Norfolk School Board votes to close schools and discusses lobbyists and chicken wings.

Every third Wednesday I find myself at the informal meeting of Norfolk’s School Board. Just like city council, the informal sessions are where all the work happens and have a much more conversational and laid back atmosphere. Steve Vegh from The Virginian-Pilot covers the school closings, but that is only part of the story. A good chunk of last night’s meeting covered a very interesting topic: the school board’s legislative liaison.

Earlier in the night, they had agreed to cut memberships to the Virginia School Board Association and the National Association of School Boards for a savings of $31,000. Since these associations provided some lobbying services, the discussion naturally turned to the board’s personal lobbyist and her cost of $34,208 per year.

In this audio clip, you can hear Board Chair Dr. Kirk Houston ask how the lobbyist came to be on the school board’s budget and whether or not the position is worth the price. The conversation takes a humorous turn as they discuss how the chicken wings were the only highlight of a legislative conference they all attended in Richmond, which was apparently bad enough that they just decided to leave. This may seem immature to some, but it really highlights an underlying point the board was quick to realize: chicken wings with your legislators at a party, no matter how delicious, are no match for a dedicated lobbyist.

You might question the money it costs, but the reality is that someone  needs to keep our General Assembly members up to date. The board’s lobbyist takes pending legislation and works with the school administration to calculate the impacts on Norfolk’s schools. Could it be done cheaper? Possibly, and the board had a long discussion about that as well. Dr. Linda Horsey suggested putting out a request for bids and this gave me an interesting idea:

Why can’t we as a community do the lobbying for them?

A little civic engagement can save a lot of money. Not just in lobbyists, but avoided mistakes as well. So who wants to join up? A dedicated lobbyist is nice, but a dedicated community is even better.

Map of proposed Congressional Districts courtesy of DJ Spiker at bearingdrift.com.

Coalition Attacks Proposed Redistricting Plans

For local political nerds like myself, the big story in the past few days has been this map that has supposedly been agreed upon by Virginia’s Congressional Delegation. Politico has a good story on the plan here, but it should not surprise anyone that these districts were drawn with incumbent protection in mind.

Doug Smith, of the Virginia Redistricting Coalition, called the plan “partisan gerrymandering at its worst.”

So what is worse? That the Republicans drew a map with eight safe seats or that the Democrats apparently agreed to it because it protects their incumbents as well? We should probably get started on un-electing these guys in time for the next redistricting session in 2020.

If you want to make a statement now, you can attend a hearing at NSU on Monday March 21st, but don’t expect any results. The event is part of Governor McDonnell’s toothless, non-partisan redistricting commission.

Opposition Leaders Arrested in Bahrain

In the latest escalation of riots in the Middle East, opposition leaders are being arrested in Bahrain for, among other things, inciting murder. In case you missed the news earlier, Saudi Arabia has been moving troops into the country to help quell the rebellion.

What does this all mean for us?

This is a Navy town, so more than a few of you might know what else is located in Bahrain right now besides Saudi tanks. The answer? The headquarters for the US Navy’s 5th fleet and Naval Forces Central Command. We’ve got a huge interest in this rebellion failing. What that says about our actions in regards to it will be left up to you to decide.

Groundwater Contaminated under Chesapeake Golf Course

A newly released study shows that fly-ash from coal burning plants has gotten into underground water at a golf course in Chesapeake. But don’t worry, it hasn’t gotten into our drinking water supply! For some reason, you probably don’t find that very comforting. Four hundred people are suing Dominion Power, and if you live in Chesapeake by the course, perhaps you should become one of them.

Don’t live in Chesapeake? Don’t worry! Your tap water probably contains all sorts of stuff you don’t know or even want to know about. For your sake though, I’ll leave that for another article entirely.

Unknown ripper at Woodstock Plaza (Pic | sitedesigngroup.com)

US Pays Blood Ransom to Free CIA Contractor

Things are starting to calm down between the U.S. and Pakistan after we agreed to pay $2.34 million to the victims’ families in a shooting involving an undercover CIA employee. The contractor claimed self-defense, which may have been the case, but the real issue was his un-declared status as a CIA asset. It has long been known that Pakistan’s intelligence service supports the Taliban in many ways, so trust between the two agencies is not exactly at an all time high. This situation had the potential to totally derail their “cooperation” with our effort in Afghanistan, but a usual in American foreign policy, we bought our way out if it.

Virginia Beach is Getting a New Skate Park

I’d like to end things on a positive note with the great news (for me at least) that Virginia Beach is getting another skate park. They have two right now, Woodstock Plaza and Mt. Trashmore and they are always packed with kids. This one will be at Williams Farm Recreation Center off of Newtown Road between Diamond Springs and Newtown Elementary.

Thursday, April 7th, from 6pm to 8pm will be a public input workshop, so if you skateboard or have kids that skateboard, you should consider attending.