Portsmouth council to revisit decision tonight on crab house seizure

I go by that corner 5 days a week so I still say it took 9 months to clean up. Having dealt with asbestos abatement for 30+ years I know better than you what is involved in the cleanup. As for help for the owners of the Skipjack, While I'm sure their lives were turned upside down and Portsmouth handled it badly the fact is any business owner downtown should realize that if one building catches fire the whole block could be destroyed so they need to be prepaired. It's called having plenty of INSURANCE.

I guess you haven't visited Olde Towne in a while. All of the remnants of Zion Baptist Church is gone and the property has been cleaned and leveled. the hold back was due to levels of asbestos in the original structure and required specific handling to remove it. The remaining bricks and floor joists that are on the property belongs to the owners of what was Skipjack nautical Wares. The pile of bricks is being used to repair the damaged wall of 627 High Street and the floor joists are for sale to help the owners with their overwhelming expenses from loosing their home, business and their income! The city has done nothing to help them nor has the church! No one accepts responsibility for their losses.
If you are going to make statements such as yours, then please know what you are talking about!

As some of you have stated, one of the big problem here is the cities inconsistantcy in handing out violations to property owners with derelict properties. Take the example of the property on the corner of High and Green. It has been (and still is) a major blight and is now standing in the way of progress for the redevelopment of the 700 block of High. The problem is the good ol boy attitude that has run rabid within the walls of permits & Inspections. Here it is all about who you are and not so much what you are seeking. The owners of the property stated above is buddies with the decision makers Lamar Brown and Otis Jordan as well as Mayor Holley. That is why they continue to get their building permits updated each year. If your not on the buddy list, then guess what! Thankfully, lamar Brown is soon retiring and maybe he will take his buddy Otis Jordan with him and allow someone with ethics run the department.

I appreciate your efforts on trying to make Portsmouth a better place. If only enough people felt this way maybe we could have a new Mayor and some new council members who would serve all the citizens instead of a select few.

The code violation database shows the Crab Shack having violations dating back to 2001...and I am willing to bet that is only because that is how far the records go back in the database itself.

Portsmouth has been notoriously lax enforcing code on many, many properties....9 months doesn't even raise an eyebrow with me. It has taken us YEARS to get some properties addressed in Cradock. Code enforcement only goes after low hanging fruit like uncut grass and people who actually pay attention to them. They do little to address the "you're not the boss of me" crowd and absentee landlords.

I have addressed council; I have "blown up" the on-line reporting system; I have bombarded the inspectors and their management with emails and photos; and, I have pulled the media in on particularly blighted properties to try and embarrass the city into taking action.

I have gone head to head and quoted code to Otis, asked him to define such terms as "reasonable amount of time" and was told to call Richmond because it was "their code".

Other than buy a bulldozer and take care of blight all by myself, I am pretty much at a loss as to how to proceed further! : -)

You seem to be big on code enforcement judgging by your comments but I've never seen you complain that Portsmouth has let the Zion Baptist Church go nine months with that corner looking like Berlin in 1945. And the property still hasn't been cleaned up. I hope that if I ever get cited, the city gives me 9 months to fix the problem.

Well, of course the owners are responsible to meet code. I am glad it sounds like the Johnsons are doing that now and the city council got off their case last night (on the illegal eminent domain stuff). All's well that ends well? Cheers, MGM, who truly loves Portsmouth, though we live in the Beach

For grins and giggles...and a healthy dose of curiosity...I just checked out the list of citations in the code enforcement database on the city's website. The city has been dinging the Crab Shack for years. Are they really the victims they like to portray themselves as....or a thorn in the side of a neighborhood struggling to revitalize?

I'll be honest. I am fed up with people who don't take responsibility for their properties and allow them to become a blight to the community. Especially those who take some kind of perverse pride in defying the city and being an eyesore. Therefore, it's hard for me to have sympathy for people who find themselves in this position.

Is eminent domain the answer? No. And I have already stated this throughout the discussions on the Crab Shack. However, I do feel that the Johnsons brought a lot of this on themselves with their poor attitude and failure to bring their property up to code.

Could Portsmouth do better with code enforcement? You're darneed tootin'! Long term city management employees like Otis Jordan add little to the progress except overhead! But, let's think about this for a moment...if the city tells me to clean up my property to comply with code...and I stall and/or blow them off thinking they won't do anything about it...who is at fault? Me or the city?

