THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120416
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 72 lines
Calling themselves the ``Five Points Partnership,'' a group of Norview leaders Tuesday signed a pledge of alliance to improve their section of Norfolk.
``We want a safe community. We want a clean community. We want an attractive community. We want a good place to raise our children, to school our children,'' said Bobby Hughes, president of the Norview Civic League. ``So, we're just firmly committed to working together to do that.''
Also represented in the partnership are Norview High School, the Police Department, the religious community and merchants. The coalition took its name from the ``Five Points'' intersection of Norview Avenue, Sewells Point Road and Chesapeake Boulevard.
The pledge, signed at the McDonald's restaurant on Sewells Point Road, will formalize and promote a spirit of cooperation among all members of their community, Hughes said.
``This helps us go out to the other people, the other businesses, the other schools, the other churches,'' said signer David Hayes, the student resource coordinator at Norview High School. ``We trust each other, and that's what's going to make this work.''
The leaders already have begun brainstorming ideas to turn this fall's Norview High School homecoming football game into a community event.
Plans call for a parade with floats featuring past stars and cheerleaders.
Hayes invited Hughes, as civic-league president, to talk with students about connections between the school and the community, ``what a homecoming is really about.''
The idea of a formal Five Points Partnership took hold about three months ago after leaders of several community groups learned they were working on similar goals. Even before the contract, they've achieved some successes, such as a Five Points parade on May 25.
Many of their ideas are aimed at restoring a feeling of community pride in Norview.
``We want to show people around here that we are willing to stand up for our community,'' said Thomas Cole, president of the Norview Business Association and owner of the Norview Service Center gas station.
His gas station, Cole said, gives discounts to members of a citizens anti-crime patrol who drive through the neighborhood, looking for suspicious activity.
Raymond Whitehead, a member of the citizens patrol and the East Norview Block Watch, said the efforts are paying off. For several years, he said, many residents feared the streets were falling to drug dealers and other criminals.
``Before, it was awful, drug dealers and what have you,'' said Whitehead, a 21-year resident who signed the pledge as a witness. ``Now, you could walk wherever. You could go in the supermarket. You can do what you have to do, no problem.''
Community leaders give much of the credit for their new-found confidence to the city's Police Assisted Community Enforcement program and to Norview High School.
Earlier this year, community spirits soared when Redbook magazine put Norview High School on its prestigious best-in-the-nation list.
Now community leaders are lifting their sights beyond crime issues. They envision Norview as a community that attracts civic-minded residents and merchants.
``God intended for us to depend upon one another, to trust in one another and to care for one another,'' said the Rev. John F. Shappell, pastor of the Norview United Methodist Church. ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Left to right: Rick Henn, Thomas Cole, Larry Hoots, David Hayes,
Margaret Hoots, Raymond Whitehead, and Bev Sell attend the first
meeting of the "Five Points Partnership" at the Sewells Point Road
McDonald's on Tuesday.
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