NORFOLK
Fifty-four East Ocean View residents have sued Councilman W. Randy Wright, claiming he has not done enough to improve their neighborhood.
In an Oct. 3 filing, the group asks a judge to order Wright to implement a plan to improve the neighborhood that they say the city has ignored.
The plaintiffs are led by Sean Regan, who said he moved to East Ocean View in 2003 because of city marketing that promised to clean up blighted housing and improve infrastructure.
"We want the plan we were promised," he said.
The lawsuit was also signed by William Kerry, who heads the Bay Oaks Park Committee, which clashed with Wright over whether 22 vacant acres in Ocean View should become a park. Kerry referred questions to Regan.
Wright, who lives in East Ocean View and has represented the area for 16 years, declined comment other than to say he has not been served with papers and that the lawsuit "is beyond frivolous."
Mayor Paul Fraim, an attorney, said the lawsuit appeared to be "a political attack against Randy Wright."
Fraim said Wright has helped funnel more than $100 million in city funds to Ocean View over the last decade.
The city tore down 1,600 blighted housing units to create the upscale East Beach community, acquired hundreds of decaying homes and more than a dozen hotels, undertook a massive beach replenishment effort, and built a new Ocean View library.
Councilman Barclay C. Winn, who also represents East Ocean View, called the lawsuit "ludicrous."
"Nobody has done more for Ocean View than Randy Wright," Winn said.
Regan's lawsuit says a document on the city's Web site calls for a comprehensive plan to be carried out in East Ocean View by 2003, which has not been done. Regan acknowledged that Wright did not propose the plan, but as councilman and head of the Ocean View Task Force, it was his job to see it through, Regan said.
Regan and many others in East Ocean View live on streets with utilities installed by Princess Anne County, which the city annexed nearly 50 years ago.
"Aside from East Beach, the area has been neglected," Regan said. "Portions of Pretty Lake Avenue in East Beach are beautiful. When you cross to the other side of Ocean View, it's like something out of the last century.
"The streets are crumbling and the utilities aren't working."
Wright brought that same message to the City Council repeatedly in recent years. He urged more city funding for infrastructure and property acquisition, but many of his requests were denied.
As a result of his prodding, the area's Pleasant Avenue corridor was named part of Project Focus, an anti-crime effort that includes increased police patrols and code enforcement and will include a rental inspection program, surveillance cameras and the acquisition of some blighted property.
Regan's family has close ties with Wright. Regan's father-in-law, Rich Hardison, is pastor of Tabernacle Church. Hardison helped begin Wright's career in civic activism when he asked him to become head of the Roosevelt Area Civic League, from which he launched his political career. The two remain close friends.
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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kickback!!!!!
check mr. wright tax return before he was on city council...check his income after he he became a member of the council....the poor get $$$$$.
a printer with a small shop on poplar hall rd....now how a million $ home....how many pcs. of property has his wife listed for sale??(kickbak.))
and life goes on....what is the difference between a board of a corp.and the city council???nothing..they both earn big $ for doing nothing....
Too funny!
"robertm"
You are too funny!
I guess we should just reinstate the "horse & buggy" ?
Although.....I haven't check the price of hay & grain lately!
Want to see your improvements??
go over and look at the light rail...that's Mr. Wright's pet project!
Addendum
I guess my post was too long......sorry!
I was trying to say that I have been a Travel Agent for 21 yrs. and I expect "any day" to get sued because the Airlines didn't delivered what they Promised....
Randy...I lived at Willoughby for 8 yrs. and watched your continuous attempts to make things better.....you Rock!
Patty
Randy "Wrong" about East Ocean View
My family lives in East Ocean View and we all applaud the efforts of Bill Kerry and Sean Regan. Everyone knows alot of money was sent tearing down old houses in East Ocean View and putting in Infrastructure...the question and apparent cause of this outcry is that the remainder of East Ocean View has been grossly neglected...One only has to drive down Pleasant Avenue or Pretty Lake Avenue to see that these folks do not have even basic infrastructure...it is obviously that the 100 million over the past decade was not spent on the Bay Streets or Pretty Lake/Pleasant Avenue.
