THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702230174
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 95 lines
Margaret Hoots thinks the Norview area is a pretty good place, but that it could stand to learn from its past.
``We got our churches, our own post office, our own grocery store. I mean it's just like a little city itself,'' Hoots, a 32-year Norview resident, told some visitors Saturday. ``But we used to have two pharmacies where you could walk to and get a milkshake. We don't have any now.''
That's what Hoots thought Saturday's visitors could work on: plans to revive Norview's shopping district, especially by making it more attractive to locally owned, community-oriented businesses.
And that's what the visitors wanted to hear.
The visitors were from the Young Architects Forum, a committee of the Hampton Roads chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Forum members - professionals with less than 10 years' experience, interns and students - volunteer to do designs and urban planning for communities.
Until now, members have done most of their volunteer work on projects in downtown Norfolk. That includes helping with ideas for the Granby Street corridor and organizing a public workshop on alternative designs for the MacArthur Center mall.
But assisting Norview meant an opportunity to work closely with a Norfolk neighborhood.
``I'm real excited about this activity because it's a citizen-initiated project,'' said Lisa Moritz, 30, who helped start the local Young Architects about five years ago. ``They're not waiting for the city to come in and say, `You have problems and we are going to do something about it.' They are taking it upon themselves to say, `We want to take back our area.' ''
The group can best help, Moritz said, by devising architectural ideals for Norview that encourage more community-friendly features in future development. That way, City Hall, businesses and residents will have a common understanding of what needs to be encouraged and discouraged.
Moritz was accompanied by 10 other committee members. They spent much of the morning getting an insider's tour of the Norview area - a collection of blue-collar and middle-income neighborhoods in the central part of the city - or, as residents like to say, ``no more than 15 minutes from anywhere in Norfolk.''
The section is said to have gotten its name from being halfway between downtown Norfolk and Ocean View.
In recent years, Norview has done much to reverse its years of decline, a period that also saw a rise in crime, juvenile delinquency and store closings.
Part of the area now has an anti-crime citizens' walking patrol, and Norview High School has won national honors. Also, the community formed a coalition called the ``Five Points Partnership,'' representing the civic league, business sector, schools, churches and police.
That partnership was at work Saturday as the architects rode in a van lent by the Living Word Church and driven by church member William Yarbrough. Thomas Cole, owner of the Norview Service Center gas station, donated the gasoline. Police crime-prevention officer Trudy Richardson directed the tour.
The tour featured Norview's weaknesses, such as areas vulnerable to crime, as well as its strengths, like its churches and schools.
But the young architects weren't satisfied. They wanted to talk with residents and merchants so they could ``find out where the people in the community like to gather and what places they're afraid to go to,'' Moritz said over hamburgers and French fries at Q-Master Billiards, a well-known neighborhood haunt.
The young architects also made themselves available to meet with residents at Norview Middle School. Only five residents showed, along with a teacher at the school - but all were adamant in their desires.
Janet McNaughton, a grandmother and anti-crime activist, wanted more places where children could play safely.
Linda Clark, another anti-crime activist, echoed the concern. ``On my street, the kids Rollerblade and then they lie in the middle of the street to play chicken with the cars,'' she said.
But Tracy Halman said the problem was not so much the lack of safe play areas as it was the decline of community stability. Norview has seen the amount of rental property increase to 45 percent of homes, from 5 percent in 1965, he said.
Halman suggested that community groups should raise money to buy the rental houses and then renovate the homes for re-sale to families.
Residents also talked about the need for more community-oriented businesses where they can gather for coffee and conversation.
By late afternoon, the residents and the young architects said they wanted to continue working together. Their next efforts probably will feature a questionnaire to be distributed throughout Norview and an all-day workshop on envisioning the community's future. Dates were not yet set.
``Our goals are going to be to encourage community pride, a sense of place, a sense of identify of Norview as a whole, a place where people aren't afraid to walk in anymore, encourage pedestrian traffic . . . encourage more community participation,'' Moritz said. ``Whatever we can do to help, we're really going to try.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot
David Levy, standing, an intern architect with the Navy, discusses
ideas on how to improve Norview with resident Janet McNaughton
Saturday at Norview Middle School. Volunteer members of the Young
Architects Forum met with community residents to devise a plan to
encourage more community pride and participation.
KEYWORDS: NORVIEW REDEVELOPMENT