War of the Words in VA Senate District 18

The upcoming primary election face-off between State Senators L. Louise Lucas and Lionel Spruill, Sr., for the honor of carrying the Democratic Party flag in the November 7 General Election will undoubtedly rank in the top tier of acrimonious VA contests for this year. Although Senator Lucas is no shrinking violet, her campaign literature to date has emphasized her prior accomplishments and upcoming agenda rather than attacks on the record and character of her opponent. Her colleague, though, has gone in the other direction, questioning both her character and allegiance to party priorities. We have been around politics too long to pretend to be “shocked” by this type of campaigning, and we feel no obligation to intervene on behalf of the woman depicted in her own advertisement with boxing gloves on asserting that she “Fights for Us”.

Yet, when we saw this Spruill campaign ad, it felt like the quintessential “bridge too far.Sick and Tired of Breaks for the Well-off

Citing two Virginian-Pilot articles as the basis for its assertions, it nonetheless doesn’t provide the reader either a longer form summation of their content or a way to access the reporting itself. In the interests of making the facts available to our own readers and letting you draw your own conclusions, here are the links to the articles in question: December 22, 2007 and October 14, 2008. In our view, the perspectives conveyed in the advertisement do not align fully and, perhaps, not to a major extent with the newspaper accounts. At any rate, you have what you need to call it as you see it.

Open Letter to City Council: Pending Council Reorganization

Mayor and Council:

I write to express my support for those of you who may be motivated to replace the current vice mayor and the members of the Personnel Committee. I have heard a number of voices in the community who share my desire for a vice mayor interested in playing for “Team Portsmouth” rather than “Team Me/Myself/and I”. Regarding the Personnel Committee, I believe the public would be better served by people not pursuing the goal of remaking our boards and commissions in their own images but in reflecting the community as a whole with its diversity of demographic characteristics and perspectives. Additionally, I have seen convincing evidence that the current Personnel Committee has treated a number of commissioners/board members who were eligible, qualified, and willing to accept reappointment inequitably by not offering them subsequent terms. The people who donate their time and talents to our city deserve our thanks, not indifference or antagonism from the selection committee. If reappointment is an option within the defined term limits, and an incumbent has been attending meetings and performing other required duties conscientiously, he/she/they should be reappointed as a matter of course.

Please make your selections Tuesday [January 3, 2023] with those precepts in mind.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky

Recall Improvements That Aren’t

DISCLAIMER: As non-lawyers embarking on a discussion of legal matters, we declare that the following descriptions and analysis rest on a lay person’s understanding of the referenced documents, namely the Portsmouth City Charter, Section 12.09, and the proposed language found in Appendix A of the resolution linked to City Council Agenda Item 22-375 and are not intended as legal guidance.

For the second time in as many years, Portsmouth City Council will consider changes to city charter provisions pertaining to the recall (i. e., process for removing) of local elected officials. In a republic, theoretically, no office to which people are elected is the exclusive property of its current occupant, so depending on the term established by law for a particular position, whoever is sitting in the seat will be subject to replacement in a subsequent election. Sometimes, though, an official does such a poor job of representing her/his/their constituency that removal before the end of term becomes an imperative. Recall provides that kind of political safety valve. Continue reading

Open Letter to Council: More Decorum and Impartiality

Mayor and Council Members:

As someone who has had a lengthy relationship with Robert’s Rules of Order, I cringe whenever I observe its provisions being misapplied or misused because that often means that democratic practice is also being thwarted, either by ignorance or malign intent. During city council meetings in recent times, I have been particularly distressed by the chair’s frequent use of the phrase, “You are out of order.” I believe you all would benefit from +guidance straight from the 12th edition, the latest and greatest update to the venerable Rules. Section 4:17 states the following: Continue reading

Guest Opinion: Know the Facts before You Vote

With everything going on in America today, this year’s elections are crucial. Much is hanging in the balance, especially in our own state of Virginia. We have an opportunity to continue the progress made under Governor Ralph Northam, or we can stumble into the abyss of a hundred years ago and return to discriminatory practices we have fought so hard to overcome. Continue reading

Open Letter to City Council: Collective Bargaining Flip-Flop

Mayor and Council:

At a virtual meeting of the Portsmouth City Council held on September 22, 2020, the council as then constituted adopted the linked resolution, 20-228-Resolution, by a vote of 7-0. That resolution laid out a framework within which our city would develop the policies and procedures for establishing collective bargaining agreements with city employees. Continue reading

Open Letter to City Council: Siting the Casino

Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of City Council:

I do not habitually offer “trailers” of my intended presentations to public bodies, but the gravity of the decisions surrounding the establishment of a casino in Portsmouth dictates this deviation from my normal practices. Those of you with longer tenure on council should be aware that I have opposed the casino at every stage of the process. Now that we are about to finalize the transfer of property from public ownership to private in preparation for facility construction, you should not be surprised that I would still have issues with the undertaking.