Randy Wright appropriated alot of funds to make East Beach and secured himself a high dollar home there in the process, I am sure in the insulated little world of East Beach that everything seems great....Thousands of people on the other side of Ocean View Avenue are singing a different tune....How can his only response to the
RECALL, start a recall,
Wright is up for re-election in May 2010. Every election he barely, barely succeeds in winning. And if one knows their Norfolk History, when Wright ran while Norfolk had city wide council elections and not the 'ward' divisions, he never came close to winning a seat. So, find someone who is willing to run, pump money into that effort and viola, he's gone, or go through the legal process of a recall. With respect to the current issue, Wright was able to rename east oveanview to east beach and perhaps the reason is/was so newbies could nbot get any crime stats for the area since it was brand new to the record book. I'm sorry so many neighbors are disgruntled over the slow process but the bottom line is, take control of your neighborhood, call every city department head with your complaint, get their name and then when they fail to carry out their responsibility send a letter to every councilmember and
Randy Right and EOV
Please understand WHERE Randy Right lives. He lives in EAST BEACH. This is a subdivision of EOV that was developed as a specific community. The area was basically leveled before construction began. East Beach was built on a clean slate. Nothing but the planned community is there. No blighted structures were left. No deteriorating buildings. No section 8 housing. No apartment complexes. It is complete with sidewalks and curbs; new paving and a recreation center that the people of EOV cannot join because we do lot live in East Beach. If I lived in East Beach and was isolated from the rest of EOV I would have a smile on my face also. Here is my challenge to you....Walk your baby in the stroller and have your children by your side on their bike in East Beach. Then cross over to EOV and do the same down Pleasant Avenue for a mile or two. Stroll into the bowels of EOV. Let me know what you think then. This is no
Lawsuit?....That is so sick!
Our Country has the worst reputation in the World for using frivolous lawsuits to "solve" a problem. The U.S. leads the World in Lawyers per capita! Heaven help me if a friend spills hot coffee in her lap in my kitchen! I'll lose my bank account to Legal fees and a friendship too!
Bravo to "rhythm2" and "Dudley"......Good points!
Randy Wright has given YEARS of hard work and wonderful service to Ocean View residents.......and his "Realtor" wife is an adorable, hardworking asset to the Community. What in the world is she supposed to do if some people are too lazy to go voice their opinion at Council meetings and choose to cause a ridiculous legal battle, where no one wins but the Attorneys? I will be ashamed if any Court even aproves this suit.
I grew up in Talbot Park, and it breaks my heart to see Wards Corner! At one time, it was a bustling, SAFE shopping area for Families......Rice's, Hofheimers
another sound bite
It amazes me how things get twisted and turned upside down when people try to communicate. This is not about not liking anyone. IT is about LACK OF IMPROVEMENTS in east ocean view, not to be confused with with "Wisteria Lane", I mean EAST BEACH in the East Ocean View section of Norfolk.
The article in the pilot today can't even get it correct..... they talk about all the change there was in the EAST BEACH section where MOST blight was demolished, not the bay streets from 1st bay to 21st bay. Sean Regan was mentioned that his family has close ties to Randy Wright, wrong family.......try again. The citizens want to see infastructure changes along with acknowledgement that there are problems with crime, code, and new homes being turned into rental units. That is what i thought was going to change.....Not so many rental propeties, more single family properties.
charlesn
"why do people keep him in office?"
For the same reason they keep Thelma Drake in office. Wright and Drake come across as sooooo nice, yet the very people who vote for them have no knowledge of how they handle political issues.
Who do we sue to finally get
Who do we sue to finally get the Wards Corner plan implemented?! I saw drawings for that over a decade ago. In the meantime things get worse. Who can we get to bulldoze that area and bring in a Homearama there? This "all talk and no action" stuff is getting old. If they aren't going to lower our city assesments to actual market value, then they could at least spend some of that windfall of tax revenue in the neighbors they it from.
How things work
pamt,if Randy Wright is so bad, why do people keep him in office? If you have a grievance against him bring it before the City Council. You don't get much by sounding off in these posts. If you let your representative promise you a bowl of cherries and he hands you an empty bowl, you're the ones to blame. Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. If it needs to be done, you need to be the one!
why haven't you finished working in EOV
OK people, clearly there are all kinds of people in the world, some best friends of the politicians, some enemies, some that don't have the first clue, no matter who you are LISTEN UP! As far as what is going on about a writ addressed to W. Randy Wright, he is the council person that has addressed EOV residents for the past years, therefore the contact person. He claims there "is", "was", a plan for revitilization in East Ocean View.
