Category Archives: Uncategorized

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.)

Publisher’s Notebook: People for Portsmouth Endorsements and Interview

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For a long-time advocate of openness in the civic realm, the candidate endorsements by the People for Portsmouth Political Action Committee were epoch making. Many organizations in our city and region — the Martin Luther King, Jr., Leadership Steering Committee, the teachers association, the firefighters’ union, the police association, the realtors’ association, to name a few — select their favorite candidates, bestowing praise and often contributions upon them. Some of these groups vet candidates through a nominally competitive process involving questionnaires and interviews for everyone running; others, anoint their champions in backrooms without any notice to non-members that they are deciding whom to endorse. Whatever the process, as private organizations they are free to choose whomever they like for reasons known only to members of the selection committees. Continue reading →

“Money, Money, Money” in Local Races

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The not-for-profit Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) has been helping the public to track contributions to Virginia political candidates. Founded in 1997 as a collaboration among the largest newspapers in our commonwealth, it has expanded the breadth of its reporting to include the financial accounting for many local candidates. This is of particular benefit to the electorate because those seeking municipal offices can choose to file their reports either electronically or on paper. If not for the efforts of VPAP to collect and share the paper filings, those reports would be effectively shielded from public view by the necessity of visiting the local registrar of voters office every filing period to examine them. Continue reading →

Publisher’s Notebook: Ending Life Support for VSHoF&M

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If the Sports Section of the Virginian-Pilot is something you automatically place in the recycle bin after glancing at the five-day weather predictions on the back page, you may well have missed the “Portsmouth news story of the day” regarding the future of city funding for the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Although I have expressed my opposition early and often to public subsidies for the VSHoF&M, once it came into existence, I advocated a gradual, incremental reduction in city funding rather than a “cold turkey” cutoff of taxpayer dollars. The direction taken by the ruling coalition on council during this budget season, however, appears to be termination of fiscal life support for the Hall of Fame. Continue reading →

An Example Worthy of Emulation

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On March 7, 2015, a very important, thoughtful, and respectful community conversation took place across the river from us. The Proudly Diverse Caucus, comprised of Norfolk citizens concerned about the quality of life in their city, had its first town hall meeting to focus on issues of public school improvement. Virginian-Pilot Schools Reporter Cherise Newsome was on hand to chronicle the proceedings. (Her excellent summary of the meeting is available at http://hamptonroads.com/2015/03/group-discusses-best-ways-teach-kids-poverty.) The videos of the major part of the conversation are available in four chunks on YouTube: Continue reading →