Bipolar on the Bay

We have a problem, Norfolk.

We have a bipolar disorder.

More specifically, the city’s administration and city council seem to veer in different directions on the affairs of government.

On one hand, city administration invites residents to participate in the workings of the budget and asks for input about issues that will determine Norfolk’s future.

Open City Hall, which has been available for three years, offers residents the chance to provide suggestions on the city’s future.

Open City Hall is an online forum, a policy directive by City Manager Marcus Jones to include everyone in the affairs of government.

If you have a suggestion about the upcoming budget, go to Open City Hall and make your voice heard and read.

If you have a suggestion about six topics the city has listed on which to comment, go and comment.

Get heard. Get read. Don’t wait. Just do it.

On the other hand, City Council is a closed book.

Deals are negotiated in private.

You can’t comment and you don’t get heard.

Not really. Not on the really, really big events in this city.

Who would have thought that Norfolk would get in bed with Bruce Thompson, the Donald Trump of Virginia Beach?

Who would have thought that Thompson, CEO of Gold Key/PRH Hotels and Resorts, would descend upon Norfolk with a flourish of flushed enthusiasm, telling the public he spent his childhood in Norfolk and is thrilled to be doing this deal.

Of course, he’s thrilled.

He puts up $64 million while the city puts up $19.5 million for a parking garage with 600 spaces and $42.5 million for a conference center.

“There is no new money needed for this project,” the city said, announcing the partnership.

No, probably not, but don’t forget the $16 million the city has already spent buying and demolishing properties to prepare the site.

The city assures us that the Public Amenities Fund, which is a treasury of revenue generated by a one percent tax on meals and lodging, will cover the debt service on the conference center.

The city also assures us that the costs of the parking garage will be offset by parking fees.

I am not so assured. 

Norfolk's future

Although the deal has been announced publicly, you and I both know the devil’s in the details, and until the agreement is signed and filed, things may change.

Thompson is a hard-driving hotelier who didn’t rake in millions by being passive-aggressive. If he thinks he might lose money, he will either pull out or force the city to chip in more public dollars.

Frightening as it may seem to some City Council members, residents do want a say in this project.

Is a hotel, conference center and parking garage the highest and best use for this site?

Will the former façade of the Decker building be incorporated into the design of the hotel?

Wasn’t the original cost close to $150 million? What changed? Inflation alone would have driven up the cost of the project.

Mr. Jones promotes transparency in government.

City Council is opaque, revealing nothing.

How do you fix this disorder?