Jim English is the president of the Wards Corner Civic League. February’s Wards Corner Civic League newsletter includes the following message from Mr. English:
Dear Neighbors,
Two articles in the Virginia Pilot dated February 6, 2008 really raised my frustration level with our city and state elected leaders to the point where I almost think our government “for the people, of the people and by the people” is indeed broken. I already believe that it is broken at the federal level. Article one says that SB 162, SB 163 and HB 119 which would give localities more power to deal with blighted vacant property is on hold this year to be studied by the Virginia Housing Commission prior to next years general assembly session. Once again the general assembly has clearly dodged their responsibility to give localities more tools to revitalize blighted areas showing once again they lack the political will to represent the citizens of Virginia in lieu of yet another “study”. The second article “city to acquire 11 homes in blighted area” is about the city councils approval on February 5th to buy homes in the Berkley and Campostella neighborhoods for $1.3 million. HELLO!! What about the blighted properties in the Greater Wards Corner Partnership area. We have 11+ houses and properties that should be acquired such as the blighted shopping center in the Northeast corner of Wards Corner!! Where are the council members representing our area? Out to lunch? Or out of town? Where is the political will to deal with the decline of the Wards Corner area that has been going downhill for way over 15 years? I am sure that those properties in Berkley and Campostella are blighted and that area needs attention but what about our area. Is help on the way??Well, last week Mayor Fraim delivered his State of the City address. The following are quotes from that address.
“The City Council continues to be concerned with Wards Corner, but everyone should be encouraged by recent private and public activity and investment.
For example, S. L. Nusbaum has begun site work on the SouthWind Apartments – a $15 million development in Denby Park on property formally occupied by a trailer park – while along Newport Avenue Collins Enterprises begins construction this quarter on an $80 million townhouse/condominium project.
The City’s Development Department is actively engaged with Wards Corner property owners on plans to redevelop their properties, and we are confident of a positive outcome.
Since 2005 the city has invested more than $13 million dollars on the Greater Wards Corner Comprehensive Plan – for purchase of the Fitness and Wellness Center, streetscape improvements, strategic property acquisitions, rehabilitation programming and traffic control improvements.
Police presence has been increased in Denby Park and Monticello Village, and code enforcement activities have been stepped up.
These are all signs of progress, but we know more needs to be done. The Council is determined to revitalize this important part of the city.”
I am certainly pleased that Mayor Fraim has included Wards Corner in this years State of the City address and wish to thank him for mentioning the area. I know I have asked him on several occasions to do that which he now has done. We can only hope that through his announcement of the private development improvements mentioned would spawn more economic development for the entire Greater Wards Corner area. I would however like to follow up on his comments. The announcement of the nearly $100 million in private development projects is not new as I/we have been talking with the developers of these projects for nearly 2 years. The trailer park has been razed and development is about to begin. The project on Newport Ave. has also been started over the past months and will be a phased in project dependent on sales of the condominiums planned. This is a good thing but we have known about these for some time. The purchase of the former JCC and conversion into the Wellness Center is also good for the area but it came at the insistence of the Greater Wards Corner Partnership and Task Force as the best use of this property. We thank council for following through with our requests to take over this property but we should all remember that this is a Citywide facility and not just a Wards Corner facility so all of the citizens of Norfolk benefit. The police presence and code enforcement activities in the areas mentioned are also not new as we continually push for this. But we should remember that more police and more code enforcement is only a band-aid approach to correcting the crime and blight problems of the area. Improving economic development is the only way to rid this area of those problems that put negative pressure on the entire area up and down East and West Little Creek road and our associated neighborhoods. The mention of the City’s Development Department being actively engaged with Wards Corner property owners on plans to redevelop their properties is also something we have been pushing for years with virtually no results. We here how they are actively engaged in bringing in other private developers to the area but to this point that effort has been minimal. We would hope that they would increase this effort in the immediate future. Finally the mention of “streetscape improvements, strategic property acquisitions, rehabilitation programming and traffic control improvements” has happened but it has been minimal at best, as much more is needed as indicated in the Greater Wards Corner Comprehensive Plan for the area. I am glad that Mayor Fraim has indicated, “The City Council continues to be concerned with Wards Corner”. That is a good thing. Let us hope that we will see more action behind these words from our representatives on council to indeed put more effort into revitalizing the Wards Corner area.Finally I would like to share with you what the effect of economic development can have on an area. I recently received a copy of the Commissioner of the Revenues annual report. Like I always do I went immediately to the sales and tax data for Southern Shopping Center and Wards Corner. The link to that report is:
http://www.norfolk.gov/Revenue/reports/sandr07.pdf, please see pages 160 – 166.
What you will see is this. Comparing the data, the Southern Shopping Center for FY 2006 and FY 2007 total sales for the area went from $100.2 million dollars to 236.0 million dollars with tax revenue going from 3.0 million to 4.6 million dollars. What happened, why the big jump? The Super Wal-Mart opened at the end of January 2007 as well as several other out parcel businesses near this store. See what redevelopment can do. So what did the data look like for Wards Corner for the FY 2 years? Well total sales for FY 2006 were 141.4 million dollars and for FY 2007 it was 146.3 million dollars or an increase of less than 5 million dollars in a year. That’s less than the inflation rate! The difference in tax revenue generated between the two years was an increase of
~100,000.00. How sad!! Think of the sales and tax revenue that could be generated if the Wards Corner Business District was improved. Think about how much revenue the city is losing.
Wards Corner is the Gateway to downtown it should not look blighted and an eyesore. Let is hope that our city elected officials take note of the Commissioner of the Revenues report and begin to immediately put more effort into revitalizing the area. The citizens of Norfolk deserve it and the residents of the Greater Wards Corner Area certainly deserve better treatment for our neighborhoods.
