THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608130147
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 212 lines
WHEN JOSEPH A. LEAFE was elected Norfolk's mayor in 1984, one of the first things Councilman Joseph N. Green Jr. did was to take Leafe to the deteriorated downtown community of Liberty Park.
``Most council members wanted to make the neighborhood into an industrial park,'' Green recalled. ``I thought we needed housing for people in Norfolk and wanted to keep the black middle class in the city. I took the mayor over there and said how beautiful it could be. Now, it exists as a great example of what you can do with urban renewal.''
Leafe remembers Green's initiative that today is the successful community of Middle Towne Arch.
``What Joe was advocating made sense,'' Leafe said. ``Norfolk has always struggled with having a diversity of housing opportunities. It was something we needed.''
In nearly 20 consecutive years as a Norfolk City Councilman, the Rev. Green was an effective player in a range of policy. From fighting inner city problems to supporting cosmopolitan projects, the soft-spoken liberal thinker with a progressive vision forged a strong track record for winning support and respect from broad political ranks.
Green especially is known as a champion of downtown. He had a key role in the development of successful black neighborhoods such as Middle Towne Arch and Huntersville, and in the economic revitalization along Church Street and Virginia Beach Boulevard. He also was an advocate of the Virginia Opera, and worked for the building of Harbor Park and the planned MacArthur Center.
``I see downtown as a place of economic opportunity and employment,'' Green said. ``It all adds to the tax base to support the things the citizens need. I think people who live in affordable housing should have an appreciation of the arts.''
At age 70, Green retired from City Council after the June 25 session. Wearing his clerical collar as usual, and holding an honorary wooden gavel he had been presented, the retiring public servant received a standing ovation.
``The city has been good to me and my family,'' said Green, the former pastor of Norfolk's Grace Episcopal Church and an Ingleside resident. ``I've been pleased to serve the city. I'm glad I've had a chance to be part of a renaissance that is continuing.''
Daun S. Hester now holds Green's former seat in Superward 7 and is the first black female ever elected to Norfolk City Council.
``I hope to follow the leadership Rev. Green's provided,'' Hester said. ``We've both been very involved with Church Street, the Attucks Theatre and public transportation. . . . I'm going to try to see some his ideas come to fruition.''
Mayor Paul D. Fraim praised Green for his years of service and contributions: ``I think it's safe to say that your place is safe in the history of the city.''
Green began his political career in 1977, leaving a position on the Norfolk School Board when he was selected to take the council seat of Joseph A. Jordan Jr., who was appointed judge of the General District Court.
The new councilman later became the second elected black member of Norfolk City Council since Reconstruction. He went on to serve four consecutive terms and was elected vice mayor from 1982 through 1994.
Middle Towne Arch probably was his favorite accomplishment, Green said, but he also is proud to have played a role in bringing blacks into public office.
``I've had a successful career in helping gather support to elect good black leaders such as delegates Jerrauld Jones and William Robinson, and now Daun Hester.''
Jones, a Norfolk attorney and delegate from the 89th District, said that Green was a political ally and a longtime friend of the family.
``He was already in political life in the city when I got into the Democratic Party in 1981,'' Jones said. ``His strong endorsement of me was critical in the primary and in my election in 1987. Some members of the local faction of the Rainbow Coalition weren't sure if I was ready for political office. Father Green intervened on my behalf, and I received the group's backing.''
Hester said that Green played an important role in her election.
``He was in my only television ad and encouraged groups and individuals to vote for me,'' she said. ``He wrote an editorial in the paper supporting me and also helped with fund-raising.''
Another project Green has long worked for is a light rail between Norfolk and Virginia Beach. He is still on the board of the Tidewater Transportation District Commission. Although the rail's future is in limbo, the former councilman remains hopeful the facility will be built.
``We obviously need the light rail to cut down on traffic congestion caused by the automobile,'' he said. ``Plus, the cities are interrelated, and a rail would enhance both. I've been pushing for the light rail for more than seven years. Virginia Beach has voted it down before. Hopefully it will go through in the near future.''
Green also has held a longtime commitment to the arts. On the board of the Virginia Opera since its inception, he helped get the city to provide matching funds for the group.
``From the beginning, Councilman Green strongly supported the opera and the establishment of the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities,'' said Edythe C. Harrison, founder of the Virginia Opera Association and for whom, along with her husband Stanley, the Harrison Opera House is named. ``He was a very forward thinker and had the ability to see the big picture. He understood the value of worthy art projects to the community and to the economy and redevelopment of downtown.''
As president of the board of the Crispus Attucks Cultural Center Committee, Green recently has been spearheading a campaign to renovate the old Attucks Theatre at the corner of Church Street and Virginia Beach Boulevard.
