THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605100177
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Portsmouth doesn't need a glitch in the real progress it has been making over the past year, so it is extremely important that people put the recent election behind them and get on with business.
The fact is that Gloria Webb is out and Jim Holley is in. Now everybody must make the effort to get past the election. Already Holley has asked black and white, rich and poor, young and old to come together to work for the entire city.
``The people together are the best for any city,'' Holley said Tuesday night in a speech after he won back the mayor's office. Certainly, that is true in Portsmouth.
Holley gives a lot of lip service to community and to ``the Portsmouth family.'' In the beginning of his last term as mayor, people responded very well to his efforts to get everybody going in the same direction. But a lot of water has gone over the dam since then and it won't be as easy this time for Holley.
In the first place, his election support was not quite as widespread as it was 12 years ago. Nor was it motivated by the same idealism that prompted some people to vote for him in 1984. Now he must deal with people who worked for him for very specific reasons.
Over the past 10 years, the public has become more and more cynical, more and more demanding and more and more motivated for selfish reasons. The world sometimes seems populated by naysayers and all of them seem to be talking at once.
Being mayor is not an easy task under the best of circumstances. Holley's challenge is complicated by many troubling factors, not the least of which is the fact that he was recalled from office in 1987 by vote of a majority of citizens here. In addition, the vote that propelled him to office Tuesday was disproportionately black. Furthermore, he was supported by some of the city's more visible ``anti'' citizens who in a year may turn on him.
Holley has a tough walk on a thin line to keep the balance among all the people who will be making demands upon him. Although he generally shows the public an optimistic demeanor, he must be having some serious private thoughts about the next four years.
The City Council that will be in place with only one change after July 1 is a good group of elected officials. They all are committed to progress in the city, most especially Vision 2005. Holley can count on them to keep pushing forward.
But he needs the support of all citizens, not just those who voted for him, to keep the city moving. And he needs those who voted for him to support him and the council in their efforts to do the best for all of the city.
Portsmouth can't afford a blip in the forward momentum already under way. Every citizen has a responsibility to see that it doesn't happen. by CNB