THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604160126
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Does the City Council concentrate on downtown at the expense of the neighborhoods? Should the East Ocean View project go forward?
These were some of the tough questions addressed at the Bayview Civic League's political forum for the Superward 6 council race last week. Bayview's forum is always one of the best of any campaign because it's so well-run and draws a good crowd, and this one was no exception.
More than 150 people turned out for 90 minutes of nothing but discussion of the issues by the four candidates in Ward 6: Fred Bashara, Charles Grant, Toles Summers and incumbent Councilman Mason C. Andrews.
Much of the discussion revolved around how well the city responds to neighborhoods' needs and whether the policy of redeveloping downtown is good for the rest of the city.
Critics tend to believe that the city is sinking too much money into risky, big-budget projects such as Nauticus and the planned MacArthur Center mall when there are many problems with schools, crime and roads in the rest of the city that need to be solved.
City officials say the city is working on both, that Norfolk must take some risks and make large investments in redevelopment in order to build its economic base, and that this in turn benefits the neighborhoods and provides money to deal with other problems.
Bashara, an insurance salesman who has long been active in Norfolk's civic affairs, said:
``I believe in the past few years some decisions have been made that have caused the city to lose touch with the neighborhoods. Somebody forgot that people still want to live in this city.''
Bashara said the city has catered to businesses such as the port and neglected residents. He said MacArthur Center could work, but the city's handling of the deal raised suspicions and the design may be too enclosed to benefit the rest of downtown.
Other candidates were openly critical of MacArthur Center and compared it to Nauticus, the waterfront tourist attraction that has not lived up to expectations and is being financially supported by the city.
``It's easy to spend someone else's money, isn't it?'' said Grant, the city's former police chief. ``It's going to take 30,000 people a day to keep that center above water, and I believe that's not going to happen.''
Grant said that if elected, he would form a committee made up of civic league presidents who would produce a list of the neighborhoods' problems that Grant would present to the city manager.
When Summers announced his candidacy in March, he resisted criticizing the mall, saying that would be ``very politically opportunistic. I don't think that's a stand I would want to take.''
He had changed his mind by Tuesday.
``The problem is that this is a project financed heavily with taxpayer funds,'' he said. The flier he handed out said, ``Some City Council members want to roll the dice to `save our city' with $100 million of taxpayer funds on a downtown mall that many sources expect would not perform as projected.''
Andrews, one of the principal architects of the city's downtown redevelopment efforts of the past 15 years, said the city must take bold steps to secure its future. Norfolk is 95 percent built out, 41 percent of its property is tax exempt, it cannot expand physically, and it has a disproportionate share of the region's poorest residents.
``Twenty years ago, urban scholars would not have predicted Norfolk would do as well as it has,'' he said. Of the mall, he said: ``If you don't invest, you die. Cities everywhere would be delighted to have this opportunity.''
In East Ocean View, the city's housing authority is demolishing 90 acres of older buildings and planning an upscale residential and commercial project. However, that redevelopment effort has slowed because of problems with private funding.
``This is a terribly important project,'' Andrews said. ``You can't turn back. People's lives have been changed.''
Bashara supported the project. Grant and Summers did not.
``They should have found out if they had the money before they started the project,'' Grant said.
Summers said, ``If the city doesn't have the money it should scrap the program.''
In response to a question, all four candidates supported a cost-of-living raise for retired city employees. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Fred Bashara
Charles Grant
Toles Summers
Mason C. Andrews
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE ELECTION
NORFOLK CITY COUNCIL
by CNB