``It was built by black Americans in 1919 and served as a place for shows featuring Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington,'' he said. ``We need about $4.2 million to restore it. We're just starting, but I've got a good feeling about the future.''
His diverse range of city service has brought Green much praise in official accolades. He won Old Dominion University's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award in 1990 and the Lamplighter Award from the Education Association of Norfolk in 1981. Green said the most ``meaningful'' award he received was when he was honored by the South Hampton Roads Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in the early 1980s: ``They honor people for outstanding service to the community across race and religious lines, and that was very special for me.''
But along with the many highs of being a public servant, there have been lows.
``My greatest disappointment is that I didn't have more control than I did, but that has more to do with society than council,'' Green noted. ``I wish we could have integrated the schools here and across the country. We've gone backwards in terms of education.''
About the nation's present racial climate, Green said: `The possible loss of affirmative action is very disturbing. When you've been denied for 300 years, you need some help to get to be a part of the whole.''
The four-time council member said he would have liked to have been mayor but ``didn't have the four votes (on council) needed.'' He said that if he could not be mayor, he no longer was interested in being vice mayor and didn't pursue the position in 1994, when Paul R. Riddick was elected to the post.
And as a backer of Nauticus, Green said that the Maritime Center's troubles also have been a big disappointment. He sees promise in MacArthur Center, however, calling it a ``place for great employment opportunities.''
Although always victorious in his bids for council, Green was given his most solid challenge by Brenda H. Andrews in 1992, the first year the ward system was in place. Andrews received 3,309 votes to Green's 6,391.
``My campaign wasn't so much in opposition to Rev. Green as it was to provide some new leadership and direction,'' recalled Andrews, publisher of the New Journal and Guide, a newspaper geared to the black community. ``I would like to see more development in people and social services instead of buildings.''
Green said: ``Projects like MacArthur Center provide direct job production.''
The former councilman's style has augmented his effectiveness, city leaders say.
``He's very level-headed and gracious,'' Councilman G. Conoly Phillips noted. ``He states his point emphatically but does not get emotionally involved.''
The Rev. John H. Foster, a former City Councilman and close friend, said much of Green's success comes from his ability as a ``consensus builder.''
``He is a man of personal discipline, with the skills to get things done in a manner that doesn't attract a lot of attention,'' Foster said. ``He'll talk to a citizens committee about an issue and then go and talk one-on-one to council members. Then he'll go back to the committee and then he'll talk to council in public. He's very meticulous.''
Green described his political method as calm.
``I don't get angry easily,'' he said. ``I listen to both sides, hold my opinion and try to get it through without shouting. One of my strengths is to get people to come to a decision.''
Green said that his political beliefs and techniques have been influenced by his religious training. He was the pastor of Grace Episcopal Church until 1993.
``Concern about people comes from my religious background, and you take that to the political realm,'' he said. ``It's especially important for the downtrodden who don't have a spokesman in our society.''
Green was born in 1926 on a farm in Jenkinsville, S.C. During World War II he served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy. When he returned from the conflict, he enrolled in St. Augustine College in Raleigh. After graduating, Green felt the calling of a strong religious upbringing and joined the seminary. He became pastor of his home church, St. Barnabas', and went on to serve as pastor at other churches in the Carolinas before coming to Grace Episcopal Church in 1963.
Green has a master of divinity degree from the Philadelphia Divinity School and a master of sacred theology degree from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. He holds honorary doctor of divinity degrees from St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville, Va., and from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va.
As a retiree, Green says he plans to continue working for the renovation of the Attucks Theatre and will act as a fill-in minister at area Episcopal churches. He is looking forward to spending more time with his family, two now-grown children, two grandchildren, and wife Evelyn, to whom he has been married for 41 years. He also is looking forward to afternoons in his garden and at Harbor Park.
But the former councilman is firm in his belief that he has retired at the right time.
``I'm 70, and I do believe this age now belongs to the baby boomers,'' Green said. ``It's their time to carry on for our country. Daun Hester belongs to that group.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
RECORD OF STRENGTH
Staff photo by JIM WALKER
After nearly 20 years in the city's service, Joseph N. Green Jr. has
retired from City Council. He was a strong advocate of downtown.
Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Joseph N. Green Jr., 70, visits with his 2-year-old grandson, Eric
Sawyer.
Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Green forged a strong track record for winning support and respect
from broad political ranks.
Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Joseph N. Green Jr. relaxes in his back yard with his grandson.
Photo by SCOTT McCASKEY
Green was joined by Harrietta Eley, a supporter, at his retirement
party.
Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Green relaxes in the back yard of his Ingleside home.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE NORFOLK CITY COUNCIL by CNB