THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280353
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Crime that crosses city boundaries. Traffic congestion that spills over municipal lines. Roads that are four lanes in one city, narrowing to two lanes in the next. Disparities in school systems.
Citizens from three cities, saying they are increasingly concerned about such issues, met Wednesday night to compare notes and ask questions about the effectiveness of regional cooperation among the city governments.
``I was very, very happy that the citizens thought of this,'' said Virginia Beach City Council member Louisa Strayhorn, who represents the Kempsville borough and holds monthly forums for her constituents.
Citizens who regularly attend her forums, Strayhorn said, wanted to meet with nearby residents of Norfolk and Chesapeake.
Most of the 65 who showed up lived in Virginia Beach, but there were at least a half dozen from Chesapeake and one from Norfolk. The audience also included a Chesapeake City Council member, John Butt. Norfolk council members were invited, Strayhorn said, but none attended.
Many of the concerns were voiced in the form of questions, based on perceptions. Citizens wondered whether cities had similar housing codes and whether police departments ever join in regional task forces to eradicate criminal hot spots instead of pushing crime from city to city.
Strayhorn promised to find answers and respond to citizens who left written questions.
Citizens also compared experiences. Virginia Beach residents Carolyn Lincoln and Pamela Robinson found that they faced similar problems when transferring their children from schools in Norfolk to those in Virginia Beach.
Virginia Beach school officials had not tested the students, yet told the parents that their children would need remedial education, Lincoln and Robinson complained. The two women said this smacked of stereotyping against Norfolk.
The two women said their experiences occurred seven to 10 years ago, but they contended that the prejudice continues against more recent arrivals from Norfolk.
Citizens also had suggestions.
Dan Baxter of Virginia Beach said cities should unite on helping to rebuild each other's declining neighborhoods instead of continuing to push for new development. That would help solve the growth problems plaguing the suburbs, he said.
Residents of the three cities also found similar problems when trying to unite their neighborhoods.
Strayhorn advised citizens to talk with each other more. ``Dialogue is what makes things happen,'' she said.
Many citizens left the meeting saying they would like to continue getting together across city lines. Strayhorn said she would conduct a survey to narrow the issues and then host a session devoted to one region-wide problem and possible solutions.
Debbie Puckett of Chesapeake said she was excited because the effort ``was going to the grass-roots level.''
``This is one of the most fantastic things in a long time,'' said Darryl Manzer of Chesapeake. ``If the city councils can't get together, the citizens will have to.''
Francine Hutcheson, who moved to Virginia Beach from Norfolk in 1970, said she's been learning that citizens have to work with each other across city lines to improve the quality of life for all.
Wednesday's forum, although still rare among South Hampton Roads citizens, was not unique locally or nationally.
For example, civic-league umbrella groups in six of the region's cities already have formed the Hampton Roads Coalition of Civic Organizations. It holds its next forum at 10 a.m. April 20 at the John Yeates Middle School in Suffolk and will discuss welfare reform. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Darryl Manzer of Chesapeake, left, addresses the audience at
Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach on Wednesday night. ``This is
one of the most fantastic things in a long time,'' Manzer later said
of the forum on regional cooperation.
KEYWORDS: PUBLIC JOURNALISM by CNB