Many of my generation understood the advice, “beware of Greeks bearing gifts”, as a literary allusion. According to The Iliad, the ultimate destruction of Troy was the consequence of an imprudent decision by the leaders of that city. What ten years of conventional war waged by Greek invaders had failed to accomplish came to pass when the defenders of the city misinterpreted the purpose of the wooden horse left in the wake of their adversaries’ apparent withdrawal from the field of battle. Unbeknownst to the Trojans, what they thought was a grudging tribute to their steadfastness and determination was in fact a trap that led to their undoing. We would be well-advised to view the proposal that is the subject of tonight’s city council public hearing as akin to that legendary Trojan Horse. The implicit promise in this “gift” from a major developer is that we will be able to fulfill our dream of converting presumably valuable waterfront real estate into revenue-producing developments with the added benefit of receiving a new city hall-parking garage-public safety building at an affordable price. Why would anybody with good sense refuse such an attractive offer?

On February 26 of this year, city council held a public hearing on an earlier, less detailed version of what will be before it tonight. Nine speakers testified, four of whom — Sheriff Michael Moore, Mr. Steve Carroll, Ms. Donna Sayegh, and myself — raised concerns regarding the fate of the Portsmouth Jail. At one point in the proceedings, Mayor Rowe asserted that the proposal under consideration had nothing to do with the jail, just the relocation of city hall, the public safety headquarters, and the County Street Garage. Assuming he believed that, his statement demonstrated a major vision impairment.

The ill-conceived and poorly executed attempt a few weeks ago to evict the sheriff’s department and inmates from the city jail clearly undercuts the mayor’s position. (See “Judge Puts Condemnation of Portsmouth Jail on Hold for 60 Days“, Virginian-Pilot, July 25, 2019.) As paraphrased in the article, City Manager Patton asserted that “the jail and nearby buildings were unfit for human habitation and needed to be evacuated immediately”. The sheriff sought judicial intervention, and the building condemnation dispute is now consuming city and sheriff’s department resources. Nonetheless, if the jail is in the dire condition described, why should we give primary consideration to another civic infrastructure project that would siphon off capital needed to resolve our more pressing problem?

In all candor, I must concede that the Trojan Horse analogy is not an optimal fit, but it has some utility. Unlike the Greeks of antiquity, Armada Hoffler is not out to destroy our city; they are just looking for business opportunities. Like the Trojans, however, we run the risk of destroying ourselves by falling prey to this distraction and making a truly bad choice. To date no one in civic leadership has suggested that we have a viable means of paying for a new standalone jail or even the presumably cheaper alternative of adding a Portsmouth-only wing to the regional jail. Our perennially limited financial resources do not allow us to take on an unlimited number of high-priced construction projects simultaneously. In that context, moving forward with the city hall-parking garage-public safety relocation proposal would be irresponsible. We need to demonstrate some good sense by remembering the city manager’s mantra: review, reflect, refocus, restore, and re-imagine. My takeaway from that five-step approach is to shelve the Armada Hoffler proposal and address the jail question expeditiously.

Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky, Publisher