We will call this recurring feature, Three of a Kind. In it, you will meet a trio of public
servants from as many Hampton Roads cities, all facing similar issues, but in many cases, have never met each other.
Such was the case when Chesapeake councilman Jeff Bunn, who worked for his city for 37 years in tourism, public works and economic development and was on the school board for 14; Portsmouth’s Lisa Lucas Burke, the daughter of Senator Louise Lucas but a hard charger in her own right, starting on the Economic Development Authority followed by 7 years on council; and Joash Schulman of Virginia Beach, like Bunn a first termer but long active in regional matters. Joash owns a co-working space at Town Center, where we met.
There was no one-upmanship in this conversation, even though
Chesapeake and Virginia Beach are arguably among the region’s
wealthier cities and Portsmouth is… not. “But look at how resilient we are,” said Burke, Portsmouth’s vice mayor. “Fifty percent of our land is off the tax rolls, but we do well meeting our obligations. That’s because we are very proud of our city and stick together.”
Having lived in Virginia Beach for the first 14 of her 28 years of marriage, Burke is hardly naïve to the differences. “We barely have a Burger King, but frankly seeing what the Beach had, energized me to go back to Portsmouth and fight for more shopping opportunities there.” Joash (pronounced Josh) and Jeff admitted to loving Olde Towne and being thrilled to see massive monopiles on the pier at Portsmouth Marine Terminal. “The offshore wind industry can be good for all of our cities,” said Joash.
Jeff acknowledged that Chesapeake has more land available for development than Portsmouth or Virginia Beach but when traveling on behalf of his municipality in search of convention and reunion business, he promoted all of our “sister cities” attractions, from Norfolk’s downtown to the Virginia Beach resort strip. Joash, a Michigan native, is the lone come-here of the group. To him Town Center, “creating something from nothing,” was “visionary,” and since “you can get anywhere in 20 minutes here” (unlike his native Detroit), he is often sampling other communities’ delights.
All three were busy writing down what they were learning. “I want to know more about your land bank program,” Joash said to Jeff. “I am interested in your festivals and really enjoy taking the ferry from Norfolk to Portsmouth,” said Jeff to Lisa. “We should all do that together,” stated Joash, a father of three, who related how he would like more impervious driveways to relieve flooding, something Norfolk “does much better than us.” All three can’t wait for a regional success story, an expanded Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, to open and are pleased that the cities will soon share the costs and reap the tax benefits of some future large regional projects.
They all agree that raising reading scores would be an ideal regional initiative, perhaps encouraging support for a privately funded program like local retired school psychologist Gary Anderson’s All District Reads where entire school systems devour the same book at the same time at home with their families. “The more that kids can read at grade level, the better our workforce literacy will be,” said Burke.
They are not pollyannish, acknowledging that there is a “long way to go” to become better “connected” and that the economy challenges all governments, but that mutual respect and more personal relationships among all councilmembers would help. “Our regional agencies should get us in the same room more often, because we’re all in this together,” said Ms. Burke, an NSU grad in electronic engineering. “We should encourage each other to lean into our particular strengths,” said Mr. Schulman, “so we all can grow and prosper.” Now that’s Forward Thinking.
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