public housing residents and the opposition of at least one member, the City Council Tuesday delayed acting on the recommendations of a ribbon task force that sought to fundamentally overhaul public housing.
After Councilman Paul R. Riddick continued to voice opposition to the plan, Councilman Herbert M. Collins Sr., who was co-chairman of the task force, decided to drop what had been a routine motion to direct the city manager to study ways to implement the report.
``I don't want to be on a collision course with you,'' Collins told Riddick during the council session. ``It's unhealthy for the city.''
The council then delayed action until it could win more support from Riddick and the public housing residents, some of whom saw the recommendations as the first step toward tearing down public housing or forcing people out.
Riddick represents many public housing residents.
The council's decision leaves the status of the report, which the council accepted earlier this month, in limbo. The task force was made up of both influential business leaders and public housing residents.
After nine months of work, the 34-member task force recommended that public housing become a temporary rather than a permanent home for its residents and that it be more racially and economically integrated.
These steps eventually would improve the lives of public housing residents and make public housing areas better neighborhoods, the report said.
The council will discuss the issue in the next few weeks, Mayor Paul D. Fraim said afterward. Fraim said he was resolved to act on the report and not ``put it on a shelf somewhere.''
About 50 residents of public housing areas attended the council meeting and voiced their concerns about the report's recommendations. Not all opposed the report, but many said they distrusted its intent.
Andrea Clark, a member of the task force and former resident of public housing, said action on the report should be delayed until the respect and trust of public housing residents could be won.
``People always feel there is some hidden agenda,'' Clark said. ``We need more time for this to evolve.'' by CNB