Transportation

Ward 1 is home to Naval Station Norfolk and the Virginia Port Authority. Both attract significant commuter and truck traffic. Ward 1 also houses one end of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel which is over capacity and causes significant regional travel delays and backups in Willoughby. The expansion of the HRBT will bring some much needed relief but Norfolk, and Willoughby, still need to work with VDOT to made the traffic situation better.

Norfolk continues to regionally advocate for the third crossing (“Patriots Crossing”). The third crossing will reduce traffic on Hampton Boulevard and at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and it will allow the Naval Station and the Port to remain competitive and ready. The Patriots Crossing should include multi-modal capacities. I will continue to work to keep the focus on that crossing and to seek ways to accelerate its construction schedule.

Our current light rail line is, and always has been, a starter line. Expansion to the Naval Base, the airport, and ODU are necessary. Wards Corner included plans for light rail expansion in its 2019 Urban Development Area Plan. Ward 1 needs to continue planning for the light rail / transit expansion to the Navy Base.

Crime and Public Safety

Crime and many of the problems in our schools originate with poverty. In the short term we must continue to fund the police department in a way that makes them competitive and keeps the officers on the streets.

I will call for a review of neighborhood policing policies to see if we have moved too far away from strategies called for by the original PACE program. That would include frequent contact with civic leaders and law enforcement officials.

We must address generational poverty. Providing pre-K, after school programs, career technical schooling, additional mentorship opportunities, adult workforce development, and neighborhood revitalization initiatives, will help the next generation succeed.

Education

A top tier public school system is necessary to the success of the City of Norfolk. During the last few years the City Council has fully funded the schools and recently announced an over $700 million investment in school infrastructure.

We must continue to invest in our children and their education.

Norfolk City Council and the School Board should be holding quarterly work sessions together to discuss issues and policies. Each year the City Council provides the funding, and the School Board provides the policy. We must work together to achieve shared goals.

Economic development

The military and the ports, located in Ward 1, are significant employers who serve the entire nation. It is vital that we continue to plan for their future expansion.

We also must focus on diversifying our economy. Rising sea levels will allow for a new engineering and educational industry to emerge. The City needs to foster this industry such that the solutions we reach here in Norfolk can be exported to other cities dealing with similar sea level issues.

I look forward to working with our Mayor and the rest of City Council to secure federal and state grants to enhance economic development, and flooding relief efforts.

Naval Station Norfolk

Navy representatives have increased their participation and concern regarding City matters in recent years. This is a good thing. City Council needs to have a better working relationship with our military installations. We, as a City, need to understand the challenges that Naval Station Norfolk faces being in such close proximity to our neighborhoods. We need to take the appropriate steps to protect the base from any future BRAC closures or realignments.

The Navy and the City need to plan for onsite-offsite development. As a Planning Commissioner, and City Councilman I met with the Military leadership to discuss their concerns, and will continue to do so on a regular basis.

Public Transparency

As a planning commissioner, I led the fight to televise planning commission meetings. The formal sessions are now televised and posted on YouTube for later viewing.

The City of Norfolk has over 30 Boards and Commissions. More of our Boards and Commissions meetings should be televised and posted.

Neighborhood Issues

Wards Corner

Wards Corner has made great strides and we need to keep the momentum! The Wards Corner Comprehensive plan is still a very viable plan and should continue to be worked. So far, in accordance with the Wards Corner plan, I have been an integral part in helping lead the following:

• Purchased the Fitness and Wellness Center and maintained it as a health and wellness
  asset for the City.
• Purchased the crime ridden Alexis apartments that were located near Titustown. They
  were torn down and some of the land was used to create needed parking for the Titustown
  Recreation and Visual Arts Center.
• Purchased and demolished some of the substandard housing that was located in the
  “Texas streets” portion of Denby Park. Crime from those areas was a blight on all of
  Wards Corner.

Additional development at Wards Corner that has occurred because of the above efforts include:

• The new Harris Teeter anchored K&K Shopping Center (private development).
• The new apartment and townhouse development, Westport Commons, on Newport Ave
  (private development).
• The purchase and future development of the current Kroger and Workforce Development
  Center (private development).

We need to continue to work the Wards Corner Comprehensive plan which requires short term funding to purchase the remaining blighted properties in Denby Park. In the long term there may be a light rail station at Wards Corner which requires planning. It’s time to bring back the “Time Square of the South”!

An update to the Comprehensive Plan was completed in 2019 in the form of the 2019 Urban
Development Area Plan for Wards Corner. That update will guide future development in the Wards Corner business district to create a new “Main Street” of Wards Corner. A new and improved Fitness and Wellness Center at Wards Corner is also being designed to serve as the City’s premier recreation and library center.

Willoughby

We have made great progress in Willoughby by adopting goals of decreasing density and increasing homeownership. With help from the City and NRHA, and with direction from the Willoughby Civic League, blighted and multifamily properties have been purchased and replaced with new single family homes.

While the future of NRHA’s mission may be unknown, the City should not stop investing in the redevelopment of Willoughby. I will continue to push for continued yearly financial allocations to fund the redevelopment of Willoughby.

The City’s sand management plan is a step in the right direction to protect Willoughby and all of Ocean View from threatening storms. Sand replenishment initiatives must stay on the forefront of City Council’s agenda.

A community involved planning discussion needs to be held with regard to the 17 acre former Spectrum development site in order to get it back into productive use once it is no longer being used for HRBT construction.

Traffic calming devices need to be installed on West Ocean View Ave such as the permanently installed speed indicator signs in use in some parts of the City.