The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
City officials have set a timeline for deciding what to do with Waterside, the aging waterfront marketplace that decades ago helped spark the revival of downtown.
In his State of the City address today at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott, Mayor Paul Fraim will announce plans for a 10-month-long effort to seek public input. The City Council will make a decision on Waterside's future early next year, he said.
The city has already begun mailing surveys to seek input on the ailing facility, he said. The surveys also will be on the city's Web site (www.norfolk.gov ) by Sunday, and they will be placed in libraries, mailed to civic leagues and sent to churches.
Fraim said two focus groups will be held this fall, followed by two public meetings that will also report the survey results. "People feel very strongly about Waterside," the mayor said. "They want a voice in deciding its future."
He said he has no preconceived notions of what Waterside should become, but he will insist that it continue to be controlled by the city and open to the public.
Fraim, a council member since 1986 and mayor since 1994, is being challenged in the May 4 election by three candidates - Councilwoman Daun S. Hester, council critic Daniel Montague, and Old Dominion University student Ryan Cooper.
Hester raised concerns about Waterside more than a year ago, saying it "is in need of a lot of help."
Constructed in 1983 on the site of a parking lot along the Elizabeth River, Waterside opened as a festival marketplace that attracted huge crowds and more investment downtown. MacArthur Center mall, the revival of Granby Street, and construction of the Dominion Enterprises and Wells Fargo Center office towers would not have happened were it not for Waterside, Fraim said.
Over the years, the facility has been transformed from a festival marketplace into a shopping mall and then an entertainment center featuring nightclubs. Granby Street is now downtown's entertainment center, and Waterside has not received a significant renovation in more than a decade.
Today much of Waterside, including most of its first-floor food court, is vacant. Two large vacancies occurred last year after the city closed Bar Norfolk and Have a Nice Day Cafe for what it said were repeated violations of city ordinances.
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
waterside
trash those ugly sparkly sculptures that are all over the inside of the building. they are grotesque. when the city ask for citizen input notice they do not bring even a piece of paper with them to record comments by citizens. they city does what it wants. why would anyone display those carnival looking statues?
waterside
trash those ugly sparkly sculptures that are all over the inside of the building. they are grotesque. when the city ask for citizen input notice they do not bring even a piece of paper with them to record comments by citizens. they city does what it wants. why would anyone display those carnival looking statues?
Waterside
Seems pretty simple to me. Waterside was developed in the late 70's early 80's by the Rouse Corp. Mr Rouse developed many such festival marketplaces. Most are still thriving today. Go to those cities where the marketplaces still thrive and see wht they have done to ensure their success. Don't bulldoze it like Richmond did their Sixth Street Marketplace. Some have suggested to expand TPP. Bad idea. Only small numbers of people show up at ANY city park. The downtown waterfromt needs a solid anchor with a solid draw appeal. Grass alone doesn't do that. Food, music and shops do that.
How About...
Turn it into a Courthouse. Two problems solved...
Waterside
It's not that complicated. As the saying goes..." You Dance With What Brung Ya"...The city should simply go back to what Waterside was when it was a success, a nice family place on the water where you could find decent food and other decent shops. It began its nosedive into the deplorable dump that it is today with Bar Norfolk & Jillian's taking over.
Gut it and go back to square one. Find a good anchor restaurant chain that could serve as an incentive for toher quality food vendors to want to come in, maybe add a couple of clothing stores or some such vendor. People would come back. I know my first visit to Waterside in about 15 years took place last fall and I was stunned at what a dump it had become. I recall when Phillips was there, and Reggie's upstairs, people used to populate the place. Music on Sunday afternoons on the stage downstairs...It is not that difficult to see what did work and what hasn't worked. It's not rocket science.
Hilarious
This is a bad joke: anyone who has lived in Hampton Roads for any length of time knows these shows of public imput are just that: shows put on to make it look like local government is allowing the citizens to decide issues. The Norfolk City Council will make a grand act of accepting public input - then go and do whatever THEY want to do regardless of what the people want.
Talk the talk - Walk the walk
Original headline was “Public to help decide fate of Norfolk Waterside.” Can’t use the words public and DECIDE in the same sentence, definitely a no no. Also had to make it perfectly clear their “need” for public input will be restricted to surveys only. Doesn’t really matter how its worded. Their hand picked “focus groups” will hold their non-public meetings before anything gets reported to the public. City Council’s decision on Waterside is already a done deal. Using surveys as a tool designed to appease the public is so lame.
To be clear
Original headline was “Public to help decide fate of Norfolk Waterside.”
So the public "helps" decide.
Not the "public" decides.
Is that a press release headline?
Cut, Paste, Delete
Press Release? You mean lots of words with no meaning? It's about as informative as their budgets and mangled city code. I don't know . . . that's a toughie. Hmmmm.
Ride the Tide to the Flow Ride
Create a Flowrider park that will attract both athletes and spectators to enjoy the ride and competitions. http://flowrider.com/