THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270317
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
City Councilman Herbert Collins refused Monday to retract statements decrying ``a subculture'' of tenants in public housing.
``I'm not going to retract a thing,'' Collins said Monday. ``As a matter of fact, I'm going to add to it.''
Collins said he observed ``too much trash on the streets and sidewalks'' of four public housing neighborhoods - Diggs Town, Tidewater Gardens, Young Terrace and Calvert Square - that he visited on Sunday.
``It was just awful,'' Collins said. ``That's just solidified my position.''
Last week, Collins said public housing tenants make up ``a subculture that's not acceptable.''
He said, ``These people are the most underemployed, the most undereducated, the most underchurched, they are the most underdisciplined people in our society.''
On Monday, Charles Peek, outgoing president of the Norfolk Residents Organization, said Collins had unfairly stereotyped public housing tenants and was talking without being fully informed.
``Mr. Collins obviously is not aware of a lot of the initiatives that have been implemented in the public housing communities. I think he did a lot of stereotyping,'' Peek said.
Collins and Peek were interviewed separately.
Last week, Collins said he based his opinions about public housing residents on his experiences operating Long's Market at 1214 Ballentine Blvd., a small grocery near the Bowling Green public housing neighborhood. Collins' late grandmother started the business more than 40 years ago.
``Being across the street has given me an insight that I don't think anybody else on the council understands,'' Collins said.
He also noted how he had recently come within 200 feet of a drive-by shooting in the Diggs Town neighborhood, and said the experience helped harden his position on public housing.
The councilman urged the city to consider tearing down some apartments, perhaps replacing them with new units throughout Norfolk.
But Peek urged Collins to abandon the demolition idea. ``They should just do away with that thought,'' he said.
And, Shirley Freeman, the only public housing resident on the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority commission, said she had spent much of the weekend quelling rumors that apartments would be torn down.
Collins says he has earned the right to speak critically of public housing and its residents.
``We have been very responsible corporate citizens. For more than 40 years we have employed public housing residents, fed them and we have paid the rent for many of them, some as loans and some as gifts,'' Collins said. ``We do it every day. People bring their problems over there every day and we try to address them. We've sponsored teams, and we've contributed to every kind of organization.
``So I speak with a tremendous amount of authority. I challenge anybody to prove that I don't know what I'm talking about.''
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority has tried to head off further controversy by issuing reminders about innovative public housing programs.
Meanwhile, some officials blamed outsiders for many problems in public housing.
Police Chief Melvin C. High said that outsiders cause most public housing crimes and that crime is declining.
Ray Strutton, assistant executive director of the housing authority, said much of the garbage problem also is caused by outsiders who dump trash in public housing neighborhoods to avoid city fees.
The outsiders, Strutton said, are attracted by the huge garbage bins that the city installed in public housing several years ago. Those containers are being replaced by 90-gallon trash cans common in most Norfolk neighborhoods. by CNB