THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100401
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 44 lines
Nine local activists marched on City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, then urged City Council to help stem what they called a rising tide of poverty in Norfolk.
They blamed the government's continued razing of neighborhoods for tearing apart family, church and community structures and exacerbating the problems of the poor.
Helen Riddick, a Lamberts Point resident, expressed her point of view during the three-block, police-escorted march from Downtown Shopping Plaza.
``We have lots of vacant houses that could be used for homeless shelters and group homes for the mentally ill, substance abusers and battered women,'' she said.
``It could eradicate these problems.''
Roy Perrybey, a local civil rights activist, demanded ``money for day care centers and apprenticeship programs for single parents.''
Perrybey said that the ad-hoc group, which calls itself ``Citizens of Hampton Roads Against Poverty,'' will rally and march each Tuesday until Labor Day.
``We want the city to acknowledge poverty as one of the leading causes of crime, unemployment, domestic violence and other forms of abuse,'' Perrybey said.
Norfolk's 19 percent poverty rate also ``encourages drug distribution, homicide and prostitution,'' he said.
Another speaker, Jacqueline McDonald, director of Mothers Against Crime, said police did not respond quickly enough to the stabbing death of a boy in her neighborhood.
``We need support,'' she said.
Councilman Paul R. Riddick told the speakers that he would urge the council to address some of the concerns raised by the group, including police response to the case mentioned by McDonald. ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/The Virginian-Pilot
The Rev. Marcellus Harris, left, Frederick Overby-El, and Helen
Riddick - members of ``Citizens of Hampton Roads Against Poverty'' -
prepare Tuesday to march on Norfolk City Hall.
KEYWORDS: PROTEST POVERTY by CNB