THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 13, 1996 TAG: 9606130003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 26 lines
My hands are trembling with anger as I attempt to write this letter after hearing that our mayor has mortgaged Chrysler Hall, Scope and the Waterside Convention Center to secure a bank loan to finance the MacArthur Center. Soon the banks will own the whole of downtown Norfolk, as this project is sure to fail as did Nauticus.
Every time that I am with a group at a picnic or party, I always ask the question: ``What do you think of the new shopping mall proposed for downtown Norfolk?'' I always get the answer that they would probably go to see it once but would never consider shopping there as there would be a stiff fee for parking and the outlying malls have free parking.
These are my thoughts. Once will be enough! In addition, I think it is an outrage for our city to foot the bill for something like this in direct competition with merchants long established in this area.
Downtown Norfolk will soon be a ghost town with a very large debt to be paid by the taxpayers.
JACK R. MAIN
Norfolk, June 9, 1996 by CNB