Some angry at Portsmouth mayor over hotel comments

PORTSMOUTH

Some residents said Thursday they wish they could recall the mayor over comments he made about state Sen. Louise Lucas’ proposed hotel and conference center, while she said she is considering scaling back her project.

Earlier this week, the City Council voted to deny Lucas the use of up to $50 million of federal enterprise zone bonds. The bank-backed bonds would have provided Lucas with lower-cost financing.

During the meeting, Mayor James Holley called the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel & Waterfront Conference Center a white hotel and said that the city also should have a black-owned one.

Ted Lamb, who heads the Cradock neighborhood watch, said he was appalled by Holley’s comments. He said he plans to circulate a petition asking for a formal apology or for Holley’s resignation because the mayor can’t be recalled.

Lamb is among residents, including Martha Ann Creecy, who ran against Holley this spring, who now want to remove Holley from his seat.

However, under the city code, the mayor would have to serve at least one year of his term before he could be removed. Holley started his new term July 1.

“I’m actually surprised that there hasn’t been a stronger comment from City Council,” Lamb said.

Holley did not return phone calls Thursday.

Lucas, who runs several group homes for people who have mental and physical disabilities, wants to build a $65 million hotel and convention center in Victory Village business park, off Interstate 264 at Victory Boulevard.

It would have included a hotel with up to 250 rooms and a 50,000-square-foot conference center with a 16,000-square-foot ballroom.

She said Thursday that she plans to speak with investors about downsizing those plans. If they agree, she might return to her original idea and build a meeting place for organizations that can’t afford to meet at the Renaissance and have been forced to rent facilities outside of Portsmouth.

Lucas said she has already spoken with state Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, and new School Board member Costella Williams about downsizing her plans. Locke and Williams are among about 600 people who have given a total of $1.8 million toward the project.

“The project is going to go forward, irrespective of what City Council has done,” Locke said Thursday.

On Tuesday, the council split 3 -2 against allowing Lucas to use the bonds.

Two council members abstained because of ties to the project.

Two council members who voted against it said they had not been assured that it would not eventually need city money and questioned how the venture was being financed. Another was concerned that the project would compete with the city-subsidized Renaissance.

Lucas said neither she nor the council members who recused themselves from the vote – Charles B. Whitehurst Sr. and Marlene Randall – have any conflicts of interest.

The Portsmouth Democrat said she was not seeking state bonds. She said that she, Whitehurst and Randall are all governed by the Virginia Conflict of Interests Act, which states that council members have a conflict if they, or any immediate family members, act on a project in which they have invested more than $10,000.

Whitehurst invested $2,500, while Randall’s husband gave $2,000. Lucas gave White­hurst $10,000 during his council campaign.

Marlon Baskerville, a Portsmouth resident and investor, said the council’s decision goes against what almost 600 people want to do for the city.

Many blacks gave money “because it was a chance for them to say: 'Here’s your answer, white America: Why can’t blacks do something for themselves?’”

Melvin Copeland Jr. of Chesapeake said he gave because he was drawn to the idea that people from all income levels could invest.

He added that there are always obstacles, but he was hoping that with patience and time, things would work in the project’s favor.

“Anything you want, you’ve got to keep fighting for it,” Cope­land said.

Jean Eason said it’s unfair that the council denied the bonds to the Lucas project when it voted earlier this year to allow the developer of a new Holiday Inn hotel to use $12 million of the bonds.

“I just thought, if you’re going to do one, then you should do the other,” said Eason, who is another Portsmouth investor .

The projects should be held to the same standard, she said.

No city money is invested in the new Holiday Inn project, and the developer already operates several other hotels in Hampton Roads, Councilwoman Elizabeth Psimas said.

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