DATE: Wednesday, March 19, 1997             TAG: 9703190501

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   50 lines

NEIGHBORHOOD EXCHANGE WHERE YOU CAN SWAP IDEAS ON COMMUNITY PROBLEMS

How does your community group help keep neighborhood sidewalks free of litter?

Looking for a way to boost attendance at civic-league meetings?

Can your organization attack problems, such as juvenile delinquency or the need to move welfare recipients into the work force?

Welcome to the Neighborhood Exchange, a new feature in The Virginian-Pilot.

Several times a month, this space will highlight problem-solving efforts by groups and individuals. It will recognize valuable public work performed by citizens, but it also can be a place for you to exchange ideas.

For example, a Virginia Beach group has an innovative program for teaching teens to settle disputes without resorting to violence. This column could help spread the ideas to other Hampton Roads neighborhoods.

It could work the other way, too. Chesapeake neighborhoods may suffer from illegal dumping. We'll describe the issue here, and ask other communities to respond with ideas that worked for them.

Hampton Roads has no shortage of great ideas and civic energy. There are efforts by people at every level of our community.Here are a few examples:

Chesapeake civic activists wanted more property-code enforcement, especially in aging South Norfolk. But they didn't want to punish fixed-income homeowners. So the Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations now musters volunteers and raises money to help with home repairs.

Retired longshoreman A.C. Russell of Norfolk combines his love of fishing with a desire to keep kids out of trouble. So, each summer, he teaches kids to fish.

Residents of Norfolk's Lafayette-Winona, Colonial Place, Berkley and Ghent are doing architectural inventories of nearby houses and buildings. The information will help the neighborhoods become state and national historical districts, which could bring tax credits.

Virginia Beach residents Julian Aiken of Plaza Apartments and Jacqueline Greer of Pecan Gardens West discovered that they had the same worries for the well-being of teen-agers in their neighborhoods. To give the kids a positive activity, they created a basketball league.

You get the idea. And you have the ideas. We'd like to hear about them for possible columns.

Also let us know of neighborhood problems that have you stumped. Maybe someone else has an idea that you can build on. Together, we won't have to reinvent the wheel. MEMO: Got an idea or suggestion for this column? Contact staff writer

Mike Knepler at 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510, phones

436-6195 or 446-2275, or E-mail knep(a)pilotonline.com.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu