Whats gonna happen with Tidewater park and Youngs Park?

[vaguynny]

The only problem that I see with this doesn't help the people. If I work 60 hours a week now and someone that doesn't work at all now gets to live in the same enviroment as me is not fair to the one busting their buts. We need to work to get people off and not just increasing handouts at the tax payers expense. It's just not fair. Take that money and put it in educating them to being self sufficent and put in to the tax pool. This is a capitalist society not a socialist one.

The thing is many people in public housing work very but get paid very little. Alot of people in public housing are seniors that have worked or mothers with children that are disabled etc... It was a study recently that said housewives/ single mothers should get over 100K a year. Now I'm not saying let the mother who has ten children just so she can have a large check from the american tax payers every month move in to a high end place. Maybe if the less fortunate people see people that are more fortunate doing well would encourage the less fortunate people to

[erdogs]

I sure hope we can solve this problem today!

[tekk2k]

Well, no matter what the results are from the consultants' study, There is no way that they are gonna find housing for those people, relocate them, demolish two neighborhoods, and rebuild new towers and condominiums by 2010. Which means that the so-called "2010 Project" is not going to be as nice as I thought. The "poor-people relocation project" may take up to 2015. Which makes me wonder about those condos they are going to be building in Downtown Plaza. Thats gonna be a tough sell. I can't imagine paying $500,000 for a condo thats directly across the street from the projects. LOL, thats kinda funny. I guess it won't be funny for the people living in those condos.

[vdogg]

I sure hope we can solve this problem today!

Well, the discussion has to start somewhere, why not here? We won't solve it today to be sure but we won't solve it at all if we don't at least start working towards a solution. This is going to be a big issue in the very near

future. I will be very interested in what the St. Pauls quadrant study has come up with, which should be out shortly.

Well, no matter what the results are from the consultants' study, There is no way that they are gonna find housing for those people, relocate them, demolish two neighborhoods, and rebuild new towers and condominiums by 2010. Which means that the so-called "2010 Project" is not going to be as nice as I thought. The "poor-people relocation project" may take up to 2015. Which makes me wonder about those condos they are going to be building in Downtown Plaza. Thats gonna be a tough sell. I can't imagine paying $500,000 for a condo thats directly across the street from the projects. LOL, thats kinda funny. I guess it won't be funny for the people living in those condos.

Hoffler tower is going to be apartments, both luxury and mixed income I believe. To my knowledge there are no condos planned for at or near DT Plaza at this time (other than the rotunda and St. Pauls Place).

[rusthebuss]

I totally agree that the system needs to be fixed. Everyone needs help during their lifetime. We just need to get mentality of welfare out of their minds and show them what they are truely capiable of doing. Poor doesn't mean that you are ignorant or stupid. I grew up around and went to school with people that lived in public housing. They had a mentality that they couldn't get out of there and was always looking for fast money. Now not everyone I know that lived in the housing projects felt that way. Alot are elderly and disabled and I truely believe that we should help them. I believe that those that are able bodies to work should be very limited to state and federal funds for support.

[andyfried]

I agree with that.

[Weaver24]

I feel that if Downtown Norfolk really want to reach its fullest potential and attract tourists, our (Norfolk) residents and residents of other HR cities, then we will need to either renovate or remove those unsightly buildings. I also mentioned our residents because I heard that alot of Norfolk residents do alot of their shopping in Va Beach (Town Center/Lynnhaven) and Chesapeake (Greenbrier/Battlefield) because Norfolk has alot of crime, lacking retail like Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's, etc. So in order for the city to receive alot of tax money, they need to improve their business districts, malls, etc. so people would feel that they are safe and clean places to shop. Now I don't think we should push poor people out of our city but you can't just leave the area looking the way it looks. It is so close to downtown. There is alot of land in those areas that the city could use. It isn't a race thing because if it was a trailor park, then it would be removed like the one behind Southern Shopping Center. Plus, those people in Tidewater and Youngs Park deserve better housing. I heard these parks are a main reason why MacArthur Center and DT Norfolk doesn't have as much traffic as it should. Alot of stores left MacArthur Center. I think DT Norfolk is improving alot but could be better if we remove the projects and also fix areas that are north on Brambleton like Granby street. I also think we should build low income housing in other areas of the city.