Blockheads in the Hood

Now I know what’s more important.

It’s certainly not a hike of 2 cents in the real estate tax which Mayor Paul Fraim has proposed for the construction of new schools in Norfolk.

Nor is it really how much the city will spend on the hotel and conference center.

And neither is Norfolk’s budget, which is close to a finale.

No, it’s the Better Block project.
The Virginian-Pilot has written seven articles about the revamping of a few selected city blocks since February 25 – three of them over the past seven days – and that doesn’t count the articles that popped-up about pop-up businesses.

Most of the articles have been obsessed with what will happen and what has happened at two blocks north of Brambleton Avenue, near Bob’s Gun Shop – you know, that’s the place where a store clerk said people are more interested in survival than the liberal arts.
Last week, two articles were written prepping the public for the weekend festivities on Granby Street.

Another one appeared on Saturday, telling us that hundreds attended.


No one could have asked for more publicity than the city of Norfolk and Team Better Block, the “experts” from Texas who entertained our hapless, hick souls and ripped off the city for $43,000.

Just hit Pilotonline.com and search for Better Block.

This is what you get. A potpourri of exuberance.

See photos and video in our special live social media coverage.

ON THE WEB

Keep up with the Better Block team on their website, the event's Facebook page and on Twitter. Tweet about the event using #NorfolkBetterBlock. Follow Pilot reporter Patrick Wilson on Twitter: @patrickmwilson.

THE PLAN

Check out a schedule of events and a map with details of the changes.

Contrast this with news about the proposed hike in the real estate tax – four articles between last September and March. No interactive photos, video, special live social media and so forth.

In other words, a proposed tax hike does not warrant the same hype.

A March 10 article in The Pilot says most Norfolk City Council members support a hike in the real estate tax but question how the money will be used.

Some of Norfolk’s schools are crumbling from age and disrepair. Some have leaky roofs, as well as leaky administrators and pissed off teachers. (You’d be pissed off too if you had to teach in a classroom with a raincoat because the roof leaked.)

Yet Norfolk City Council and Mayor Fraim want to hike the real estate tax to build new schools.

Maybe we should have hired Team Einstein. 

Better yet let's do something with the schools by tapping into the Public-Private Educational Facilities Infrastructure Act. (More on this tomorrow.)