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By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK
Partially in response to a deadly attack over the weekend, the East Ocean View Civic League will hold a town hall meeting Aug. 15 to share concerns about crime with city officials.
After the meeting, officials will hold a "Take Back the Streets" walk from the neighborhood's recreation center to 16th Bay Street, where the attack occurred.
Tommy Smigiel, the group's vice president, said Police Chief Bruce P. Marquis, Sheriff Bob McCabe and Councilmen Barclay C. Winn and W. Randy Wright, who represent East Ocean View, have agreed to attend the meeting. The other members of the City Council will be invited, Smigiel said.
"One of the main themes will be about protecting the city's investment here," he said.
It will be the first of two town hall meetings in the same week in northeastern Norfolk. On Aug. 18, Wright and Mayor Paul Fraim will hold a meeting on crime in the East Little Creek Road area.
Residents have inundated Wright and others with complaints about crime in the area since the attack occurred Friday night in the 9500 block of 16th Bay Street.
A mob stripped and beat three men. Two escaped, but the third, 19-year-old James S. Robertson of Georgia, died.
Six people, four of them teenage girls, have been arrested and charged with murder.
Winn said the police are already working hard to control crime in East Ocean View.
"It's not that we're not trying," he said. "But we need to reestablish a level of confidence in the community."
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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They are there
Police are there and are trying, there is only so much they can do. If they do not see it, it does not happen. Yes, EOV does lack a few of a great neighborhoodly things such as clean streets and sidewalks. The Civic league does need to stop talking and do little more. The drainage does need fixing between 18th and 19th bay, I know there maybe some more, place some sidewalks so people can stop walking in the middle of the street, at least the cops cruise EOV to catch crime busters, what do the people in the civic league do? I have not seen a single thing happen. I do not see then even cruising by to present idea's for updates and improvements. They are the issue not the police.
OV crime
Being active in my civic league in the Cottage Line section of Ocean View Avenue, I have heard the same story over and over. The police arrest people, and they are out on the street again in a matter of hours. The problem does not appear to be our police, but the judges who are letting the criminals go quickly with mere slaps on their wrists. The police cannot be effective without the courts backing them up!
No investment in EOV!!!
Why not take some of the new tax money that EOV has generated and clean it up. Put camerras up on the streets. Hold property owners accountable for there buildings and who they rent too. The owners of rental properties could care less about was happens in EOV, just as long as the Section 8 checks keep coming in. Nothing will change until a real effort is made by the city to take back EOV. The city council has done nothing except flap there chops, hold them accountable. Election time should be intresting next time around. People have stopped moving to EOV. Until some serious changes are made this trend will continue and those of us that moved to EOV with promises that the city had big plans for EOV will be stuck in the wasteland.
$20 million tax credit!!!!!!
take the tax credit from granby towers and clean up OV and little creek rd.
Ocean View Has Always Been a High Crime Area
Perhaps, law-abiding concealed weapons holders need to patrol the streets if the police can't or won't do their jobs? Perhaps, Ocean View citizens should be deputized to protect their own neighborhoods? I agree with a few other posters here as well. The city council acts like crime in Ocean View is something new. Ocean View has always been talked about as a place for new comers and military members to avoid, and that is since the 70's.
Talk, talk
action is needed in east ocean view, not more talk, talk is a easy way of a political person said he did somthing but really did nothing.
Too little, too late
So how long have Randy Wright, Sheriff McCabe, and Barclay Winn lived here? Just asking because the OV crime problem has been around since my mother was little, growing up in this area. Start with doubling the Police presence in OV. Chief Marquis - you do what you have to do to clean up that mess. You're new to Norfolk where those other people aren't, and haven't been able to make a difference in the crime there. Keep those other people in City Hall where they can concentrate on things like building a new mall, or taking over the Bay Oaks area.
Police presense is just a start
It is painful to hear that teenage girls were involved in this attacks. This leads me to believe that added police is just a start and not a long term solution to problem plaguing Ocean View. There should be outreach to teenagers to turn away from crime, but at the same time you need to provide something positive they can say yes too. Recreation programs, tutoring (Been one for 5 years), and mentoring etc. Added police is just the beginning. A comprehensive solution is required.