We the citizens that have spent the last 5 to how ever many years here are simply asking the city representative where is the plan? I welcome anyone to purchase one of these $325,00 to 700,000 plus homes and live amongst blight, code violations, trash that blows all over your property rental units with 3 to 5 people residing in a one bedroom, parking issues, no sidewalks, no drains, flooding , crime, prostitution, and no "safe" place for your family's children to play. I
I guess the "funnel" was the tunnel leading to Judy Boone's door
If they think OV is blighted, they need to go to Huntersville or Wards Corner. At least there has been new construction in OV courtesy of Judy & Ronnie Boone. Granted you may need $500k to buy one but you can still find a house in Huntersville and Wards Corner for under $150k. The only area of Norfolk that gets massive funding is downtown and the immediate surrounding areas. If you want to clean up OV, go after Boone, Nusbaum, and Gregory Realty companies for allowing criminal activity to thrive in and around their properties. Which I thought a ordinance was enacted to allow the police to work with OV landlords to identify tenants or properties that harbored criminal activity in an effort to rid the "Bays" of crime, increase existing property values, and support the exhorbant sale prices of all the new construction. I guess the only effort made was to enforce code violations so much to benefit Ju
$100 Million
Ask Ronny Boone Jr and Sr about that money. The people in EOV got a bumb deal, and million dollar homes are surrounded by slum lords that will rent to anyone, including gang members. 1 security camera is not going to fix that area, and the police have other area's to monitor. I have not respenct for Randy Wright he's the wannabe Mayor of Norfolk. Just what we need!
Wrong Suit but "funneled money to Oceanview"
The suit is silly but a compliment from the mayor is that Wright "funneled money to Ocean View". Helped appropriate sounds so much more....ethical.
Ocean View.
If things are so great in Ocean View then why does every other house have a For Sale sign in front of it.Bay Oaks Park looks great compared to that.
Are they Nuts?
I own property in East Ocean View and Randy Wright has been key in many improvements over the years - Ocean View has changed dramatically. Sure there are still bad elements there but it takes time to get rid of the bad elements What's bad is this lawsuit will cause Randy Wright to spend lots of lawyers fees regardless of whether it's valid or not.
Shame on these people
WHAT A GREAT
...IDEA!!!... I know a few hundred Wards Corner residents who should do the same...this kind of thing has been going on for too LONG, and citizens are tired of being put on the back burner. Time to try something new...sue...sue...sue!!!
A Great Man!
Randy Wright is a great man who has done a great deal to improve Ocean View as well as the city of Norfolk. The Bay Oaks Committee is nothing but a bunch of wackos with nothing else better to do! And you can take it to the bank that this lawsuit is going nowhere. Oh and JulieC since when are you the authority in anyhting that goes on in the city of Norfolk? You don't even live in the city. Furthermore, have you ever done anything to get involved in your community except complain?
We want the plan we were promised
We want the plan we were promised
Imagine that, a politician lied?!
ohh wait, someone stupid enough to actually believe a politician?!
OV lawsuit
Well Sean I moved to Wards Corner in 1992 and we actually have a comprehensive plan paid for and approved by City Council and we are STILL waiting for the improvements that were promised to us.......so take a number my friend!
Doesn't sound right
How can a single councilman be "ordered" to implement improvements? Last I checked, he would have to get the support of the rest of the council.
I understand why they are doing this, but they should go after the city, not an individual.
Give Randy the boot
Randy and his wife, yes, she's a realtor, hand in hand, mostly in ocean view, are a joke. I hope the good citizen's of Norfolk once and for all give him the boot. Does Ronnie Boone sound familiar. They have pulled the wool over the eye's of citizen's of Norfolk for far too many year's, and many honest landowner's losing their properties. Go get 'em citizen's. I'll be sitting over here in Chesapeake spectating.
That is what you get for
That is what you get for trusting a politician.
$100 million dollars?
And please do tell, where exactly did it go? OH maybe we should be asking Judy Boone???
$100 million????
Where the heck is it what did it do????? For that much money should be able to see something!
you know the old saying;
If it ain't in writing, it ain't going to hold up in court. They have no case. and especially since there is no blighted property in ocean view, they have to prove that to the finest point in the law, what makes up a blighted property? . and they can't claim Wright has done nothing - they have new survielence cameras to keep the rift raft out of east ocean view. i do have one concern, i do miss the old cheetah club, that is a loss. who do i sue?
funnel?
Is that the same as 'earmark'?