THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996 TAG: 9604260006
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Voters in Norfolk's neighboring cities will be choosing among platoons of School Board candidates in addition to councilmanic and, in three instances, mayoral candidates when the polls are open on May 7.
The Norfolk electorate's basic-citizenship chore will be far simpler.
Voters in Superward 6 on the west side will choose one of four candidates to represent them on City Council.
Voters in Superward 7 on the east side, will choose a council member from a field of six.
The choices on May 7 will be fateful. They could determine whether Norfolk will maintain the progressive course that has prevented its becoming a slough of despond, as so many aging central cities have become, and make it an increasingly attractive city in which to live, work and play.
Superward 6 voters would serve Norfolk best by retaining the experienced, energetic and effective Mason Cooke Andrews on council. Dr. Andrews has contributed mightily to Norfolk's transformation from a scruffy, slum-threatened central city to an urban center of distinction on the brink of greatness. He respects, pursues and achieves excellence in public affairs no less than in his professional practice. His departure from City Council would be a major loss.
For more than four decades, Dr. Andrews has been tirelessly serving his native city - as physician, planning commissioner (city and regional), Eastern Virginia Medical School founder and champion, councilman (including two years as mayor) and key player in bringing about the Waterside festival marketplace and the emerging downtown-Norfolk Campus of Tidewater Community College.
Andrews' opponents - insurance salesman Fred G. Bashara, former police Chief Charles D. Grant, surety agent/insurance-broker E. Toles Summers - articulate some grass-roots complaints about the city, but none comes close to possessing Andrews' credentials and vision.
Superward 7 voters should elect Daun S. Hester, assistant principal at Rosemont Middle School. Hester is dedicated to the education of the young and to expanded opportunities for all. She is well-qualified by education, civic activities and temperament to work for physical, economic and human-services improvements in her ward and Norfolk generally. Like Andrews, Hester applauds her native city's achievements and is bent on remedying its ills.
Hester was a special-education teacher for 13 years before becoming an administrator. As a woman and as an educator, she would bring fresh perspectives to council. A community activist skilled at consensus building, she is a careful listener and clear communicator. Her longtime participation in the conservation and enhancement of the Huntersville neighborhood and involvement in the Urban League of Hampton Roads, among other civic activities, acquainted her with a representative cross-section of Norfolk residents and challenges.
All six of the candidates seeking the Superward 7 seat speak well of Norfolk. All pledge to represent all of the residents of the the majority-black superward. All say City Hall should devote more attention and assets to the neighborhoods.
But three have virtually no chance of being elected: Algie T. Howell Jr., a small-business man; H. Richard Marks, a Norfolk State University math professor; and Daniel Edwin Montague, a construction boilermaker and council gadfly.
The principal contenders are Hester, STOP employee William E. ``Wes'' Swindell Jr. and Horace Thomas ``Tommy'' White, executive aide to the Virginia Beach sheriff and president of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues.
Swindell, an exponent of fair treatment for African Americans, is committed to vote to promote Vice Mayor Paul Riddick to mayor and disposed to fire City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. Since Mayor Paul D. Fraim and the city manager are doing their jobs well, striving to topple them would harm, not help, Norfolk.
Neither Hester nor Swindell share Riddick's objection to the White candidacy; the vice mayor forcefully asserts that White, because he is not African American, should not seek office in Superward 6. But White has every right to run for office in the ward, and because the ward's African Americans have not united behind a single candidate, White - a veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam and an appealing civic leader - could win the open council seat.
Hester would be the best choice for Superward 7. Her success in a career as an educator engaged in motivating and enabling youngsters to learn and her civic-mindedness commend her for council, where she would prove to be a substantial asset.
How very fortunate for Norfolk voters that two candidates superbly equipped by character, education and experience for public service are among the 10 candidates vying for council. Andrews and Hester are the standout choices.
KEYWORDS: ENDORSEMENT by CNB