When Waterside Festival opened in 1983 was a symbol of Norfolk’s downtown revitalization. Now, almost 30 years have passed and Waterside is slowly becoming a symbol for the dysfunction at Norfolk City Hall.
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority took over Waterside from a private developer in 1998. Three years later, with the addition of several new restaurants, bars and nightclubs, the city touted the fact that Waterside was profitable for the first time in a decade. That was 10 years ago and much has changed since then.
The city ran off tenants (it is currently less-than half full), Waterside began losing money again and latest estimates are that the city spends around $1 million annually to subsidize the property. Ideas have been touted for the space, including a casino, movie theater, market and bowling alley. Will any of them seriously be pursued though?
Could there be ulterior motives at work at Waterside as well? In May of 2008 Council members Barclay Winn and Anthony Burfoot are on record as saying they felt Waterside should be torn down. Burfoot even said that Waterside should be closed by 2010. Within a year of saying Waterside should be torn down, several Waterside venues were shut down and a year later Jillian’s left due to, in part, indecision by the city. And as we talked about yesterday, it certainly isn’t beyond members of City Council.
Even now, after the city spent nearly $30,000 on outside consultants to provide ideas for Waterside – they unanimously said don’t tear it down, by the way – the city said recently it wants more time to decide Waterside’s fate. How much longer is this going to go on and at what cost to the taxpayers?
The city likes to talk about what a priority Waterside is, but isn’t it peculiar that if you go to the Waterside website, there is absolutely no information about leasing space there. ANY other facility like Waterside Festival – especially one in dire need of tenants – has that information readily available on its website. Why doesn’t the city have it up on the Waterside site? If they don’t want to deal with managing the property why won’t they just sell it to a private developer and let them handle it?
When will someone from City Hall step up and give real answers to these questions that relate to their motives and actions?
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