The outcome of the referendum last November did convince me, however, that this project is all but inevitable. With that acknowledgment, I want to focus on the best placement of the casino for the future growth and vitality of Portsmouth. I strongly disagree with putting it on what I consider our highest potential undeveloped tract of land in the city, an area that I believe would be far more valuable as an innovation and tech incubator in the orbit of the Portsmouth Tidewater Community College campus. In terms of the gaming/entertainment zone concept, the logical positioning of the casino would be within sight of the Elizabeth River in our downtown area.

Leveraging the capital investment of the casino enterprise to transform the properties currently occupied by our civic center would be mutually advantageous to our citizens and the concessionaire. The public would avoid the expense of elevator and plumbing repairs to a city hall building that we have been wanting to replace for some time, and we would concurrently clear the old courts, public safety, and jail complex to make way for the casino. The Union Bank Pavilion could be rebranded as the Portsmouth Rivers Pavilion to host outdoor entertainment offerings. With the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel undergoing a major makeover at this moment, it could offer lodgings for casino patrons interested in more than a day-trip experience. The former Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and the former furniture store across the street could be reconfigured to provide indoor music, drama, and dance venues as part of the entertainment zone offerings.

Existing amenities, including the Children’s Museum of Virginia, the Portsmouth Colored Community Library Museum, the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, the Lightship Portsmouth Museum, the Portsmouth Main Library, the historic homes of Olde Towne, the historic downtown business district, and our refurbished seawall all complement the entertainment zone and contribute to a sense of place. Nothing constructed in the Victory Village section of town can bring all these discrete elements together to a create a comparable “destination”. We need to recognize our strengths and capitalize on them in this next phase of our development. Putting our best foot forward, let’s move into the future.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky

A Really Big Show (2021)

The upcoming Portsmouth City Council virtual meeting on Tuesday, May 11, has the makings of what Ed Sullivan would call “a really big show”. No, the Beatles won’t be there, but council will be adopting the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget and considering zoning and two use permit changes that will lay the groundwork for establishment of an entertainment zone and construction of a casino and associated hotel in the Victory Village section of our city.

At its two April virtual meetings city council held public hearings on the components of the overall spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1: the annual operating budget, the five-year capital improvement plan, and proposed changes in (tax) rates and levies. Advertised in the usual fashion — printed notices in the Virginian-Pilot and announcements through city communication channels — the notice did not elicit anything like the participation witnessed prior to the pandemic. Whether it was COVID fatigue, the lack of anything that aroused public outrage, or some combination of factors and others, only one speaker provided comments captured by the recordings and minutes of the two sets of hearings. So, if you wish to contribute your ideas before the budget is all “signed, sealed, delivered”, the deadline is 3 PM, Monday, May 10 for written submissions or speaker signups for the Tuesday meeting. The same deadline applies for comments on the casino-related matters going before city council during that same meeting. Last calls, neighbors!

(The agenda for the May 11 Virtual Meeting of city council, current as of this posting date and time, is available here. Links within the agenda — underlined and in blue — will open documents with supplemental information about each associated item. The entire FY 2022 Proposed Budget is accessible here.)

Guest Opinion: Open Letter to City Council regarding City Manager Selection

The following message was was originally sent to Portsmouth City Council on January 11, 2021. Unfortunately, it appears that a council majority bloc is intent on opening the City of Portsmouth to numerous potential law suits with its inexplicable actions related to the selection of a Portsmouth City Manager. Nonetheless, the truth will come out.

Portsmouth City Council Members:

It is an understatement to say that Portsmouth, VA, is at a critical crossroads in its future. Portsmouth suffers from a declining population, increased poverty, failure to attract viable businesses, a large number of unhealthy citizens, high taxes and racial problems. Should I name more problems? Yes, this City Council has already made some highly questionable appointments. Continue reading

Open Letter to Council and School Board: School Funding Formula

Honorable City Council and School Board Members:

The idea of establishing a formula-based agreement for sharing local revenue collected by the city with our public school system had merit. The designation of a committee comprised of representatives of the city, the schools, and the public to work out the details of such an agreement was reasonable. Hiring an experienced consultant to guide the process made good sense. Yet, when the months of research, discussion, and planning produced a recommendation to the city council and school board last February, the hope of implementing a policy that could end the long-running antagonism between the two bodies over local funding for education went up in a puff of smoke. What went wrong? Continue reading