We must all be involved in pushing for what we want the city to do for our area. The voices of us all are heard louder than the voices of the few. Get involved join the civic league and participate with your voice and vote.
Thanks and my best to you all, Jim
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 
Mr. English,
Although I do appreciate your letter (and all of the effort that went into its informative dialogue) who is really listening? These are the very things that have been brought up time-and-again to our hear no evil/see no evil/speak no evil council members. They simply don’t care. They are not the ones who were sitting in their homes at the 300 block of San Antonio last night during the shoot-out and had to watch children running in circles, panicking, with no parental supervision, trying to figure out which direction to run for protection. They speak grandiose things but are like puppets on strings. They know the issues you speak of…they simply don’t care. “Oh, but we do care…you people are just unappreciative” they say…no we aren’t unappreciative-we are fed up! The gang graffiti isn’t on their new fence, but ours. The gangs and drugs aren’t in their neighborhoods, but ours. As regards our ‘assessment’…I would love for you to find someone who would buy my property for the very “tax” you are charging via my ‘assessment’! Pretty fountains, trolleys, whatever…that isn’t helping me sleep at nights. I know it isn’t helping these children sleep at night. Not that you care, “council” but we will be coming…like locusts if need be, but we will be coming to your meetings to be an annoyance to you. The very “bugs” that you are trying to just squash and wish would go away are going to be heard. Enough is enough. Although I realize you will not care/or do anything about this problem, we will come…we will be heard…and you will have a hard time squashing us under your heels anymore. Oh, and as for your “Project Focus”-and all of the monies “wasted” on your studies for this area…you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Mayor Fraim…you more so than anyone for allowing this/encouraging this to go on for SO long. Step up, act like you have a backbone and do the job you get paid to do! Ranting done….time for action!
I am not sure who is responsible but new street lights are being installed, as I type, on Timothy Street starting at the Grantham Road corner.
The street light in the 500 block of Grantham Road has never been illuminated, in fact, I don’t believe there has ever been a light on that pole. But there is now and I can actually see what’s going on in my back yard without having to walk out there with a flashlight in hand.
Oh, and while I’m at it, finally the correct street signs are in place at the corner of Grantham Road and Cheryl Street. I have always turned onto Cheryl to get to the light at Newport for safety sake but there are so many people who are not paying attention at all to the “Do Not Enter – One Way Only” sign.
We are of the opinion that a patrolman at that corner would reinforce the new code governing traffic patterns there.
Y’all allowed a church, of all things, to be removed from that corner to put up townhomes which did not start selling until the price was reduced and closing cost assistance was offered.
Somebody wanted the traffic pattern changed; so let’s reinforce it with some tickets being written.
Thanks.
Sharon, Thanks for your comments. The Wards Corner Civic League is reponsible for pushing to get all of the improvements on Grantham, Restmere and Sheryl. While we may not have wanted the Church to be razed and townhomes put up in its place, it is private property and as long as it met all zoning and building code requirements no one could stop that development. I agree that more intense police enforcement is needed until drivers get accustomed to the sign change and I will ask the police to adress that issue. Thanks, Jim
Sharon,
Please tell me where Grantham Rd. and Timothy intersect? Nowhere is the answer. Timothy crosses Ruthvan and turns left into Nesbitt Dr, Nesbitt intersects Grantham on the corner of 614 Grantham.
Please notice that You spelled Cheryl with a C when infact it is spelled with an “S”heryl.
I too am glad that Grantham is now blocked from viering right onto it. But as I well know. the police will not monitor that new “DO NOT ENTER” like they should. I live at the end of Nesbitt just before it connects with Grantham. and going on 8 years ago we (WWCL) fought to have Grantham blocked from West Little Creek traffic heading east bound. After two years of responding to accidents it was achieved. However hurricane Isabelle, a year and a half later,took out one of the do not enter signs. and Viola’ the traffic continues to make that illegal turn into the neighborhood going east on Grantham to avoid the traffic light at Ruthvan. So get ready and have emergency #’s on speed dial for the fender benders about to accure
We must stay focused on the “Big Picture”, revitalization of OUR neighborhood retail center and the elimination of criminal activity from the Wards Corner area. Once these issues are brought under control all of the other minor problems can and will be easily handled.
We need to stay on track with the issues that will give ALL of us the most “Bang-for-our-Buck”. Not only are city resources being spread thin throughout Norfolk but each of our personal resources are spread thin also.
There are already systems in place to correct street lighting issues and missing roadway signs, slow moving as these systems are, they are there. These issues can and should be handled by your individual civic leagues.
We, as the Greater Wards Corner Partnership collective, can not afford to allow ourselves to get bogged down with minor issues as long as we have the crime, blight and lack of accountability from our elected officials and governmental management hanging over our heads.
I think Dr. Hayes drove my point home at the last meeting, we have had out talk now what is our plan of action. I must say again…We need to stay focused and on track.
We have had no representation in council for many years — a fact that has been discussed in all of our meetings. Well, May in just around the corner. Time to vote out the dead wood. I would love to see Dr. Hayes run for council — he would certainly have my support!
City leaders have allowed key positions in government to lay vacant for far too long, such as fully staffing police and code inspectors. The our city leader do not fill these position they they become responsible for blighted and deterioting neighborhoods.
The city manager and council representatives are responsible for making sure that our city government is run effectively and efficiency. This is not being done! We have leader who are narrow focused and self serving.
We FULLY funded key positions to insure safety in our communities. Instead of hiring high paid folks to lead new programs, ie, FOCUS, fund the positions that insure clean and viable neighborhoods. POLICE & CODES!!
Thank you.
I just heard a rumor that the city just canceled the February task force meeting this month while they try and figure our how they can handle and control.