NORFOLK – City council refined their focus areas for city health over the next few months in the last few hours of their annual retreat on Tuesday afternoon. Issues for growth – which should see some work throughout the remaining fiscal year – are safety, education and housing.
Enrollment in Norfolk Public Schools has decreased in recent years, according to Councilperson Angelia Graves. While some city schools wrestle with accreditation issues and underfunded programs in low-income areas, raises are a critical need for teachers.
The Ready to Thrive program, which helps to connect community members in need with services, resources and programs, was highlighted as one that would benefit from an increase in planning to continue helping community members.
“Ready to Thrive has not been framed beyond one day to know exactly what the program is in an ongoing capacity,” Graves said. “Past that, what does the program look like?”
To date, the program has helped 28 families in need.
City council will also pursue a new program, called the Commission on Lifelong Learning. Mayor Kenneth Alexander told council members that an ordinance is needed to create the commission, which will maximize the potential of Norfolk citizens from preschool to adulthood through educational opportunities and workforce development.
A specific need pointed out by Councilperson Andria McClellan is that every Norfolk student should have access to the internet for school needs.
“I’d love to see our school kids having internet at home and a device that they can connect with,” said McClellan, referencing a program established in Virginia Beach City Public Schools that allows students to check out laptops as needed. “Norfolk should be on the cutting edge of technology.”
In the theme of Norfolk moving together as one empowered city, public housing is an issue that would combat concentrated regions of poverty as well as help to better blend Norfolk communities without gentrifying neighborhoods.
City council spoke about possibly using Purpose Built Communities to decrease Norfolk poverty and provide better options for affordable public housing by “breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty through a holistic approach based on quality and focused on sustainability.”
“The races have never lived together in public housing,” Councilperson Paul Riddick said. “Now is the time for us to recognize that these communities need to live together.”
Councilperson Tommy Smigiel pointed out that the city has a growing demographic that should be included in future efforts: the Hispanic population. According to Smigiel, the demographic is quickly surpassing other ethnic populations in areas like Ocean View.
When it comes to community policing, Smigiel asked what the police department could do to engage with Spanish-speaking residents.
“Are our bilingual officers being deployed to these areas?” Smigiel asked. “This is a major demographic change that will happen in the next two to three years. We have to be ready for that.”
When it comes to overall safety, Alexander said that they have identified trouble spots that need more attention, but there simply aren’t enough cars for police officers to use. In some cases, officers were having to wait for other patrols to return before they could start their own.
Since new cruisers cost the city about $37,000, Alexander said he had spoken with former Police Chief Michael Goldsmith, who is now the deputy city manager, about alternatives.
“We don’t always have to buy new model cars,” Alexander said. “There are some flexibilities.”
Increasing the number of cars on the road would not only help the police department, but would allow residents to feel more at ease and provide more opportunities for community engagement, Goldsmith said.
The city saw an increase in gun violence last year, and to prevent it from becoming a continuing trend, city council aims to create a gun buyback program to decrease the number of weapons on the streets.
“We have to look at how we get the guns off of the street and out of the hands of young people and those that shouldn’t have them,” Alexander said.”