I am seeing the problem here. Someone said Ms. Psimas is in charge of the department that has to impose the codes on structures in Portsmouth. So . . . she is ineffectual at her job and couldn't get compliance, but she missed the point--you then put a *lien* on the building and it can't be sold until the taxes/fines are paid. And, yeah, it takes time to work this process through but that's how it's done everywhere. Nobody pulls out some trumped up idea of eminent domain to take the property right up front. Imagine if community associations did that--you fall behind on your assessments, your home belongs to us! We would surely see the abuse in that. Cheers, MGM

.... what happens if the city steals the property. I say that more homes will be built on the site after the serfs settle down. The requirement for political payback trumps any degree of honesty.

Jim King

I live in Park View and this has NOTHING to do with a park. There are so many vacant lots in Park View (some owned by the developer and the city) that we can certantly find room for a park (which we don't need). The Civic League should be trying to have blighted property cleaned up but not by taking property away from owners. Mrs Psimas should be explaning why her code department hasn't had any success in this area - not trying to kick the Johnsons off. The people who came into Park View and bought the new houses have no idea how hard or expensive it is to keep these house up but they love to tell us how to do it! Why don't they try to help their neighbors? We have been struggling for 13 years to fix our house, when you own an old house it never ends! Is it the civic leagues intention to tear down all the old houses and put up new?? I don't know why they moved here in the first place - GO BACK TO VIRGINIA BEACH!!!

and is another example of government running amok, and unchecked. I can certainly echo the sentiment of Mr. Tabor's response. We fought a revolution over things of this nature, and I see it only getting worse. Takes me back a couple hundred years...

Reid - They also have an obligation to keep their property up to code...which they didn't do for years. Perhaps if they had been better neighbors in the first place, it wouldn't have come to this in the first place.

Face it friends, the notion that the City Council has to force a private business off their private property because there exists an overwhelming "need" to place a park on their property is simply a willful act of City Council to attempt to work around the Johnson family's Constitutional rights to own their property - and to decide if, and when, THEY wish to sell it - and for how much. Most importantly, their RIGHT not to sell. Government is supposed to exist to PROTECT our rights; not act as an agent to trample our rights!

You go Mr. Tabor, your comments hit it directly on the head!

I think the Commonwealth of Virginia should "eminent-domain" the entire City of Portsmouth, bulldoze it flat, and start over from scratch. That way, at least for awhile, downtown Norfolk would have a "park" to look across the harbor.

Norfolk did not tip-toe around the tulips when it came to dealing with blight in the areas it chose to develop. Enough with the people who want to keep Portsmouth back!

To Mrs. Psimas and other city councilmen: Do you like serving the people that voted for you to represent them? If so, then you’d better start listening to them and not the few people who want to have it their way. The majority has spoken, and they prefer the crab house and the rights of people to be upheld. It seems lately that our representatives have lost perspective of what and whom they are supposed to be protecting and uplifting, so now it’s up to us, the voters, to not sit idlely by while these travesties of justices continue unchecked. We will be listening, and watching, and if we don’t feel that we are getting the representation that we deserve, we will be issuing your walking papers. (Enough is enough!)

I am not a resident of Portsmouth. Portsmouth for years has been the laughing stock of Tidewater. They don't want to pay the teachers or police personnel, can't seem to hire anyone to a position of authority, like police and fire chiefs and other positions in city government. Just look at their Human Resources Web-site.
The people of Portsmouth are a great group; however they continually elect leaders with no insight as what direction the city must go. Norfolk, years ago was at a similar crossroads, with a similar lack of tax base due to the military use of land and no leadership. Then came along a man named Vince Thomas, who along with city council found a direction and took off with it! Look at the results. Norfolk is the hub of Tidewater no matter what the Beach says. Are there any candidates like Vince Thomas in Portsmouth - if so please get run for office and give this city some direction.

The notion of Eminent Domain goes back to feudal times when the King owned everything and private property did not exist. Your "land" was a franchise granted by the King which could be revoked or transferred at his whim.

