Category Archives: Community Questions

Recall Improvements That Aren’t

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DISCLAIMER: As non-lawyers embarking on a discussion of legal matters, we declare that the following descriptions and analysis rest on a lay person’s understanding of the referenced documents, namely the Portsmouth City Charter, Section 12.09, and the proposed language found in Appendix A of the resolution linked to City Council Agenda Item 22-375 and are not intended as legal guidance.

For the second time in as many years, Portsmouth City Council will consider changes to city charter provisions pertaining to the recall (i. e., process for removing) of local elected officials. In a republic, theoretically, no office to which people are elected is the exclusive property of its current occupant, so depending on the term established by law for a particular position, whoever is sitting in the seat will be subject to replacement in a subsequent election. Sometimes, though, an official does such a poor job of representing her/his/their constituency that removal before the end of term becomes an imperative. Recall provides that kind of political safety valve. Continue reading →

Open Letter to City Council: Siting the Casino

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Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of City Council:

I do not habitually offer “trailers” of my intended presentations to public bodies, but the gravity of the decisions surrounding the establishment of a casino in Portsmouth dictates this deviation from my normal practices. Those of you with longer tenure on council should be aware that I have opposed the casino at every stage of the process. Now that we are about to finalize the transfer of property from public ownership to private in preparation for facility construction, you should not be surprised that I would still have issues with the undertaking.

The outcome of the referendum last November did convince me, however, that this project is all but inevitable. With that acknowledgment, I want to focus on the best placement of the casino for the future growth and vitality of Portsmouth. I strongly disagree with putting it on what I consider our highest potential undeveloped tract of land in the city, an area that I believe would be far more valuable as an innovation and tech incubator in the orbit of the Portsmouth Tidewater Community College campus. In terms of the gaming/entertainment zone concept, the logical positioning of the casino would be within sight of the Elizabeth River in our downtown area.

Leveraging the capital investment of the casino enterprise to transform the properties currently occupied by our civic center would be mutually advantageous to our citizens and the concessionaire. The public would avoid the expense of elevator and plumbing repairs to a city hall building that we have been wanting to replace for some time, and we would concurrently clear the old courts, public safety, and jail complex to make way for the casino. The Union Bank Pavilion could be rebranded as the Portsmouth Rivers Pavilion to host outdoor entertainment offerings. With the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel undergoing a major makeover at this moment, it could offer lodgings for casino patrons interested in more than a day-trip experience. The former Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and the former furniture store across the street could be reconfigured to provide indoor music, drama, and dance venues as part of the entertainment zone offerings.

Existing amenities, including the Children’s Museum of Virginia, the Portsmouth Colored Community Library Museum, the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, the Lightship Portsmouth Museum, the Portsmouth Main Library, the historic homes of Olde Towne, the historic downtown business district, and our refurbished seawall all complement the entertainment zone and contribute to a sense of place. Nothing constructed in the Victory Village section of town can bring all these discrete elements together to a create a comparable “destination”. We need to recognize our strengths and capitalize on them in this next phase of our development. Putting our best foot forward, let’s move into the future.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky

A Really Big Show (2021)

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The upcoming Portsmouth City Council virtual meeting on Tuesday, May 11, has the makings of what Ed Sullivan would call “a really big show”. No, the Beatles won’t be there, but council will be adopting the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget and considering zoning and two use permit changes that will lay the groundwork for establishment of an entertainment zone and construction of a casino and associated hotel in the Victory Village section of our city.

At its two April virtual meetings city council held public hearings on the components of the overall spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1: the annual operating budget, the five-year capital improvement plan, and proposed changes in (tax) rates and levies. Advertised in the usual fashion — printed notices in the Virginian-Pilot and announcements through city communication channels — the notice did not elicit anything like the participation witnessed prior to the pandemic. Whether it was COVID fatigue, the lack of anything that aroused public outrage, or some combination of factors and others, only one speaker provided comments captured by the recordings and minutes of the two sets of hearings. So, if you wish to contribute your ideas before the budget is all “signed, sealed, delivered”, the deadline is 3 PM, Monday, May 10 for written submissions or speaker signups for the Tuesday meeting. The same deadline applies for comments on the casino-related matters going before city council during that same meeting. Last calls, neighbors!

(The agenda for the May 11 Virtual Meeting of city council, current as of this posting date and time, is available here. Links within the agenda — underlined and in blue — will open documents with supplemental information about each associated item. The entire FY 2022 Proposed Budget is accessible here.)

Open Letter to Mayor and Council: Let the Public in Again

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The high-water mark for local government transparency was set five years ago this month. Our former city manager, Dr. L. Pettis Patton, opened up the police chief interview session for three finalists to the community as a whole. In the auditorium of “The” I. C. Norcom High School, on a chilly January afternoon, the applicants made their cases to the management team with several city council members and many interested citizens present.

