THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606020081
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 68 lines
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said she was pleased to hear that Norfolk has had some success promoting Hampton Roads to the NBA.
She just wishes she'd been told before reading it in the newspaper.
Oberndorf has been involved in negotiations with Norfolk officials since January over a proposed 20,000-seat arena. Yet the first she heard of Norfolk's April meeting with NBA commissioner David J. Stern and his kind words about Hampton Roads was through The Virginian-Pilot.
``Although (Norfolk Mayor) Paul Fraim has explained to us that it's very difficult when you go talk to these high-powered people to have too many people involved,'' she said, ``if he had good news, he might have wanted to send out a little memorandum to the other mayors.''
Oberndorf met with most of the region's other mayors Friday in Franklin, and most were unaware of Norfolk's contacts with the NBA. She asked Suffolk Mayor S. Chris Jones if he knew of the contacts and he replied no.
``I told him, `It's a good thing we have the newspaper,' '' she said.
Jones said he was surprised but not upset by being left in the dark.
``It would have been nice if we'd been told, but I was aware they had been working on something like this for some time,'' he said. ``It was not a complete surprise at all to me. I was certainly aware they had been actively looking to see what the potential was of landing an NBA franchise. I was pleased to hear what the response was.''
Nonetheless, Jones said he believes the focus of the Hampton Roads Partnership will remain unchanged. Jones is one of 11 executive board members of the Partnership, which has agreed to hire a consultant who will determine the region's chances of supporting an arena and attracting an NBA or NHL team. The consultant also is expected to help determine what other projects regional leaders might include in a financing package for the arena.
``From the outset, it was my impression that we were going to look at this from a regional standpoint,'' Jones said, ``that this would not just be the arena, but that other cultural and quality-of-life issues, such as the expansion of the Pavilion in Virginia Beach, would be addressed.''
Fraim was unavailable for comment, but has said in previous interviews he favors combining other projects with the arena in a regional-funding package.
That's good news for Michael J. Barrett, CEO of Runnymede Corporation in Virginia Beach. He and the two other co-directors of Plan 2007, a group of 450 community and political leaders who helped form the Partnership, reacted to the NBA story by writing a letter to Partnership members, urging them not to put the arena ahead of other projects.
``Simply stated, we encouraged the Partnership to look at our capital needs on a regional basis,'' he said. ``Obviously, an arena could be one of those projects, but only one of many the Plan 2007 group identified as necessary.
``For instance, we need a soccer stadium, a performing arts center on the Peninsula and expansion of the Pavilion. Our concern is that we look at those needs comprehensively. We need to build a consensus with the public that developing these facilities creates jobs and will add to our tax base.
``We've fallen way behind in convention facilities. We used to be in the game and we're not anymore.
``We've determined we've got to create 11,000 jobs just to replace those lost in the shipbuilding and ship repair industry. . . . That should be our focus.'' MEMO: Staff writer Karen Weintraub contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Oberndorf
Fraim
KEYWORDS: SPORTS FRANCHISES NBA by CNB