THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 TAG: 9609110457
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BATTINTO BATTS JR., STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 62 lines
When Lansing, Wilcox and Marshall avenues are repaved and the water no longer stands on the streets for days after a heavy rain, the residents of the Brighton-South Portsmouth community can say they took a part in improving their community.
It's the result of a partnership the neighborhood forged with City Hall.
Faced with a list of improvements that easily could cost millions, but having only $700,000 to work with, city officials said they let the neighborhood's residents tell them where the improvements were needed most.
The result: on Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved money and awarded the contract for the latest phase of the project, which will include the installation of sidewalks, curbs and gutters as well as widening the streets.
To an outsider, it probably seemed like the affirmation of any other capital improvement expenditure. But city officials say it is an example of how citizens and government can work together and how people can control their community's destiny.
City officials have been meeting with neighborhood residents for several years to determine which streets were most in need of repair, said Richard A. Hartman, Portsmouth director of public works.
``They are the ones that are out there,'' he said. ``We are making them part of the process and having their concurrence; they are buying into what we are doing.''
The latest phase, which is expected to take less than a year to complete, is part of the effort to revive Brighton-South Portsmouth, once a neighborhood for affluent blacks.
Reggie Allen, 62, like many of his neighbors, has lived there most of his life. He remembers when Brighton-South Portsmouth was thriving and when all residents cared for their homes and properties.
Allen said some residents have felt neglected by a city that has struggled financially in recent years.
``Portsmouth doesn't have much revenue coming in because we don't have much industry,'' Allen said. ``Some of the older people don't understand that. They say they are paying just as much taxes as anyone else and should get what everyone else gets.''
On Tuesday, water was standing in front of Sherman Barnslater's Summit Avenue home. Barnslater, 65, has lived there for 35 years and said it's always that way after a heavy rain.
``They have spent a lot of money downtown and it has not shown any profit, yet,'' he said. ``All of that money could have come out here for our community.''
Hartman, the public works director, said his department is aware of the improvements needed in some of the city's older neighborhoods.
Brighton-South Portsmouth is one of five communities targeted for major road and drainage improvements, Hartman said. The others are Simonsdale, Highland/Biltmore, Ebony Heights and Loxley Gardens/South Fairview Heights.
As funds become available, the city will improve road and drainage systems in each neighborhood a block or two at a time, Hartman said. Each time, the city will let community residents decide where improvements should go.
``You are talking about a tall order. We expect to spend several million in any one of those areas,'' Hartman said. ``We are trying to recognize the problem and work on those that are the most needy.''
KEYWORDS: ROAD IMPROVEMENTS DRAINAGE PORTSMOUTH < by CNB