We fought a revolution largely over that issue. The Framers of our Constitution understood that sometimes a particular piece of property would be needed for a Fort or bridge and no other place would do, and allowed for taking those pieces of property with just compensation.

But taking one person's property for the benefit of another, or to boost the value of adjacent properties, is not what they had in mind. Eminent Domain in modern Virginia is simply theft, so lets call it what it is.

And lets call those who exercise it what they are, wannabe Kings. When they enter the council chamber tonight, I suggest they look closely at the Virginia State flag. Sic Semper Tyrannis

THis is a very dangerous practice.
Ownership of property will have no meaning if a City council can take your home away and give it to a developer.
The city spent $1 million dollars last year building Scott's Creek Park a few blocks away from the disputed location.
But for some reason Scott's Creek neighborhood needs to have another one ? So a developer can get more value out of his condos.

I am already fed up with the goverment taking my money to help out Rich buisnesses that made poor decisions.
Now they are going to take my neighbors home and buisness so another person can live and prosper there ?
This is all stricking a close resemblance to Russia in the 1920's.

I am a homeowner, active in my community, and an advocate for the swift, effective removal of blight from our city.

Call it what you will, but I saw the Crab Shack prior to all this hoop-lah. It was a blighted property that has since been cleaned up. Hopefully, it stays that way.

You "out of towners" criticizing the way this was handled tend to be the same people I see bashing any kind of progress in Portsmouth and pointing fingers at the challenges. You mock these developers who...regardless of whether you recognize it or not...took one heck of a risk moving into Park View. PV was lovely decades ago, but had deteriorated to a bunch of rundown crack houses and abandoned flop houses until the developers came in.

Forcing property owners to bring their properties up to code is incredibly challenging and draining. I would personally like to see zero tolerance and strict timeframes enforced...perferably with a bulldozer. Enough is enough. Be part of the solution, or move next door to one of these people who think blight is ok.

...isn't trying to sell vacation packages to the Johnson's!!

Not being a resident of Portsmouth, I just have to point out that Ms. Psimas's lack of understanding of eminent domain is, in itself, reason not to re-elect her next time. There are city codes. Enforce them. But don't threaten eminent domain seizures for petty reasons (illegal use of eminent domain), only for necessary infrastructure (I don't think parks qualify for that, esp as there is ample room next to the crab shack to make a park). If people who react as Ms. Psimas do (her attitude is basically "they wouldn't work with us to clean up their place, so I will exercise my authority against them in illegal ways") dominate the Portsmouth city council, no one's property will be safe. Cheers, MGM (we defend the property rights of everyone among us because we all could be next on the chopping block!!!)

If Portsmouth's city council, especially Ms. Psimas, had any understanding of eminient domain this issue would have never happened. There should be other avenues available that the city could have taken to correct the condition of the crabhouse.

...was meant to obtain land for the betterment of the majority, not because a few don't like a run down property. A park is not for the betterment of the majority. I am appalled that the likes of the cities of Suffolk and Va Beach try obtain private citizens property at a fraction of their value under the rules of eminent domain...shame on them!

In my opinion, the exercise of eminent domain should be the last resort of the city. If the objective of the city was to remove an eyesore from a neighborhood, it would seem that this has been achieved. Yeah, another park would be nice, but NOT at the price of taking someone's livelihood.

It's disturbing to me that some of our elected leaders would so easily take away someone's business. I guarantee you this: if Louise Lucas owned the crabhouse, no one would be talking eminent domain!

Hmmmmm, perhaps the wealthy developer should have sacrificed some of those expensive, high profit, homes and set aside some space for a park if they felt one should be there. It's always easier to build and then complain there is not enough land for an additional park. The city council should be ashamed to allow a developer to strangle them into taking someones business in order to get more tax money...yet take someones business. Perhaps the city council should declare eminent domain on a few of those new homes. Keep fighting!!!

Eminent domain is never pretty. Especially if it is your property being taken. What everyone misses is the fact that it took the threat of eminent domain for the Johnson's to clean up their act on the surface. In truth, the civic league never asked for eminent domain. The "City" asked our opinion about a long time blighted property and we answered "Yes, help us clean up our community". This was never a Neighbor against Neighbor" issue, it was always about drugs, blight, and arrogance. The Johnson's have never been neighbors, just the people at the end of the road who do not care.
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