THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9408300160
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
City Council members wrestled with issues of money, power and city priorities in Norfolk's two-year-old ward system during a retreat last week in Williamsburg.
Councilmen gathered at Fort Magruder Inn for a day and a half to discuss how they work together and what their vision for the city is.
The toughest issue proved to be how council members could get needed projects for their wards without upsetting the city's budget process. The city is split into seven wards, each electing one councilman.
The council has continued to operate without any changes under the new system, but some think there should be changes.
Councilman Randy Wright suggested there should be a way for council members to pay for projects their wards need.
``A council member should be able to tell someone in his ward, `I can get that done,' '' Wright said. ``Not five years from now, but this year.''
Wright, who's been on the council for two years, had tried to get a recreation center for Bayview added to this year's budget, but there wasn't enough money.
``I don't understand what you're talking about,'' said Councilman G. Conoly Phillips, a council veteran. ``Is this pork barrel? Are you saying each ward should have a pot of money for things to be done in that ward?''
Not exactly, Wright said, but, ``That's close to what I'm talking about.''
``Well, I can't agree with that,'' Phillips said.
Councilman Mason C. Andrews said, ``That is the specter of the ward system people have worried about.''
Some council members said such a change would take too much authority away from City Manager James B. Oliver Jr., who prepares the budget.
Newer council members tended to support Wright's idea, however. Herbert Collins, elected this year, said, ``With the coming of the ward system, maybe business around here will need to be done differently. We have to face that.''
Vice Mayor Paul R. Riddick pointed out that until very recently, none of the streets in his ward, Ward 4, were scheduled to be resurfaced. Now, he said, he has persuaded the city to add some.
``That's how the ward system should work, with council members bringing things to the administration's attention,'' Councilman Joseph N. Green said.
Finally, Wright brought the issue down to the nitty-gritty: downtown development vs. neighborhood revitalization. Wright is from Ward 5, the farthest from downtown, and he was critical in his 1992 campaign of the more than $100 million spent on downtown in the last decade.
Since his election to the council, Wright said, ``I've supported downtown virtually 100 percent. And it's not in Ward 5. Now, if I've got to go out and take the heat for supporting a mall downtown, for gosh sakes, at least let me be able to tell them I can get that one thing done for them, a recreation center or whatever.
``It's only fair. I'm just putting the cards on the table.''
Finally, Mayor Paul D. Fraim said he supported Wright's basic idea: a small contingency fund that the council could draw on for certain projects not already in the budget. Fraim said he would not agree to a ``pork barrel'' fund.
``It's the political process rubbing up against the money process,'' Fraim said.
At that point, Phillips said, ``I see what you're saying. I just didn't understand at first.''
Although council members could have taken action at the retreat, they decided to consider the idea further and think about how much money should go into a contingency fund.
One councilman pointed out later that, no matter how the fund is set up, it doesn't make the budget larger, and any new project has to take money away from an existing one.
Before leaving on the retreat, council members took a four-hour boat tour around Norfolk. Some of the ideas it generated include:
Getting powerboat races started in the Elizabeth River or the Chesapeake Bay. Oliver remembered there were boat races in the river when he was young.
Repairing more of the bulkheads, the concrete barriers that keep soil from falling into the river and keep the rivers from overflowing into homes and yards. Many bulkheads along the Elizabeth and Lafayette Rivers are deteriorated.
Removing unsightly boat wrecks around the city. The owners either can't or won't remove them, so the city may have to ask for help from the Coast Guard and the Navy.
Acquiring the old Lafayette Yacht Club on the Lafayette River at Granby Street. The club is vacant and has fallen into disrepair.
After the tour, Wright said, ``If we could show prospective residents the view of Norfolk from the water, they'd be more likely to locate in Norfolk. We need to market that side of Norfolk.''
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK CITY COUNCIL by CNB