The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(01-08-2021 08:24 AM)BigBlueMonarch Wrote:  

(01-07-2021 05:56 PM)Odubob Wrote:  Thugs, fights, shootings etc drove shoppers out of that area. Will it all now magically disappear? Something to think about.

The ball park in DC was in a complete crap neighborhood when it was first built, now it is one of the hottest neighborhoods in DC. If you build it and support it and redevelop it, they will come. Just building the arena will not make the area better but if Norfolk is smart and manages development and makes smart decisions about redevelopment in the area. then it could end up being amazing.

I hope so, but I think priorities are screwed up. When your population and demand is shrinking, you need fewer parcels, not more. Nothing to do with this site, but I think the city needs to focus on residential blight. You want people and families to desire to live there. That over time improves everything from schools to businesses to quality of life. The city would be better off as a whole and in the long run if they bought up residential blight, tore down the structures, and convey the land to neighbors that take care of their property and have the means to take care of more land. Over time you would have well maintained acreage all over the city where people want to live and then the property owners can re-subdivide and sell off lots to the people that demand it if they choose. Virginia Beach and Chesapeake had that advantage over the last 40 years because they had the acreage to sell off and grow. Norfolk needs to get back to that and while I do appreciate that big projects can make a name for someone and be attractive if successful and I also recognize that this site is a major gateway that needs to be cleaned up and I hope the plan is successful, I think the redevelopment game needs to be relooked at. My idea might not not yield more tax revenue in the short run, but you have to play the long game, IMO. Norfolk has the parcel map of a city that was the largest in Virginia and the attraction of the entire region. That is no longer the case. The city cannot afford to buy up the blight and sit on it and the demand isn't there to develop it. That's why they need to buy it and convey it so the good owner now owns .5 acres instead of .25 acres. If there is an entire block of 24 lots with 1 good owner, give it all to him/her. Imagine how much money that good property owner that stuck it out in a bad neighborhood if they ended up with 6 acres of land and all the trash cleaned up. Instead we either keep the blight and tank the good owner's value or we give it to developers that most generously greased the political hacks along with money to redevelop when there is no demand.