Local Selling Tips

Norfolk– Waterside

Waterside's fate will be determined by the end of this year, the City Council pledged Monday.  The council approved a proposal from City Manager Regina V.K. Williams to appoint a panel of experts, including urban planners and commercial real estate specialists, to make recommendations on the facility's future. The panel will be guided by a recent survey of more than 3,000 residents.  Click herefor the full story from the Virginian-Pilot.

Norfolk– No Broadcast of Work Sessions

Regardless of whether the justification is fiscal restraint or trying to encourage serious debate, the Norfolk City Council's continuing refusal to broadcast all of its deliberations seems to citizens like something else - and nothing good.  At their retreat Tuesday, council members once again rejected a chance to open up informal meetings to TV cameras. Since informal meetings are where the debate takes place, citizens are left to conclude that the council just doesn't want them to hear it.  Click herefor the full story from the Virginian-Pilot.

Virginia Beach– New Homeless Program

The City Council agreed on Tuesday to move forward with a new program to help the homeless, an idea that took shape after the death of a man on the beach who was run over by a city trash truck driver.  The council's action to spend $175,000 on a three-prong homeless-assistance plan comes without the endorsement of Michael Knockett's family, who earlier this month filed a $25 million civil lawsuit against the city after he was killed.  Most of the money in the program announced Tuesday - $100,000 - will be seed money for a long-term project to build a residential facility for homeless people with substance-abuse problems. "The Healing Place of Hampton Roads" would have 280 beds in two buildings on separate 5-acre sites for male and female residents from across the region.  Click herefor the full story from the Virginian-Pilot.

HamptonRoads – Proposal for HRBT Expansion

A group of private firms has proposed doubling the size of the notoriously congested Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.  The unsolicited conceptual proposal from Hampton Roads Crossings calls for widening the span from two lanes to four in each direction at a cost of $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.  Tolls would range from $4 to $6, said Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Jeff Caldwell. It's not clear yet whether just the HRBT or all the harbor crossings would be tolled.  Construction would begin in 2014 and continue through 2018, he said.  Click herefor the full story from the Virginian-Pilot.