THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603150219
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 212 lines
Editor's note: Mayor Gloria Webb delivered her State of the City address Wednesday morning. Following is the text of that speech, which has been edited for length.
These are exciting times in the life of Portsmouth. One of the most powerful words in the English language is ``new,'' and we have many new names and many new initiatives at work in our community.
New names like Ron Massie and Tim Oksman. New initiatives like Vision 2005 and NEAT. And adding to the mix are some well-known names in new beginnings - names like the Children's Museum and I.C. Norcom High School and TCC Visual Arts Center.
First of all, there are new names at the top. The City Council . . . brought in two experienced urban leaders to head our city government team as we focus on the future. . . .
Our new city manager, Ronald W. Massie, has spent much of his time (since he came here from Norfolk) forming and reforming the city management team to meet the many challenges ahead. He has filled the crucial positions of director of planning - Jim Gildea - and director of marketing and communications - Ken Wheeler; both seasoned veterans. He is working with our deputy city managers and department heads on team-building. For the first time ever, all department heads are involved in the hands-on process of reviewing budget requests, and in matching city services against City Council's priority areas.
Our new city attorney, G. Timothy Oksman, came to Portsmouth with significant experience in municipal law during his tenure as Richmond city attorney where he also worked closely with the governor's office and the Virginia Assembly.
City Council has received much favorable comment on the adoption of Vision 2005, a 10-year master plan for revitalizing much of our city. Many . . . have been impressed with the outcome of the Vision 2005 planning process guided by Ray Gindroz. Hundreds of citizens are working in concert with . . . city officials to improve their communities and benefit the city.
Vision 2005 - the plan and the process - are a good example of a new wave of urban thinking being used by Portsmouth and other progressive cities around the country. . . . I might use the analogy of the vending machine and the barn raising. In the old days, people approached government services the same way they approached a vending machine. They put in their money, pulled a lever and - sooner or later - out came a service. The inner working of the vending machine was a mystery to citizens, and if it did not work promptly or properly enough, they did what you would expect - they kicked it or cursed at it. And, somehow, people in all walks of life developed the interesting view that, if you put a dollar into the government vending machine, you ought to be able to get two dollars of services back. Unrealistic maybe, but it is what many people seemed to think.
Today, local government is like a barn raising. In the ``good old days,'' when a farmer's barn burned down or he needed a larger one and it was beyond his individual resources, . . . everyone did what he or she could to raise a barn. Later, when others needed a barn, everyone pitched in to help them. Again, helping each other.
Vision 2005 is a good example of a barn raising. Instead of city officials sitting inside the vending machine . . . determining what to dispense, we formed a number of community task forces, each chaired by a member of the City Council. Each task force works on the strengths and needs of a section of the city and focuses its attention on the particular weaknesses, opportunities and problems of its area - one size does not fit all.
Vision 2005 is progressing from planning to action. . . . A few examples .
Probably the most visible is the High Street Landing. The downtown committee led by Jim Hawks . . . devised the concept of a major new ferry landing and inlet to create a new gateway for our city at the foot of High Street. At first, the cost of $3.7 million seemed beyond our immediate means but, working with TRT, we have been able to put together $1.9 million from federal transportation grants with a city appropriation of $1.8 million to make this project happen immediately, as a symbolic and realistic new beginning at the very place our city began in 1752. . . .
Another good example of creative action is the Chestnut Street plan, where our Vice Mayor Johnny Clemons and Ward Robinett have been able to bring together Ebenezer and New Mount Olive churches into an innovative partnership to create a major new building . . . in that part of the city. Plans now call for commercial and retail space on the first floor with more than 100 units of senior citizen housing on the upper floors - a truly win-win solution in the best tradition of barn raising. . . .
Other major Vision 2005 projects include:
A 600 block plan for High Street and London Street which includes 14 new upscale residential units, the renovation of six storefront properties on High Street, and the construction of a new parking lot. It is the first time in my memory that a civic league has stepped forward to participate in any such a project by taking on the responsibility of purchasing and renovating a run down property. The Olde Towne Civic League is investing $50,000 to stabilize 601-603 London Blvd. which they feel is critical to the development of the gateway to Olde Towne.
Chaired by Councilman Jim Martin, a comprehensive neighborhood plan for the three Scotts Creek neighborhoods of Park View, West Park View and Shea Terrace calls for new streets, a new marina, in-fill housing, and a new park along London Boulevard across from the Norcom High School. We are working with PRHA to redevelop waterfront in Park View near the Naval Hospital.
Chaired by Councilman Cameron Pitts, a new plan for the MidCity area calls for development of a new retail center, a new use for the current I.C. Norcom High site and landscaping of High Street.
In our recent retreat in Williamsburg, City Council brainstormed with Ray Gindroz on the future of the Vision 2005 effort. . . . We will take this barn-raising process to Cradock and Fairwood Homes. We are indeed encouraged that so many other neighborhoods are envious of the Vision 2005 process and are eager to participate. . . . In good time, we will apply this type of strategic planning throughout the city.
Another good example of the transition from the vending machine to the barn-raising is the NEAT program. In the old days, if you needed police assistance, you pulled the 911 lever, and out came a police car - or at least we hope out came a police car. . . . Demand seems to always outpace supply.