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Guest Opinion: Putting the Residents First

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So, we call a communitywide meeting [in Cavalier Manor], the first in over 10 months…. not for COVID preparations… not for food distribution… not for severe weather impact instructions… not to ensure a continued high quality education for our youth…not to address the crime issues.. not to check on resident welfare… not for vaccine instructions… not to announce Sustainable Wage Jobs… not to deliver PPE and hand sanitizer… not to get mentors for our students… not to check on our seniors… not participate in the early phase if the planning process… not to talk about Development Induced Displacement… not to comfort the community in a time of crisis… not to mitigate health disparities… not to ensure households who don’t have internet in these times have access… not to mitigate pollution caused by excess truck traffic…not to give people rides to the polls to vote… not to talk about moving renters to homeowners to create black wealth….We call our FIRST meeting in ten months to talk about a developer who wants to take our land from the community and build tiny low income apartments..no wealth building capacity… workforce housing… providing NO direct benefit to the community….take our land we could use for a park, amphitheater, compost area, walking trails, a mini client, farmers market., pop up venues. something that provides social welfare with a direct and measurable benefit…the community must be self determined such that its needs and wants are not dictated…it’s called Participatory Planning… that’s how it works in a democracy… with all these issues facing the community.. our FIRST meeting in ten months and we host a gentrifying developer instead of addressing real issues Shame, shame, shame!
We must not be afraid to speak truth to power.
Garry Harris, Community Activist

Open Letters to Council and School Board: The People’s Will

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In these times of intense political division, one point of agreement appears to transcend ideological differences. Whether they lean right or left or stand somewhere in the middle, most Americans concur with the notion that elections have consequences. The most apparent of these, of course, is which individual will occupy the seat that was in play. A secondary consequence of some races, though, is that new vacancies may have resulted from an incumbent officeholder getting elected to a different position. Continue reading →

Open Letter to City Council: Defer Meals Tax/Parking Fee Hikes

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Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, and Members of Council-Elect:

With only two regular meetings left on the docket for this calendar year and pending parking fee and meals tax increases set to take effect on January 1, 2021, I ask you to reconsider the timing of those increases. Admittedly, the impact to the taxpayers’ pocketbooks from the meals tax hike is minimal, but in terms of the morale blow to restaurateurs already battered by the pandemic and likely in for still more battering as Trump Virus cases continue to rise globally, nationally, and locally, the prospect of the increase looms larger in their perceptions than the actuality. Similarly, the deferred parking rate increases could be a significant deterrent to patrons of downtown businesses generally, falling on customers who have been long accustomed to free night, weekend, and holiday parking in city garages and at meters. I would argue, as well, that the costs of enforcing the new parking levies could offset much of the anticipated revenue gain from their imposition. I would advise you to obtain an objective cost/benefit analysis before making this change. Again, in the context of the economic disruption this virus has wrought to date, imposing those fee increases now would be completely tone deaf. I urge you shelve them for reconsideration when we return to what we thought of as normalcy.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky

Open Letter to City Council: How Do You Solve a Problem like the Monument?

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Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of Council:

I write to oppose your approach to settling the fate of the Portsmouth Confederate Monument. Although I support its eventual relocation to a cemetery that already houses the remains of Confederate soldiers, I have three objections to the manner in which you are currently proceeding. The first is that taking up this matter in a virtual meeting of city council does not comply with Attorney General Herring’s guidance in the Sullivan Opinion regarding the legal limitations to which such meetings are subject. As I have pointed out on prior occasions regarding other items of council business, this matter does not qualify as “keeping the lights on in city hall” during the pandemic. Unlike the items to which I previously objected for the same reason, 20-188 likely will elicit a strong reaction from members of the public unhappy with whatever you may decide, resulting in legal action to overturn the decision. I ask you not to invite yet another court battle for the city.
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Open Letter to City Council: A Monumental Question

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Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of City Council:

I am writing to oppose adoption of an ordinance authorizing the transfer of $250,000 from a contingency line item in the FY 2020 Adopted Budget to the Department of Engineering to fund removal of the monument located in Town Square. My reasons are as follows: Continue reading →

Open Letter to City Council: Yesterday and Today

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Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of Council:

I see that you have scheduled another special meeting for this evening to discuss the current state of unrest in the city. In contrast to yesterday, I hope that you all will conduct yourselves professionally and in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order and council’s own rules of order and procedure. For example, the mayor should have ruled CM Moody out of order when he was strutting and fretting for his moment on the stage by calling out his colleagues rather than focusing on resolving very thorny issues. In the same vein, any member of council could have raised a point of order about the gratuitous nature of CM Moody’s remarks, just as you have done to citizens on numerous occasions. You all need to model in your interactions the deportment that you want citizens to follow. Continue reading →