THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409200146
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: In the Neighborhoods
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Look for interesting alliances over a proposal to upgrade downtown public housing.
Take City Councilmen Randy Wright and Herb Collins.
They want all options studied for Tidewater Gardens, Young Terrace and Calvert Square, including razing the neighborhoods - albeit within limits of a federal law that forbids demolition unless an equal number of units is built.
``We need to do something different than what is there and what is being done,'' Wright said.
Collins added: ``It's something we can't close our eyes at. We have to look at the hard stuff, too.''
Wright is a conservative, white East Sider who jockeys the line between Republicans and Democrats.
Collins, who is black, was a Jesse Jackson delegate at the 1984 Democratic convention.
Wright's political building blocks, fashioned in the 1970s, included strong opposition to crosstown busing for school integration. Last year, he led an effort to reverse a zoning decision that would have allowed a large, predominantly black church on East Little Creek Road.
As for Collins, he was lead plaintiff in a successful lawsuit alleging that Norfolk's former at-large City Council system discriminated against blacks. His evidence included the School Board's decision to end elementary school busing.
Wright and Collins now have council seats largely because federal courts imposed the ward system.
The two have have met at other political intersections.
In 1991, Collins led an unsuccessful drive to force a public referendum on the Harbor Park stadium and Nauticus projects.
Wright long has complained that City Hall helps downtown more than neighborhoods.
The two note their differences but acknowledge similarities - and growing support for each other.
``Randy has grown tremendously,'' Collins said. ``He's trying to understand black concerns. . . and is emerging as one of my closest allies.''
Here are some of their views on downtown public housing:
Collins: ``A lot of public housing can be eliminated as we know it. If they're going to exist in downtown Norfolk, they have to grow with the cosmetics of downtown.
``People have forgotten how to do anything for themselves. We have to do some serious rehabilitation. They live and act the way they do because they don't know any better because of their subculture.''
Tenants as well as the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority must share responsibility for making changes, Collins said.
``They have three and four generations of the same families living there. I'm concerned we're not doing all we can about that,'' he said. ``Those people have got to have some help, but they have to help themselves, too.''
Wright: Two years ago, Wright blasted plans for the $17 million renovation of Diggs Town public housing in Campostella.
``I thought the money would be better spent on tearing down and starting over,'' Wright recalled.
Many advocates want downtown public housing modeled on Diggs Town, which resembles suburban townhouses.
Wright is reluctant to endorse this concept for downtown.
``We need to determine whether it's in our long-term best interests to maintain public housing as we see it today,'' he said. ``I'd like to see some form of private ownership. Maybe through a process of that, we can tear down some of what we have and rebuild it differently.'' by CNB