Food Carts and Port Pork

Food Cart Folly
There was a time when food carts weren’t such a critical issue in the affairs of local government.

Not long ago, when I worked on Main Street, an elderly man, retired military, showed up every day with his cart, unfurled his umbrella, and sold everything from hot dogs to pork barbecue sandwiches.

No one took issue with his presence.

Today, food carts are all the rage, though they have existed here for decades, whether in downtown Norfolk or at the shipyards.

At the insistence of Re: Vision, a special interest group whose mission is murky, Norfolk City Council wrangled, debated and decided.

 On restrictions.

Food carts might be better located in other parts of the city – say, for example, the proposed arts district north of Brambleton Avenue on Granby Street and west to the Chrysler Museum.

Council and staff decided.

So, a twisted logic prevails. Consign food cart vendors to areas of the city where no one roams, nor wants to roam. It’s economics. Vendors want to sell. And their customers are south of Brambleton Avenue.

Or perhaps politics prevailed. Restaurateurs in downtown Norfolk are very influential with certain members of city council.

And whether food carts could roam the passive streets of downtown Norfolk was the most pressing issue facing city council?

People in Ocean View, Ghent or the east and west side of Norfolk don’t care about food carts in downtown Norfolk – unless they operate them.

A food cart is a facade, window dressing.

If you want vitality, bring some jobs downtown. Fill up the empty storefronts and office space afflicting downtown.

Jobs = people = buyers = sales.


Port Pork and Politics
  

 The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee issued its unbiased (supposedly) report on the Virginia Port Authority and its non-stock, non-profit affiliate Virginia International last Friday, January 11.

Besides refuting the claims of several consultants – most of whom were paid by the state’s administration – it unveiled some sweet snippets.
The former VPA executive director, Jerry Bridges, had the third highest salary of 58 port authority directors who responded to the 2012 salary survey conducted by the American Association of Port Authorities.


The executive director’s salary was higher than all other State positions in 2011 (including all agency heads and cabinet secretaries), except the Virginia Retirement System's chief investment officer and some high-level university positions.

Well, he, Jerry Bridges, is gone and the board hasn’t replaced him yet.

The VPA senior deputy executive director, Jeff Keever, had the highest salary of all deputy port directors in the survey.

He, Jeff Keever, is still at the VPA, though you wouldn’t know it.

Running the show temporarily is Rodney Oliver, the VPA’s director of Finance and one of three junior deputy directors.

So why is Keever, the reigning top executive, not running the agency? Or put another way, why is Keever being paid a base salary of $246,313, a bonus of $36,947 and an executive allowance of $12,500 to remain in the background?

For that matter, why does the VPA need three deputy directors, whose total compensation apiece equals or exceeds $200,000?

At one time, in the mythical past, the VPA had one executive director and one deputy director overseeing a state paid security force and a sales and marketing team, plus in-house staff.

The police force is decimated and the sales and marketing team is managed by VIT. Yet with half the employees, the VPA has four deputy directors.

Now which organization really needs to detox? The VPA or VIT? Make a decision, board of commissioners.