THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140549
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 60 lines
The Norfolk Federation of Business Districts, still battling to stop the proposed MacArthur Center mall, has launched a petition drive to force the city to eliminate the mall from its redevelopment efforts.
Earlier this year, the group, which is made up of businesses not located downtown, tried to block the mall by opposing the $33 million in federal loan guarantees the city had sought from the department of Housing and Urban Development. It had also pledged a petition drive.
Originally, the petitions were to oppose the HUD loan. But after Norfolk encountered problems over HUD demands that more jobs be guaranteed to low- and moderate-income applicants, the city decided last week to instead borrow the money from private banks to build the Nordstrom anchor store.
Federal courts have also thrown out a lawsuit by the federation that had challenged Norfolk's right to commit city funds to the project.
The federation opposes the mall because it believes it is unfair of the city to subsidize stores that will compete with its members.
At a press conference Thursday, Federation attorney Andrew Sacks asked Susan and Edward O'Neal, two retired Norfolk residents, to sign the first petitions.
``It's fundamentally wrong for the city to commit public money for private purposes,'' Edward O'Neal said.
Susan O'Neal said she opposed the project because she believed it would fail and leave taxpayers with another ``white elephant.''
``The city's crystal ball was not good in projecting attendance for Nauticus,'' Susan O'Neal said. ``I don't know if their crystal ball has been fixed.''
The federation is relying on a local initiative process in the city charter that allows groups to overturn city laws or establish new ones by obtaining enough signatures.
But the city has succeeded in either delaying such campaigns or having them overturned by the courts. When a group tried to use such a drive to stop Nauticus and Harbor Park from being constructed, a judge ruled that the process did not apply to major spending decisions by the city.
The petitions demand that the council delete the mall project as part of the redevelopment plan for downtown Norfolk. The council adopted the mall proposal in 1994, as an amendment to a downtown redevelopment plan which dates back to 1958.
The federation has four months to collect 2,189 signatures, or 10 percent of the ballots cast in the last general election, to formally put the question before council, Sacks said.
If the council refuses to act, then the group must collect 5,472 signatures, or 25 percent of the votes cast in the last general election, to ask a court to put the question on a citywide referendum.
The MacArthur Center is technically already under construction, although few visible signs are evident. Foundations are scheduled to be laid this summer.
The six citizens who form the actual ``committee of petitioners'' required by the city charter are: James Janata, Nelson E. Smith, Melinease Hutchinson, Albert G. Horton Jr., Gail A. Salzberg and Donald Hornstein.
KEYWORDS: MACARTHUR CENTER MALL NORFOLK PROTEST PETITION by CNB