THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170360
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Decision '96
SOURCE: By MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Farmers' fields sprout $150,000 homes instead of soybeans.
Traffic clogs once-sleepy roads.
An array of shopping centers and fast-food outlets has replaced forests.
Chesapeake is one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, and its citizens are apprehensive about how quickly their city is changing.
People said they came to Chesapeake to buy a lot of home for their money; to live in a suburban town with rural charm; to be within a 20-minute drive of anywhere in South Hampton Roads.
But as Chesapeake tries to cope with tremendous change, its residents are deeply concerned about its future.
That was the theme that surfaced in a conversation with 15 Chesapeake citizens sponsored by The Virginian-Pilot recently. The people came from various neighborhoods and backgrounds, and no public officials or local activists were invited.
The conversation was held to discover what Chesapeake residents were considering as they prepare to elect a mayor, three council members and four School Board members.
Those who attended said they were most concerned with growth and how it affects their quality of life. They are worried their city is not keeping up with their needs.
Their comments reflected those The Virginian-Pilot has heard in other round tables, public gatherings and interviews across Chesapeake over the past year.
Among the complaints:
There are too few recreation centers for children to pass the time away from school.
The city has no cultural centers.
Roads, schools and the water system are strained.
Police and fire departments aren't keeping pace with the city's growing population.
``I don't have any problem paying an extra few pennies . . . as long as I'm going to get the services,'' said Joyce B. Dabbs, a 54-year-old software instructor from Deep Creek. ``But when I don't get the services and still have to pay the taxes, then I get very angry. And we have not been getting services in Chesapeake.''
A phrase repeated again and again by residents was ``quality of life.'' And until city officials begin to emphasize making Chesapeake a better place to live, residents say their hometown will only be half of what it could be.
``What do we have to offer here?'' asked Michael A. Colaiacovo II, a teacher and cross-country coach at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach. ``Where's our arts center? Where's our cultural center? Where's our downtown?''
If nothing is done soon, they said, this town could develop into the kind of places that people escaped to come to Chesapeake.
``Seventeen years ago when we moved here from Wisconsin, you could still hear the birds in the morning,'' said 44-year-old Janice Carpenter, a secretary in the human resources department of the Red Cross. ``You can still hear the birds, but the traffic has increased, and you can hear more of that.''
Chesapeake residents said they realize that the government can't cure all of the city's problems. But they said they don't think their leaders have a vision that will enable Chesapeake to hold tight to the things that make this city appealing: affordable homes, nearby nature, the easy access.
They worry that the city has become too dependent on development dollars and won't install the necessary controls on growth.
To replace the revenue from lost development, they suggested that the city use untapped resources, including local residents and corporations, to bring about new services.
Residents also said they want their leaders to do more with less, such as recruiting companies that will give back to the community and allowing private business to perform city services.
``Government can be efficient, and it can be effective by looking at how you spend your dollars,'' said Benjamin F. Webb, 45, who is now a student after retiring from the Navy. ``I don't think the issue of privatization of some areas in this city has been looked at. We also have to utilize some of the talent that we have within the city. We have people walking around with Ph.D.s and master's degrees, housewives that are probably sitting at home, that can probably work for the city.
``This city has tried to model what Virginia Beach has done. But this is not Virginia Beach. This is a rural, urban metroplex. We've got different kinds of problems.''
People in Chesapeake realize that growth is needed for the city to pay for many of these services. Residents, however, say not enough is being done to control what kinds of growth are allowed.
Citizens said they want their tax dollars used more effectively.
``For our tax level, Chesapeake is pretty high for what it gets,'' said Bill Pickens, a 55-year-old technology teacher. ``What shocked me was coming to an area like this and then having to spend a small fortune to get a water purification system in my house.''
For much of last summer, most of the city's water was unpalatable, with salt and sodium levels that set records. A new purification system authorized by the city is supposed to eliminate that problem, but it doesn't go on line until October 1998.
Residents also expressed concern about the schools not spending enough money to prepare students and teachers for the latest computer technology.
``If a teacher cannot learn something new,'' said Pickens, ``why does he or she expect the child to learn something new?''
Citizens would like the city to recruit Fortune 500 businesses so Chesapeake's brightest can find jobs in their hometown.
``I would love to have my grand-daughter next door to me, so I could visit her,'' said Dabbs. ``But there is no work for my son in this area.''
Such capital-rich companies could also play a larger role in paying for city amenities, citizens said. Pickens cited a Georgia school district that needed cars for student drivers. Instead of asking taxpayers, the school district got a local company to foot the bill.
The deepest concern, however, was the uncertainty about where Chesapeake was headed as a city.
Even the students interviewed said that, in their lifetimes, Chesapeake has changed so much that they doubted they would raise their children here.
``They're bringing in all the wrong things,'' said Stephanie Stevenson, a senior at Deep Creek High School. ``Five years ago, I can remember going down and seeing cows and pigs and all these good things. Now, all I'm seeing is houses.'' MEMO: Staff writers Denise Watson and Elizabeth Thiel contributed to this
report.
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KEYWORDS: PUBLIC JOURNALISM COMMUNITY CONVERSATION CHESAPEAKE SCHOOL
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