THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010435
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 108 lines
As Clarissa E. McAdoo prepared to start her job today as director of the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, she recalled a childhood vision during summer visits here with her grandmother.
``Some nights, my girlfriend and I would sit on the corner and dream,'' McAdoo recalled. ``I remember saying it would be really neat if we could plan this city and make it better.
``Life kind of took a turn along that line.''
Today, at 40 and some 25 years after those visits, McAdoo will begin work on that vision in a city that many believe has a shortage of decent housing and a housing agency without a clear mission. She will be the first African American to lead the authority in its 25 years.
McAdoo, former manager of development operations for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, will trade a view of the Elizabeth River and Waterside to gaze at an empty lot and The Dining Room Restaurant - a small, brick eatery with a gravel parking area. But, she said, the chance to help plan Suffolk's appearance and improve its image is a good trade.
McAdoo knows she has her work cut out for her:
The Suffolk authority has struggled since being accused three years ago of mismanaging a rental-rehabilitation housing program financed by federal grants, and it is just starting to repay money that the government demanded back.
A housing study four years ago by the city identified the highest concentrations of deteriorated housing in Huntersville, Chuckatuck, Pughsville, Orlando, Jericho, Tynes Park and South Suffolk. The conditions largely persist.
City officials and the housing authority have not been on the best of terms, although City Council members appoint the seven-member board. The city has been pushing for the agency to provide redevelopment efforts.
But McAdoo is not put off.
One of her goals is developing a clear mission for the authority.
``I'd like to get the board involved with a vision,'' she said. ``I want them to be a catalyst for change and growth.''
The vision, she said, should include improving public housing communities - ``the image, the buildings and the people who live within.''
She also wants strong relationships with the city and nonprofit organizations.
``We need to step out and be a part of the bigger picture,'' she said. ``We need to establish a good relationship with the city. That is going to be very important.''
A person who lives by a burgundy planning book that ``represents my life,'' McAdoo said she has the experience to get the job done.
Her husband, Anthony McAdoo - who took her last name - agreed, and joked that his wife can handle anything because she has a plan for everything, including putting away the laundry.
Stephen W. Cooper, assistant executive director for development operations at the NRHA, said McAdoo's strong points are her organization and dedication.
McAdoo sees the new position as another element of her public service journey. Her personal theory is ``going to grow,'' something her job history illustrates.
McAdoo became interested in housing after working in social work and planning in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Maryland.
She moved back to Suffolk in 1987, where she worked for seven years as a city planner, and that piqued her interest in housing.
While in Suffolk, she worked with consultants on a city housing study. They identified Suffolk's housing problems and recommended solutions, which included setting up nonprofit organizations to help redevelop neighborhoods and starting a neighborhood housing project that ranked areas in the order in which they would be helped.
``I learned a lot from the consultants,'' McAdoo said. ``We can talk about the problems all the time, but how do you solve them? They were making good recommendations . . . and the housing project stirred up juices that I didn't know I had.''
Once they left, McAdoo didn't want to go back to the daily grind of planning, so she took a job as a neighborhood planner in Norfolk.
She was responsible for demographics, history, background, housing conditions, census data - everything needed to support redeveloping a community.
More than a year later, she was promoted to manager of development operations, where she was responsible for coordinating a staff of 10.
The Suffolk authority owns and operates 466 public housing units in five communities and manages more than 1,200 subsidized-rent units. It has an annual budget of more than $3 million.
McAdoo's salary is $57,500. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Clarissa E. McAdoo wants the city's housing authority to be ``a
catalyst for change and growth.
Graphic
McAdoo's Career
Graduate of Virginia State University with a degree in social
work. At 21, worked for Society of Sickle Cell Anemia in Norfolk.
Laid off when federal government cut social service programs.
1979-83: A zoning inspector in Portsmouth, where she was
responsible for inspecting zoning violations and educating the
public on code enforcement.
1984-86: Worked for two years as a zoning administrator and
inspector in Laurel, Md., then as an assistant to the director of
economic and community development in Hyattsville, Md. She worked
with Community Development Block Grants, federal money that cities
receive to fix up neighborhoods.
1987-93: A city planner in Suffolk. She handled planning and
rezoning items and worked with a team of consultants on a city
housing study in 1992.
1993-96: Hired as a neighborhood planner at the Norfolk housing
authority. Later, she was promoted to manager of development
operations.
Today - SRHA director
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY DIRECTOR by CNB