
DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280537

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   85 lines

TRESTLE REHABILITATION A COMMUNITY EFFORT FORMER RAILROAD CROSSING IS BEING TRANSFORMED INTO AN ATTRACTION.

The trains don't cross the trestle between Westhaven and Simonsdale anymore.

But where the train track used to be, a littered path of overgrown weeds and trees drew trespassers and troublemakers.

Graffiti appeared on the railroad trestle. Westhaven residents complained of broken windows, and sometimes shots were heard.

Officers Rob Joyner and Roxanne Hutt heard plenty about the problem at neighborhood watch and civic league meetings.

They started soliciting solutions from residents on both sides of the water.

In just a short time, Joyner has orchestrated a full-scale revitalization project that could turn that neighborhood irritation into a new waterfront recreation spot.

The final decision about whether the trestle comes down or stays up will come before City Council later this year, Joyner said.

But with the improvements that have been made in recent weeks, Joyner hopes that the old rail crossing will become a permanent fishing and crabbing pier.

Regardless, the project has been a demonstration of what happens when all of the city's departments are focused on working together.

That's the new mantra for City Hall these days.

Joyner said community policing helped to get the ball rolling, but such neighborhood projects are a priority in every agency.

``We can go right to the top if we need something,'' Joyner said. ``I've had cooperation in every effort I've taken on. But this has been the best experience.''

Linda Evans, president of the Waters Edge condominium association, is one of the residents who had expressed concern. She really didn't expect quick results, she said.

But she came home for lunch one day and saw a flurry of activity.

``It's unbelievable,'' she said. ``In all the years I've lived there, it's the nicest it's ever looked.''

Joyner said he had a lot of help from Patsy Southard and Deborah Ernst, the two Neighborhood Quality inspectors assigned to the area.

The first step, Joyner said, was cutting back the woods that had grown over the old railway corridor.

The Sheriff's Office took care of that, supplying about 20 volunteer inmates who worked a week on it. Joyner rented a chain saw and helped.

The waste management department got called in to haul things away.

``Waste management was emptying trailers as fast as the guys could clear it out,'' Joyner said. ``They probably took away 15 of those big trailers.''

The engineering department decided where a fence should go on the Westhaven side to keep people from using the trestle as a crossing. That was the side where residential areas actually were affected.

Now people interested in crabbing and fishing can get to the trestle on the Simonsdale side, which is already a recreational area.

General Services put up the fence and built a footbridge up to the trestle to make it easier and safer to get to.

That department also painted over the graffiti after power washing failed. The fire department had helped in that effort.

Traffic engineering posted ``No Trespassing'' signs on the Westhaven side, as well as signs that prohibit bicycles and skateboards on the trestle.

Trash cans have been placed on the trestle, and Virginia Power will put up flood lights that will shine on the water and the trestle area, Joyner said.

The General Services department will be putting safety rails on the trestle, similar to those on the Seawall.

Joyner hopes to get benches put up on the trestle and would like to see the city take out one section of the trestle nearest the residential side.

The Parks and Recreation Department will be charged with maintaining the area.

But Joyner is taking a personal interest in making sure nothing happens to the new paint job and that the pier is inviting to people seeking recreation instead of a place to hang out and drink beer.

He has been monitoring the area three to four times a day.

``I'm checking out everybody who doesn't have a fishing pole,'' Joyner said. ILLUSTRATION: MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

Patsy Southard, a Neighborhood Quality inspector, and Portsmouth

Police Officer Rob Joyner look over work that is being done on a

railroad trestle between Westhaven and Simonsdale that's no longer

used by trains. It is being made into a fishing pier, for a new

waterfront recreation spot.

NEW CRABBING PIER

VP MAP