Bon Secours will announce today that they will partner with Sentara on a Princess Anne, Virginia Beach Hospital. Both Bon Secours and Sentara had proposed two new hospitals for the Princess Anne area of Virginia Beach. Hopefully, this will free up cash for Bon Secours to develop a world class health campus at the new DePaul Medical Center.
Council to review glut of neighborhood plans
December 1, 2008The Virginian-Pilot reports that City Council will review 81 active neighborhood plans. One plan has been in existence since 1957. Reginia Williams said,
“Our residents are beginning to express dissatisfaction,” she said. “When plans are established, our residents have expectations that they will be implemented.”
Several plans have been designated as safe,
What seems certain is that major neighborhood initiatives in Wards Corner, Broad Creek, Southside and Fairmount Park will survive.
City Planning Director Frank Duke said the fate of 19 plans must be decided by the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s board of commissioners. That leaves 62 in the hands of the City Council.
Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion citizen information meetings planned
November 29, 2008The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has scheduled two citizen information meetings in December 2008 on possible Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) congestion solutions.
Transportation officials will outline a Draft Expansion Feasibility Study of the Hampton Roads crossing on Interstate 64 and present several preliminary concepts for the expansion of the interstate network.
Meetings scheduled as follows:
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Hampton Roads Convention Center
1610 Coliseum Drive
Hampton, VA
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Granby High School
7101 Granby Street
Norfolk, VA
The citizen information meetings will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a project presentation at 7:00 p.m., followed by a question and answer period.
For more information click on the various expansion alternatives click on
Wards Corner Litter Cleanup, December 6
November 26, 2008Laura Thom writes in with the following news on the next Wards Corner Cleanup:
You’re invited! Join members of the Wards Corner community for some holiday cheerfulness & goodwill as we come together to spruce up our Corner for the holidays.
Saturday, Dec. 6 (rain date Dec. 13).
Meet 8:30-9:00 am at North Shore Sports & Physical Therapy, 7419 Granby St. (next to ATC Fitness) for coffee & pastries.
Litter pick-up 9:00-11:30 am.
Return to North Shore for volunteer lunch 11:30-12:30.
RSVP required by Dec. 1st. 489-5820.
Open letter to Mayor Fraim
November 24, 2008Joan Griffey, Wards Corner resident, wrote the following email to Mayor Fraim:
Dear Mayor Fraim
You were elected the Mayor of our City of Norfolk. Recently, you stated that “the growth downtown hasn’t occurred by accident. It occurred because we had a vision.” Wards Corner is a wonderful, but neglected, part of our city. Do you have a vision for us?? We are open to a comfortable place for pedestrians to be, to a series of plans for local development, to retail shops and housing and restuarants. Is there a vision to extend downtown priorities to our section of the City? We would love to shed our image as a “deadzone”. As the City visions an user friendly downtown area for light rail travelers, it should also envision making Wards Corner user friendly for I64 /HRBT gridlock travelers. I refer to Harry Minium’s article on Nov. 23 “PLAN FOR 2020 RESHAPES CITY” in the VA PILOT. We have 4 Council members as representatives of our Partnershiop area. Surely, working with them, a vision could be formed and shaped and acted upon. We are waiting ……and waiting. Thank you for making it a front burner issue in 2009.
Next Wards Corner Partnership meeting – January 22, 2009
November 23, 2008With the Holiday Season upon us, we at the Greater Wards Corner Partnership would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.
As Thanksgiving and Christmas both fall within our meeting dates for November and December, our next scheduled meeting will be held:
DATE: January 22, 2009.
TIME: 7:00 p.m.,
LOCATION: 201 E. Little Creek Road (next to Kroger)
Rooms 202 & 204.
Stay warm and above all, have a wonderful holiday!
Lt. Todd Cox murder on Nancy Grace / CNN
November 11, 2008The April 24, 2008 murder of LT Todd Cox is being featured on Nancy Grace on CNN. Grace did a short segment on this case last Friday, and we will do another this Friday, the 14th on CNN Headline News at 8pm and 10pm.
The following are pertinent excerpts from the transcript of last Friday’s show:
GRACE: And tonight, a hometown Navy officer gunned down in cold blood. No, not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, in upscale Virginia suburbs, and the tragedy unfolds directly in front of the victim`s two little girls, his fiancee and the family dog on a stroll in a quaint, pristine neighborhood. Tonight, the manhunt. Who killed Navy Lieutenant Todd Cox (ph)?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went from planning a wedding to a funeral. And it`s just the same nightmare every day you wake up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fiancee desperate for help, speaking out after her future husband brutally gunned down. Naval Lieutenant Todd Cox went for a walk with his family. Out of nowhere, a pick-up truck pulls up, a gunman walks up to Todd and fires at point-blank range, hitting Todd multiple times, the brutal murder right in front of his own fiancee and family. Now his fiancee begs for just one tip, so justice is served.
Read the rest of this entry »
Man shot in Wards Corner Farm Fresh parking lot
November 9, 2008A man was shot inside a parked car Sunday afternoon in the Wards Corner Farm Fresh parking lot. Pilot Online repots that the man had gotten into an altercation with four men inside the supermarket, and the men followed him outside, and one of them shot him.
Virginian-Pilot: Wards Corner retail hub needs rehab
November 3, 2008The Virginian-Pilot had an article in Sunday’s paper titled “Once a gem, Norfolk’s Wards Corner retail hub needs rehab”
Wards Corner thrived decades ago, housing one of the city’s most upscale shopping centers that luxury retailers dubbed “the Times Square of the South.”
But times have changed in this heavily traveled section of the city.
“It’s a wasteland,” City Councilwoman Theresa Whibley, who represents Wards Corner, said recently of the area’s commercial district. “Any of us who saw what it once was are saddened to see what’s happened to Wards Corner. That area needs a lot of help.”
Read the entire article here.
Hearing on DePaul Hospital resizing postponed again
October 31, 2008The Virginian-Pilot reports that the public hearing has been postponed to “early next year”.
See the short article here: Hearing on Norfolk’s DePaul hospital downsizing delayed
Reminder: Halloween Spook-tacular
October 29, 2008This is a reminder that the Wards Corner Halloween Spook-tacular will be held October 31st, 5:30 to 8:00 pm at 135 East Little Creek Road.
For more details, see our previous post: 2008 Wards Corner Halloween Spook-tacular
Gang Prevention Meeting
October 27, 2008Blessed Sacrament Church will host a second gang-prevention brain-storming session on Wednesday, October 29th at 7:00pm. For more information call 423-8305. The Church is located at 6400 Newport Avenue behind DePaul Medical Center.
The meeting is open to the public.
GWC Neighborhood Watch meeting
October 27, 2008Reminder:
Tuesday night [October 28, 2008], the Greater Wards Corner Area Neighborhood Watch meeting will be at the Workforce Development Center starting at 6:30pm.
The meeting is open to the public.
2008 Wards Corner Halloween Spook-tacular
October 20, 2008
The Greater Wards Corner Business Association
&
The Wards Corner Optimist Club
Announces the 2008 Halloween Spook-tacular
October 31st, 5:30 to 8:00 pm
135 East Little Creek Road
- Astro DJ
- Games
- Face Painting
- Hot Dogs, Candy & Pop Corn
- Juggling by Tim Nolan
- Pictures with The Tooth Fairy
- Costume Contest: Ages 2 – 6, Ages 7 – 12, Most Original, Best Family
- New! Haunted Pumpkin Patch
$1.00 Admission Plus a non-perishable food item
Raffle Benefits Optimist Club Children’s Programs

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