THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997 TAG: 9701200040
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 67 lines
After promising to get together to talk about their differences, the Virginia Beach and Norfolk city councils haven't been able to agree on a meeting date.
The Norfolk council suggested the get-together after being bashed by its Beach counterpart on Dec. 17, and it has offered four possible times.
Virginia Beach agreed to one, then canceled and didn't reschedule.
Beach officials say they don't want to meet until after Feb. 4, the day they argue for the Lake Gaston pipeline before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Until then, they'll be too distracted, several said.
Norfolk asked for the detente after the Beach council, while discussing a proposed light-rail system, said it didn't trust its neighbor. Beach officials contend that while Norfolk professes to support the Lake Gaston pipeline project, city leaders often work against it behind the scenes.
On Dec. 18, Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim wrote a brief note to Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, suggesting a meeting.
``The Norfolk City Council would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Virginia Beach City Council to discuss how we might aid your efforts to secure water from Lake Gaston,'' Fraim wrote.
Oberndorf quickly accepted the offer but suggested that the two cities' water task forces - rather than the full councils - get together first.
Beach council member John A. Baum, a member of the task force, said he doesn't think much could be accomplished by locking 17 council members in a roomtogether.
``I think it's just a public relations show,'' he said Friday. ``If you've got problems to work out, you don't work them out in big groups in the public.''
Norfolk City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. said his city felt more comfortable with a meeting of the full councils. He said Norfolk originally suggested a meeting be scheduled during the holidays, then on Jan. 7, then Jan. 14. The Beach agreed to meet on Jan. 28 at an Oceanfront hotel, but then canceled.
``I think if it was as important as it seemed to be getting expressed at that meeting . . . that you get the entire bodies to at least set the framework,'' Oliver said.
Oliver said he's tired of the two groups communicating through snipes in the newspaper, and he's frustrated ``that important Virginia Beach officials say Norfolk doesn't help them, and then when we suggest on a very immediate basis that we would like to talk to them about what we can do, nothing is put together.
``When we said let's sit down and talk about it, weeks go by, and yet, I have no doubt in my mind that I'm liable to pick up the paper any day and see that there's another criticism of what we didn't do,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Photos
SCHEDULING STANDOFF
Norfolk has suggested several meeting dates; the Beach made a
counteroffer, then canceled and didn't reschedule.
James B. Oliver Jr., Norfolk City Manager: ``Important Virginia
Beach officials say Norfolk doesn't help them, and when we suggest
. . . that we would like to talk to them about what we can do,
nothing is put together.''
John A. Baum, Beach City Council member: ``I think it's just a
public relations show. If you've got problems to work out, you don't
work them out in big groups in public.''
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL NORFOLK CITY
COUNCIL