
DATE: Saturday, November 15, 1997           TAG: 9711150361

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   50 lines

MAYORS TOAST NEW SPIRIT OF 2 CITIES' TOGETHERNESS

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim called the occasion ``historic.''

Portsmouth Mayor James Holley said it was ``a rekindling of the spirit of two historic communities.''

The two mayors greeted each other Friday morning aboard a TRT ferry boat on the Elizabeth River, smack dab in the water between the two cities.

The meeting symbolized the cooperation Norfolk and Portsmouth have undertaken this year with their holiday celebrations.

Fraim and Holley both extolled their cities' partnership for the festivities that begin next Saturday with the Grand Illumination Parade and continue through the end of the year.

Raising glasses of eggnog - unspiked, Holley noted - the mayors toasted the future cooperation of the two cities.

``We often talk about sister cities,'' Holley said. ``Now these are real sister cities here.''

It is, he added, ``extremely important that we have realized the Elizabeth River is truly a Main Street that joins us, not a barrier that keeps us apart.''

``We will come to realize in the future that this is an historic moment,'' Fraim said. ``Today we're writing a new chapter in history, starting a new era of regional cooperation. We in Norfolk and Portsmouth have the same heritage. of the holiday season for all the people of Hampton Roads.''

The cooperation has reached the extent that it's being reflected in letterheads for news releases, printed with the insignia of each city and saying: ``The Cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth.''

``We're here to send a clear message that regional cooperation can be successful,'' Fraim said.

Holley will join Fraim on a float leading the parade at 7 p.m. next Saturday. For the first time, when the Norfolk skyline is illuminated for the holidays, the Portsmouth skyline will also come alive with lights.

Both mayors will be aboard boats in the Lighted Boat Parade on Nov. 29, when activities on both sides of the harbor will be the same.

A fireworks show will be staged on each side of the water.

Holiday activities in both cities are being promoted as one celebration. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Mayor James Holley of Portsmouth, left, joins Mayor Paul Fraim of

Norfolk in hoisting glasses of eggnog to inaugurate the joint

celebration of the upcoming holidays in both cities. They are on a

ferry in the Elizabeth River.