Portsmouth council denounces mayor's comments on hotel

PORTSMOUTH

The City Council released a joint statement Friday denouncing comments Mayor James W. Holley made earlier this week that caused some residents to say they wanted to seek his recall.

"As community leaders, we are truly proud of the distance Portsmouth has come in bringing unity, dignity, and equality to our citizens," the statement says. "Sadly, these recent events serve to remind us of the work that remains before us."

Holley's remarks have generated hundreds of e-mails and phone calls to council members, Vice Mayor Bill Moody Jr. said Friday.

The statement was released to assure the community that "the business of the city continues" and Holley's comments are not appropriate for an elected official, Councilwoman Elizabeth Psimas said.

The statement was authorized by all seven council members, including Holley. Psimas said the council had hoped the mayor would make his own statement.

As a matter of protocol, council members informed Holley that they intended to remark on his comments and asked whether he wanted to join, Psimas said. Holley said yes, she said.

"He knew it was coming, with or without him," Psimas said.

During a discussion on whether to allow state Sen. Louise Lucas to use up to $50 million in federal enterprise zone bonds for a proposed hotel and conference center, Holley described the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center as a white hotel. He said he thought it was "time to have a black one."

Council members narrowly voted against giving Lucas the authority to use the bonds, which would have been backed by a bank and not the city and would have allowed her to receive lower-cost financing for the $65 million project.

Some council members said they could not support Lucas' use of the bonds because they had not been assured that

the project would not require city money.

Without naming Holley or outlining his remarks, the statement says that "at a recent City Council meeting remarks were made that were not consistent with our view on race relations and do not reflect the thoughts of our body."

It also said that "Further, while we encourage the ownership and management of business operations by members of all races or classes of people, we do not subscribe to any notion that business within the city limits shall be specified or classified as black or white."

"The Renaissance hotel caters to all citizens and is an asset to the city of Portsmouth and Hampton Roads," it says.

Holley, who has a ballroom named after him inside the city-subsidized Renaissance and a picture in the lobby, could not be reached at his office Friday and did not return a message left at his home.

Since his statements, some residents have said they wish they could remove him from office, while others have said the mayor was only trying to lend his support to the idea of a black-owned business.

Under Portsmouth's city code, Holley could not be recalled until he served at least a year of his current term, which started July 1.

However, he has faced a recall before. In 1987, he became the first Virginia politician to be removed from office in a recall after he was linked to an anonymous hate mail campaign to black leaders who opposed the closing of I. C. Norcom High School. Holley was re-elected mayor in 1996.

"People want us to do something, and there's little we can do," Councilman Charles B. Whitehurst Sr. said. "He's the mayor, and he was elected by the people."

"We're trying to let the public know that it's not something we all subscribe to," he said.

Council members Marlene Randall and Steve Heretick said they hoped the statement would help the city get past the incident.

"Let's let the city come back together," Randall said. "I've lived long enough to see what happens with divisiveness."

Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com