THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602140151
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines
CLOSE YOUR EYES in some meetings in Portsmouth and you could be in Norfolk - or vice versa.
``You could be in the same place if you just listened,'' according to James J. Gildea, a man who should know. He recently became Portsmouth's new director of planning after serving as planning manager in the City of Norfolk.
``There is real commonality between the two cities,'' he said.
After more than 20 years in the Norfolk planning department, Gildea, 54, knows the region and the problems from all around Hampton Roads. That broad knowledge was important to City Manager Ronald Massie's decision to bring him to Portsmouth.
Massie became Portsmouth's manager after retiring as an assistant city manager in Norfolk. Guided by Pittsburgh planner Ray Gindroz, who designed Portsmouth's Vision 2005, Massie and Gildea had worked together on a number of Norfolk's downtown projects
Since Gildea started work in Portsmouth on Jan. 29, he has been learning about some city-specific projects, but again many of them ring similar to those across the water.
Old Portsmouth and old Norfolk have to deal with once-thriving business areas that declined over the years.
``We've allowed our communities to hollow out,'' Gildea said.
The growth of the suburbs left downtown and midtown and many other places with empty buildings. In some areas, the empty buildings have been razed, leaving empty land.
``There's plenty of land out there,'' Gildea said ``We need to find good ways to use it.''
The new planning director, known in Norfolk as ``a good, big-picture planner,'' said he expects to be involved in many facets of Portsmouth activity.
One of the first meetings he attended this month was the Olde Towne Portsmouth Association, an organization of downtown business people.
``Having vision and being able to articulate it is very important,'' Gildea said.
High Street ``looks good,'' he said.
``People on Granby Street in Norfolk would give their left arm to have the scale of Portsmouth,'' he said.
Portsmouth's downtown folks ``really care,'' he said. ``They've been here through thick and lean. They're interested in what happens.''
The so-called ``big boxes,'' mega-sized discount stores, challenge family owned businesses and residents should think about the situation when they cross the line to shop the big outlets, Gildea said.
``The locals could do themselves a favor by staying home and patronizing the local businesses,'' Gildea said. Not only would it save time but also the Portsmouth businesses produce tax income.
Unfortunately, he said, the ``urbanizing fringes are like centrifugal force,'' spinning businesses and people out of the old city.
``I don't have the answers today, but there are problems we have to solve,'' he said. ``We'll find answers.''
One strategy will be to reinforce residential areas in the city's older areas. The Vision 2005 calls for building new residential areas in a variety of locations.
``We must rebuild communities, but we must develop quality residential areas when we do,'' he said.
Many of the worst places followed urban renewal.
``There has to be a recycling mechanism, but you need a strategy,'' Gildea said. ``For the long-term health of the community, we must do something.''
Currently, he is talking with representatives of the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority to create ``disposition guidelines'' for property the authority owns.
When Norfolk wanted a hotel downtown, it didn't ``just settle for any hotel,'' in part because of Ron Massie.
``He held out, and we got the Marriott,'' Gildea said. ``It's been a real downtown success story.''
In Norfolk's Ghent, developers get no deed to the land from the housing authority until after they have done everything a deal required and have received certificates of occupancy.
``You have to have a strategy,'' Gildea said.
Quoting Gindroz, he added, ``You have to get outside the box in your thinking.''
Gildea recalled a snowy day in February 1988 when the Norfolk planning staff was starting to update the Norfolk plan and Gindroz walked in.
``He is one to challenge the conventional thinking,'' he said. ``I've gotten to know him very well because I managed his contract with Norfolk. He is part of my professional maturity.''
Massie and Gindroz are a good match, he said.
``Watching (Massie) as a manager, I'm seeing a thoughtful, deliberate person with an agenda,'' Gildea said. ``I see a sense of direction, of purpose. He's not going to settle for trends.''
Gildea made a nautical analogy: A ship can sail downwind as a city can go with the trend or a ship can tack into the wind and triumph.
``You know, running a city is more than picking up the trash and other things we do every day,'' he said.
Planners should be part of all city decisions, he said.
``Planners can talk about many things,'' he said. ``And they're analytical.''
But, he added, the community can't trust planning directors to have all the answers. He personally anticipates getting out to civic league meetings and hearing firsthand from Portsmouth citizens.
``We need to look for common grounds between competing ideas, looking for 80 to 90 percent consensus,'' Gildea said. ``Ron Massie is good at this.''
Massie has formed ``strong teams'' in city hall, Gildea said, and is getting people to brainstorm.
Gildea's move to Portsmouth is right in line with the ``career objective'' he listed on a resume: ``To become a director of planning and a key member of a city hall management team.''
``When I saw the Portsmouth ad in the paper for `a seasoned professional,' I responded,'' he said. ``At this point in my career, I have a great degree of self-confidence in my knowledge and abilities.''
In Norfolk, he was heavily involved in developing and implementing the Plan for Downtown Norfolk 2000. He also served as liaison with the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and with various institutions, including the Navy, the medical center, the universities and the airport authority.
Portsmouth, he said, is a place he can continue his involvement with the region and, at the same time, use his experience to help create the future.
Gildea and his wife, a pastoral associate at Sacred Heart Church in Norfolk, will be moving to Portsmouth from Larchmont, where they live across the street from Steve Herbert, Portsmouth's assistant director of economic development, who also happens to be the manager of Vision 2005.
``I always said I wouldn't want to plan for a community I didn't live in, so even if moving here were not a requirement for the job, I would want to move,'' Gildea said.
So far, he has not made a decision about his new address.
``We've been married 29 years, and we've come full cycle,'' he said. ``We aren't sure where we want to live here.''
Both of their children are grown. A daughter, Sarah, is 25, a graduate of Old Dominion University who works in Norfolk and lives in Ghent. A son, James Jr., is 23, a graduate of the University of Virginia who works with a brokerage firm in New York City. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo (and cover) by MARK MITCHELL
High Street ``looks good,'' James Gildea says. ``People on Granby
Street in Norfolk would give their left arm to have the scale of
Portsmouth,'' where downtown folks ``really care.''
Graphic
JAMES J. GILDEA
Native of Northern Virginia and a 1960 graduate of Gonzaga
College High School in Washington, D.C.
Bachelor of arts in political science, 1964, Princeton
University.
Master's degree in regional planning, 1971, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
U.S. Navy, 1964-69.
Intern for City of Norfolk, summer 1970.
Norfolk city planner, 1971-73.
Senior associate with Barton Aschman Associates in Evanston,
Ill., 1973-75.
Principal planner and planning manager for City of Norfolk,
1975-96.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB