Norfolk City Council challengers bash the incumbents

NORFOLK

With most City Council members absent, challengers for five seats in the May 4 election took turns bashing the incumbents.

During a forum at Granby High School Thursday night, most candidates said the council doesn't listen to residents, council meetings need to be televised, more money needs to be spent revitalizing Wards Corner, and too much money has been spent downtown.

Mayor Paul Fraim, who has three challengers, and Theresa Whibley, who is unopposed in Ward 2, were the only incumbents to show up to the 2-1/2 -hour forum, sponsored by the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues.

Vice Mayor Anthony L. Burfoot and Councilman Paul R. Riddick said emergencies prevented their participation. Riddick said he was attending a wake and Burfoot was attending to concerns of residents after a gang shooting in the Moton Circle neighborhood.

Councilman W. Randy Wright said he had a civic association meeting that he had committed to before being invited to Thursday's forum.

Fraim apologized to the crowd of about 200 for anyone who felt the council wasn't listening but said the city has "gone to great lengths" to establish task forces to work with civic leagues and residents. He strongly defended the council's record.

"We've created a lot of jobs and with the expansion of the tax base, have been able to lower your taxes," the 16-year mayor said. "People are moving back to the city. And I think that says a lot about the progress we've made."

Councilwoman Daun S. Hester, who along with Sherwood Civic League president Dan Montague and Old Dominion University student Ryan Cooper are challenging Fraim, called for more transparency and openness in city government.

Hester wants council, housing authority and Planning Commission meetings televised. "It is time for us to break the status quo," she said. "It is time for the growth that has occurred downtown and in other areas be spread throughout the city."

Most council meetings are not on TV "because they don't want you to know what they are talking about," said Barbara Saunders, a candidate in Ward 1, where incumbent Don Williams is retiring. Ward 1 candidates Chuck Brewer and Andy Protogyrou criticized the council's spending priorities.

"Too much money has been spent downtown," Brewer said. Paul Trice, the fourth candidate, did not attend.

Speaking of the council's decision last year to abruptly close two Waterside night spots that city officials said were disruptive, Tommy Smigiel said: "Regardless of whether you agreed or disagreed with how the bars were operated, the way that was handled was wrong." Smigiel and East Beach businessman Matt Hales are challenging Wright in Ward 5.

"There's a saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and we've seen that far too often in the city," said School Board member Billy Cook, who is challenging Riddick in Ward 4.

Billy Mann, who along with Mamie Johnson and Donna Smith are facing off with Burfoot in Ward 3, said the council needs to get its spending priorities in order. "Our educational system should be our top priority," he said.

The forum, moderated by former TV reporter Joel Rubin, was the only one this spring in which all 18 candidates were invited.

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com