THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606220001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: KERRY DOUGHERTY
LENGTH: 75 lines
A few weeks back I wrote something which got me into a lot of hot water with Virginia Beach city officials.
I accused them of being ``not neighborly'' when it came to pulling out of the regional recycling program.
``Not neighborly?'' one incredulous official kept repeating when we met afterward. ``Not neighborly?''
Well, I still don't think it was neighborly, but as un-neighborliness goes, pulling out of the SPSA curbside recycling program pales in comparison to the recent antics of Norfolk.
In fact, by releasing some cockamamie study about a sudden water surplus in Hampton Roads, Norfolk looks like the kind of awful neighbor who puts his car up on blocks in the front yard and whose dog barks all night.
``With friends like Norfolk, who needs enemies,'' grumbled one disgusted Beach official this week.
The timing of the report, when the Lake Gaston pipeline is under construction and opponents are headed to federal court in another attempt to block it, is definitely not neighborly.
Imagine how Norfolk would react if Virginia Beach secretly commissioned a study on the availability of retail stores. What if that study found that Hampton Roads already has too many stores and then released the study just as the local banks were getting ready to offer loans on Norfolk's MacArthur Center?
That definitely would not be neighborly.
I admit I'm writing this from Virginia Beach - the land of brown grass and dirty cars. I live in the city where you have to beg for a glass of water in a restaurant and you have to sneak out before sunrise to water a thirsty bush with city water. OK arrest me, I confess, my shriveled hydrangea was so pathetic and I hosed the poor thing down last week under the cover of darkness.
Maybe I should dig the doomed bush up anyway, and give it to someone in Norfolk. It could have all the water it wants there.
But my once-lush hydrangea is the most insignificant victim of the water shortage. It's already cost Virginia Beach untold millions of dollars in lost investment from corporations which wouldn't consider locating in a city without water. City officials say state economic-development officers don't even bring prospective industry to town anymore, knowing how they'll react to the water problems.
There are a lot of puzzling aspects to this water report.
Norfolk officials insist that Virginia Beach knew it was coming. But Mayor Meyera Oberndorf said the first she heard of it was at the most recent ``Mayors and Chairs'' meeting - 2 1/2 weeks ago. Norfolk officials say they kept Virginia Beach officials apprised of the progress of the study, Virginia Beach says that's not true.
``I'm totally devastated by this report,'' Oberndorf said this week. ``It came out of the blue. I called in all of the staff and they all said they'd swear on the Bible they never knew about it.''
Why the Norfolk city attorney's office ordered it is beyond me.
The city attorney generally represents the city in lawsuits, advises city agencies and city council on the drafting of local ordinances and prosecutes all violations of city ordinances.
City attorneys do not usually moonlight as dowsers.
Then there is the question of why Virginia Beach has to go to court to get Norfolk to turn over the raw data upon which its water report was based. Keeping vital data from Virginia Beach is definitely not neighborly.
Worse, the actions of Norfolk appear to have jeopardized all sorts of regional endeavors which tend to be prickly matters at the best of time.
It's going to be mighty hard for Virginia Beach representatives to sit down amicably at the table and discuss joint ventures like a sports arena and light rail when they've just been slugging it out in court to obtain the details behind the water study.
And one other thing really bothers me about this report: It's all the secrecy. In the course of five years, you'd think someone would have given Virginia Beach a heads up on this. It's bad enough to be run over by a truck. It's worse to be blindsided.
It just doesn't seem very neighborly. MEMO: Ms. Dougherty is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. by CNB