Va Beach City Council Election Will Impact Us All

This election day in Virginia Beach is important, as it will decide who sits on city council when the decisions concerning Light Rail’s extension to the beach are hashed out. The article contains most candidates’ position on The Tide, with an unfortunate majority falling under some version of the “wait and see” opinion. Normally, I’d be all about that tactic. However, sometimes waiting means we’re left behind, which we’re ripe for being on this front. Light Rail will be in Norfolk in 2011. We’ll be riding it. If it could connect to the Oceanfront or Town Center (or both!) sooner rather than later, that’d be a greater boon to so many local businesses as well as a recruitment tool for attracting recent graduates and other young professionals to the 757.

Now! (Pic | alternatives for community and environment)

Putting myself in their shoes, if I wasn’t from here, from the surface we’d seem great: city and beach within 20 minutes of one another. Sweet. But I’d dig in and quickly discover the challenges presented in living here in the current state of regionalism; I’d realize I can’t skip down to the Beach and back to the city (or vice versa) without navigating the sea-o-aggression that is I-264, trying to figure out why there are 19 different Princess Anne Roads and 12 Lynnhaven’s, or paying too much for parking.

Regardless if you live in Norfolk or Virginia Beach, you sometimes need to visit the other city. Norfolkians like oceans and boardwalks and Trader Joe’s. Va Beachers like museums and zoos and Nordstrom’s. There’s good to be shared, public-park wise, tourist attraction wise, corporate retail wise, (more importantly) local business wise. Most of all, though, the idea of being neighborly can truly be extended with the expansion of Light Rail. These two cities can benefit by working together to show the rest of the country how bangin’ this region can be when it wants to work together.

Aside from listing the light rail stuff, here’s the best part of the article: one of the most closely watched races will be the Princess Anne district’s head-to-head between incumbent Bill DeSteph and Mayor Will Sessoms and Councilman John Uhrin-backed candidate Dave Redmond, who shortly after receiving a combined $17,500 from those two premiered possibly the most ridiculous opponent-bashing commercial of this political season.

“Shortly after those contributions, Redmond unveiled a Web site and TV ads that attack DeSteph for wearing a sexually provocative genie costume to a Halloween fundraiser two years ago.”

Way to concentrate on the issues, Redmond! Kudos, really. I love how political races concentrate on important issues and candidate qualifications, leaving personal behaviors out of the argument. Love it.

Senseless Tragedy and Guns are Bad

Victor Decker, age 25, was senselessly shot to death sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning. At his young age, he was already a decorated officer, having garnered a valor award from the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, a Norfolk Police Department’s Medal of Valor, a Governor’s Medal of Valor award, the title of the city’s Top Cop, and the title Norfolk Officer of the Year. He was also a new father (his daughter is 8 months old).

Downtown Norfolk Council President Cathy Coleman hit the nail on the head when she said, “His connection downtown, I think, went beyond his police patrolling. It really became a personal, almost family, relationship.” I hang out at Hell’s Kitchen on Granby a fair amount. I know most of their staff, yada yada. Their reaction alone to this tragedy is proof beyond that Officer Decker (always happy to be called “Vic”) made an impact. I’m sure the other restaurants downtown feel the same. As one Facebook commenter said, “I had never used the phrase ‘my favorite cop’ before I met this man.” That’s something more lofty than any of the awards his won in his short career.

RIP. This kind of thing is completely senseless. Have I used that word enough in this section? Senseless? I hope something good comes out of this. I hope his memory is used to further highlight all the good the NPD does downtown (and everywhere) instead of turning into a giant debate about gun rights and nightclubs and all that jank. Senseless senseless senseless.

A Different (and Good) Kind of Job Fair

Newport News will host a job fair for employment seekers with criminal records. The project, created by Good Seed, Good Ground recognizes how difficult it is for someone to get a job if they check “yes” on the ole’ “ever gotten in trouble?” question on applications.

The same job fair was held last year, and no employers came for fear of being branded “the place where the convicts work” or some such logic. Several people were employed on the back end, however, as Good Seed passed on applications to employers after the fact (and out of the spotlight). Organizers say one employer has committed to publicly supporting this year, but skepticism remains.

Quoting Tamara Dietrich will suffice more than anything I can say: “The link between mainstreaming ex-offenders and lowering recidivism is well-documented. If a man has a job, he’s far less likely to reoffend. Yet Virginia still makes it hard for men and women who’ve served their felony time to work in many fields. And employers can refuse to hire anyone just for being arrested. Not convicted — arrested. Deny any man an honest living long enough, and don’t be surprised if he resorts to a dishonest one.”

Kudos big time to this organization for recognizing a community need and attempting to do something about it.

Bobby Mc-D May Maim NPR

So not awesome. So so not.

The New MySpace

MySpace is going to revamp itself as a music and entertainment website, bowing out gracefully in its competition with other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. They recognize the gap left with the transformation of MTV from a launching pad for new culture and music to a reality TV channel. They know there’s not a lot of dedicated space online for this kind of content (at least, not a lot of quality dedicated space) and are going to mosey over to that corral and see how it goes.

I wholeheartedly support this. I use MySpace more and more when looking up bands (local and touring). I will probably like and use it even more when they de-clutter the templates and layout in a project they’re calling “cleaning up MySpace e-waste,” which will limit templates for homepages and reduce the amount of advertising it objects me to.

Hiccups Are A Killer

For a totally different take on weird, sad and senseless news, let’s go to Florida, where the “Hiccup Girl” (19-year old Jennifer Mee, who in 2007 gained fame for allowing The Today Show to film her daily struggle with hiccuping up to 50 times per minute) has been charged with murder. Allegedly, she lured 22-year old Shannon Griffin to a spot where two cohorts robbed and shot him. I don’t even know what to say.

€2.1 Million Painting Found

When a 91 year old French woman passed away earlier this year, the Paris apartment she (or anyone else) hadn’t been in since before World War II was cleaned out. Reports indicate it was a time warp like no other, including pre-war toys and furniture. The cherry on top, however, was a new Boldini painting found inside (apparently the tenant’s grandmother was his muse, and he painted this for her in 1898). Score!