
DATE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997           TAG: 9709160304

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  105 lines

NEIGHBORHOOD REBUILDS IN ODU'S SHADOW

On at least two of its streets, Lamberts Point is overcoming decay and sympathetic growing pains of its next-door neighbor, Old Dominion University.

The low-income neighborhood, entrenched between railroad tracks and the college campus, is three years into a revitalization program whose goal is to decrease the amount of multifamily housing there.

Inexpensive complexes have attracted scores of young people, overcrowding portions of a community that has deteriorated steadily.

For now, this revitalization effort is concentrated in the area surrounding 37th and 38th streets, a small portion of the 87-acre neighborhood.

The program, which could span two decades and will cost taxpayers many millions of dollars, is cleaning up the street a stretch at a time, said Stephen M. Barney of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

``The community decided to target 38th because they see that as the gateway to their community,'' Barney said.

Backed with $3.5 million in funding since January 1994, grants and low-cost loans have helped several homeowners build new roofs, make structural repairs and slap on blemish-hiding coats of paint. The city will spend $1.1 million more this fiscal year, and expand its efforts to more streets.

Despite relocation programs and grants for those displaced by the wrecking ball in Lamberts Point, other residents are concerned.

Kim Williams, who helps run a hospitality home for the poor on 38th Street, worries about those who will not be able to stay in the neighborhood. Yes, she admitted, life is being made better for homeowners with the loans and the upgrades and new trees.

``But I hate to see life made harder for the poor,'' she said.

``Zoning seems to be moving toward single-family dwelling,'' said Wendy Leitner, who works with Williams at the hospitality home. ``Single people, especially lower-income people, seem to be getting squeezed out of Lamberts Point. People seem to be moving out to Park Place.''

Others are glad for the help.

Greathel Artis has lived in Lamberts Point for 36 years. She used a $40,000 rehabilitation loan to repair her small home on 38th Street. She added central heating and air conditioning, and painted the exterior lime green.

Her house looks great.

``I love it because it's upgrading Lamberts Point,'' she said. ``Some of the houses really needed it. People couldn't afford it.''

She said she is glad the project has targeted abandoned houses that had attracted vagrants and drug users.

``This block wasn't so bad, just some houses,'' she explained. ``But people couldn't go by without somebody who might come out and rob them.''

E. Johnson, an 86-year-old retired truck driver who lives on 39th Street, agreed.

``There used to be a lot of that funny stuff out here'' he said. ``They're moving that out now.''

He watched from his house two weeks ago as the police raided a house. His porch provides quite a view. At one end of his block there is a boarded-up house with numbers spray-painted on the boards; across the street is a redeveloped home that boasts a fresh coat of paint.

South of where Old Dominion University's campus is located today, coal and cargo piers joined Norfolk's shoreline in 1886. Lamberts Point grew around this industrial area, collecting single-family homes convenient to industry and the railroad tracks, which led to the heart of the wharf.

According to an NRHA report, about 75 percent of the housing in the neighborhood is single-family; the rest is duplex and multifamily. A small portion is used commercially.

Apartment complexes came into the neighborhood when Old Dominion expanded during the 1950s, and construction of inexpensive off-campus housing flourished again in the 1980s.

``Density,'' Barney of the NRHA explained. ``There's a large amount of rental housing, but the community wasn't designed to support that.''

So the city is trying to change the face of the community, while keeping it as intact as possible.

Dominique Williamson, Lakishah White, Bellica West and Sharna Gannaway are students living in Lamberts Point. The women attended a service at First Baptist Church of Lamberts Point and heard the preacher talk of changes ahead for the community in which they are renting space.

West used to walk to church through the neighborhood when she first came to Lamberts Point. She drives now.

``It's gone to the dogs,'' she said.

``For real,'' Williamson agreed.

``It's in need of improvement around here,'' Gannaway said.

Three years ago in that same brick house of worship, residents voted for improvement. They hoped to avoid massive community clearings like the programs that swept away sections of Ocean View and East Ghent years ago.

In the rush to bring single-family homes back to Lamberts Point, some families may be displaced.

Audrey DeShields said her landlord is kicking her out of the duplex where she has lived for years so the property can be sold to the city. She received a slip of paper addressed to ``John and Jane Doe.'' It unceremoniously told her to get lost.

``We're getting kicked out,'' DeShields said. ``It's unfair. . . . I don't have the money to move. I don't have a car. I don't have a husband.''

What she has is custody of her grandchildren, a job at Old Dominion and a lease that was supposed to last until May 1998.

Like so many who may leave Lamberts Point, DeShields came there to be close to the college. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Audrey DeShields is upset that her landlord is evicting her from the

duplex where she has lived for years so that the property can be

sold. Here she's in front of her sister's home on 38th Street.

Graphic

Area shown: Norfolk - Lamberts Point KEYWORDS: LAMBERTS POINT