Police Chief Dennis Mook came up with a better way. They call it NEAT, for Neighborhood Enforcement and Action Teams. The idea is to place specifically trained police officers into neighborhoods to develop a partnership with residents and merchants.
So far, NEAT has been used in two areas of our city - the Southside neighborhoods of Prentis Park and Brighton, and the Northside neighborhoods of Park View, West Park View and Shea Terrace. The success stories coming out of these neighborhoods on a daily basis are overwhelming. . . .
It is interesting to note what happened at the Crime Summit earlier this year. First of all, this undertaking was planned and carried out by a volunteer steering committee . . . - not by the city government.
More than 430 people came to Hunt-Mapp Middle School on a Saturday to seek ways to improve public safety in each of their neighborhoods and throughout the city. After a full-day of brainstorming, . . . they came up with dozens of ideas. . . .
Now Chief Mook and the steering committee are sifting through these ideas and developing an action plan, which will include extending the NEAT program into seven other areas of our city this year, including two more this month - Cavalier Manor and Midtown. . . .
Many other new things are going on in our city. Earlier, I mentioned just two examples - the Children's Museum and the new I.C. Norcom High School. . . our citizens as well as those throughout the region, and beyond. Before we hit the one-year mark, we welcomed visitor number 200,000 to this amazing new attraction. . . .
Now our task is to build on the success of this popular and unique attraction, . . . linking it with our other museums, shops, restaurants, theaters and other new attractions such as the TCC Visual Arts Center, which opened in our Downtown within the last year. . . .
Also on my list of ``news'' . . . is the new I.C. Norcom High School. Developing this facility has been a difficult and controversial matter for years, and I do not want to dwell on the past but rather on the future. I know that we will all be proud of the state-of-the-art educational facility scheduled to open in September 1997 with the capacity to serve 1,800 students. This model new school of science and technology is also a positive statement about the importance of public education in our community.
I have covered a number of new items here today, and I know many of you are thinking of many other new things we could include on this list - such as the expansion of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, and some of the new initiatives between the city and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard that may result in some creative new uses of that facility . . . that may shortly bring nine destroyers and their crews to our shores.
. . . I spoke earlier about the High Street Landing bringing us back to the origins of our community in 1752, and I believe we should remember that our earliest major industry was the Gosport Shipyard - a facility which is now the oldest and finest naval shipyard in the country. While ``new'' and ``innovative'' and ``creative'' and ``future'' are the present watch words of our city, it is important for us to remember our heritage, because we are blessed with so much history here - as much as Williamsburg. . . .
With all of these new things, it is clear to see that momentum in Portsmouth is building. Our economic development department reports that businesses have invested more than $65 million in Portsmouth in the last four years. . . . In 1995 alone, business investments in the city totaled $19 million, creating 670 new jobs in 23 businesses such as Direct Marketing Enterprises, which should soon be breaking ground. . . . The number of building permits for 1995 was the highest since 1987. Many of you are aware of many other exciting prospects that are in the pipeline that may in fact come to fruition. You have also recently read a newspaper headline that read: ``City Works To Improve Future: Ways That Portsmouth Strengthened Its Finances.'' . . . The headline was entirely accurate.
A number of actions have been taken under the guidance of our deputy city manager for finance, Johnna Whitaker, that resulted in a brighter financial picture with a fund balance of some $9 million. So we're heading to where a city the size of Portsmouth needs to be - $11 million to $12 million contingency.
Added to all of this are new initiatives on the regional level that should benefit all of Hampton Roads cities.
The Urban Partnership, which I talked about last year, was able to submit a recommendation to the General Assembly for a $10 million incentive fund to be used to reward those cities that cooperated on regional projects. . . .
In addition, the General Assembly created a Hampton Roads Sports Authority to study the feasibility of a 20,000-seat sports arena. . . . The mayors and managers from 15 cities met at the Children's Museum last Friday (March 8), and overall there was support to move forward in hiring a consultant.
You will also be hearing more about the Hampton Roads Partnership - a joint venture between private and public sectors to draft a regional economic development plan that would benefit all of the cities in the planning district. The business community has agreed to raise at least half of the proposed $300,00 first-year budget. . . .
The legislators in the 1996 General Assembly worked hard for us again this year, and I want to thank them for their help. . . .
In a very brief, nut-shell version of the activities in this historic, harborfront city, I believe you will agree that Portsmouth is on an upswing.
We have some exciting times ahead of us with a new management team, with the Vision 2005 project with the most appreciated involvement of hundreds of our citizens.
Portsmouth is alive with a new energy, new optimism, new promise. There is a new spirit felt throughout Portsmouth - an excitement!
I hope that you share with me the pride that I feel. There is an old proverb that says the ruination of a city is caused by her people.
Also: Harvard professor Moss Kantor said, ``Cities without strong public/private partnerships creating compelling civic visions will fail to thrive.''
If we continue to be barn-raisers - givers instead of takers - only positive things will happen in Portsmouth.
With an ear to the past and an eye to the future, Portsmouth is poised to meet the challenges ahead. . . . ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Webb
by CNB