Mysterious Motives, Unanswered Questions and the Might of Money

By now, most Norfolk citizens know the story of the extremely controversial Midtown Office Tower that has been making headlines the past few months. The tower, and the questions surrounding it, became a microcosm of everything that’s wrong at Norfolk City Hall. If you haven’t heard the stories, then you’ve probably been living under a rock. Come to think of it, that’s actually where members of Norfolk City Council would likely prefer their constituents stay. But I digress.

For those who need catching up, here is a brief synopsis:

Tivest Development & Construction proposed building a six-story, $32.7 million office building at the corner of Tidewater Drive and Virginia Beach Boulevard. The tower was to contain, among other things, the offices of the Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project (STOP), which would occupy 65,000 of the 165,000-square-foot office tower. Controversy arose when Tivest approached the city in December, asking them to guarantee 65% of the rent payments for STOP’s office space, should STOP default on its rent payments.

This is likely because STOP President and CEO Regina Lawrence told Tivest President Dwight Etheridge that she had concerns about STOP’s ability to pay the increased rent in the Midtown Office Tower. Currently, STOP pays about $324,000 annually in rent. In the Midtown Office Tower, their rent would increase to $2.1 million annually.

Of course, Mayor Fraim was on board with Tivest’s requests, saying the risk would be “minimal” and that he would urge city council to approve the stipulation.

"The STOP organization has been around 46 years, and they have an excellent record of paying their bills,” said Mayor Fraim. As we blogged about earlier, apparently STOP has had MASSIVE financial problems over the years and is nearly broke. Glad to see you did your homework, Mayor.

Moreover, City Council members Angelia Williams, Tommy Smigiel and Andy Protogyrou, who voted against the project, said no one from City Hall bothered to speak with STOP officials about their interest in the project, or their concerns over their ability to pay the increased rent.

While debating the value of the Midtown Office Tower, Norfolk City Council held closed door sessions, which were later determined to be illegal.

After much public outcry, including the aforementioned three members of city council breaking away from the others to hold on open forum, the city abandoned the much-maligned office tower.

Thankfully the office tower project is no more, but there are many issues / questions came to light in recent months that need explaining. Namely, why were city leaders such Mayor Fraim and Vice Mayor Anthony Burfoot so adamant about pushing this tower through? Could it be because Tivest President Dwight Etheridge has been a financial supporter of both Fraim and Burfoot? For the record, Etheridge has also supported Councilmen Winn and Riddick financially as well. They were all outspoken in their support the office tower. Coincidence?

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Etheridge and his companies (Tivest and Genesis Staffing) have contributed over $15,000 to select Norfolk politicians and their campaigns between 2007 and 2010, notably Mayor Fraim ($5,000), Vice Mayor Burfoot ($5,000) and councilmen Riddick ($2,000) and Winn ($1,000).

The Etheridge / Tivest / Genesis Norfolk Donations Scorecard 
06/07/2007 - Genesis Staffing contributed $1,250 to Anthony Burfoot for Norfolk City Council
06/07/2007 - Tivest Development & Construction contributed $1,250 to Anthony Burfoot for Norfolk City Council
04/18/2008 - Tivest Development & Construction contributed $1,000 to Daun Hester for Norfolk City Council
05/05/2008 - Tivest Development & Construction contributed $1,000 to Barclay Winn for Noroflk City Council
09/09/2009 - Tivest Development & Construction contributed $1,000 to the Hester/McDonald Golf Classic
09/11/2009 - Dwight Etheridge made a $1,000 personal contribution to Paul Riddick for Norfolk City Council
03/08/2010 - Genesis Staffing contributed $1,000 to Paul Riddick for Norfolk City Council
03/12/2010 - Genesis Staffing contributed $2,500 to Paul Fraim for Norfolk City Mayor
03/12/2010 - Tivest Development & Construction contributed $2,500 to Fraim for Mayor
03/23/2010 - Tivest Development & Construction contributed $2,500 to Anthony Burfoot for Noroflk City Council
05/03/2010 - Tivest Development & Construction contributed $500 to Andy Protogyrou for Norfolk City Council

Meanwhile, Etheridge and his companies and contributed a grand total of $250 to Chesapeake politicians (where Tivest is based) and a big fat $0 to Virginia Beach politicians (where Genesis and based and Etheridge calls home).

Also keep in mind that NFL Hall of Famer (and Norfolk native) Bruce Smith proposed a similar idea to build an office building for city employees on the same site years earlier. Smith was rejected by the city.
Did the fact that Smith did not grease their pockets factor in their decision to reject his proposal?

Has anyone in the Norfolk media sat down with Mayor Fraim, Vice Mayor Burfoot or Council members Winn and Riddick to ask about their support for the office tower, despite not seeking input from STOP? Has anyone directly asked them if the financial contributions from Tivest and Genesis Staffing affected their decision? Do we need to dig deeper into other financial contributions made to their campaigns over the years to see if they’ve affected other important city decisions?

What about Mr. Etheridge? Has anyone asked him why he has made substantial contributions to Norfolk politicians, but little-to-none to Chesapeake and Virginia Beach politicians, where he actually lives and works?

If not, why? When is someone going to hold these people responsible for their actions or at the very least find out the motives behind what, at least on the surface, appears to be questionable behavior?