NEWS RELEASE:
Senior Services Launches Hotline To
Connect Senior Citizens With Political Leaders
(Hampton Roads, Va., June 25, 2010) – Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia has created a new way to strengthen the connections between senior citizens and the region’s elected leaders – the “Seniors Want to Know” hotline.
The hotline will help seniors express their concerns to political leaders, especially in preparation for this fall’s congressional campaigns as well as for the 2011 Virginia General Assembly session.
“This new service helps senior citizens and the candidates and elected officials. These political leaders need to have a better understanding of the needs of their senior constituents, which will help create potential solutions for the concerns,” said John Skirven, CEO of Senior Services.
Read more…
“City Manager Mary Bunting indicated the pre budget public consultations, which saw thousands of citizens make their views known on city services, would become a template for an initiative on flooding.
“Staff has been developing a concept of a citizen task force that will look at the multiplicity of issues because they are all interrelated. We have flooding issues. We have dredging issues. We have shoreline protection issues,” she told Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Bunting said the citizen engagement process that was used in the budget could be applied to these issues.
“It does need to be staff and citizens working together both in understanding the issue as well as developing strategies,” she said.”
Read the entire Daily Press article by clicking here http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-nws-hampton-council-20100526,0,3041289,full.story
Democracy is feeling pretty messy these days, and the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement is trying to do something about it.
On April 10th, HRCCE will hold its 2nd Annual Civic Engagement Summit.
The theme this year is: “Searching for Citizenship”
# The participants will talk about that and where citizens fit into problem-solving.
# The Citizens Information and Communication Team will bring the results of the information and trust work started by the attendees of last year’s summit.
# Working together, the participants will start the dialogue on accountability and civic engagement.
The event will take place at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton. It begins at 9 am, with a pre-event coffee gathering at 8:30.
Everyone concerned about the state of our democracy and desiring to improve it is invited and encouraged to attend.
The event is free, bur pre-registration is required.
Click HERE for more information.
The following is an exceprt from an editorial in today’s Virginian-Pilot,
“…Unless there is a surprise in City Council chambers today, the decision to support offshore drilling will be one of those baffling moments in which politicians vote against their own economic interests and the interests of the people they represent.
Residents will be wise to wonder why.”
Click here to read the entire article http://hamptonroads.com/2010/02/outsized-risks-not-enough-rewards-offshore-drilling
In his State of the City address today at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott, Mayor Paul Fraim will announce plans for a 10-month-long effort to seek public input. The City Council will make a decision on Waterside’s future early next year, he said.
The city has already begun mailing surveys to seek input on the ailing facility, he said. The surveys also will be on the city’s Web site (www.norfolk.gov ) by Sunday, and they will be placed in libraries, mailed to civic leagues and sent to churches.
Read the rest of the Virginian-Pilot article here http://hamptonroads.com/2010/02/public-help-decide-fate-norfolk-waterside
From dailypress.com
James Oliver
On Sunday, Nov. 8, 1953, the New York Times carried a story titled “Tunnel Plan gains at Hampton Roads.” Meanwhile, Yogi Berra, a famous New York Yankees baseball player, had already won the first of his four Most Valuable Player awards.
Four years later, on Nov. 2, 1957, the Times included an article about “the tunnel that connects Norfolk and Hampton.” By then, Yogi had caught Don Larsen’s historic perfect World Series game.
Yogi, a simple, talented man, and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, a vision that became a reality, frame my future as I try to think about where we are headed in Hampton Roads.
Read more…
Newly hired Hampton City Manager, Mary Bunting, see civic involvement as essential in Hamtpon’s future.
“As we prepare to make cuts in various areas, I’m here to help the council and community navigate through these difficult choices. And hopefully to protect the essential services that people depend on. We’re at the beginning stages of that. I hope to involve our workforce, community and council in these conversations.” – Mary Bunting
To read the entire article, click here http://www.insidebiz.com/news/mary-bunting-first-person
PANEL DISCUSSION TO ADDRESS GOVERNANCE
LEAD Hampton Roads, a local leadership-development program, will host a panel discussion on governance of regional organizations in the wake of the retirement of Michael Townes, the embattled president and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit.
Moderated by Joel Rubin, the panel will include Jim Wood, a Virginia Beach councilman and chairman of Hampton Roads Transit; Bryan Collins, a Chesapeake councilman and former board member of the Southeastern Public Service Authority; Jim Oliver, former city manager in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton; Doug Smith, a Portsmouth councilman and board member of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization; and Molly Ward, mayor of Hampton and co-chair of the transportation planning organization.
The discussion will be held on Wed. Jan 20th from 7:45 to 9 a.m. at the Town Point Club in the World Trade Center in downtown Norfolk. Open to the public, the cost is $20 for dues-paying graduates of LEAD Hampton Roads and $25 for guests. Reservations are required.
Contact Amanda Gant at (757) 664-2516 or agant@hrccva.com.
From SmartRegion.org:
The Vision Hampton Roads document (draft) was released on January 5, 2010.
This will begin the 30-day public comment period required by the Economic Development Administration (EDA). You can view/download the document, i.e., our regional roadmap, at http://VisionHamptonRoads.com. We encourage you to take the Public Comment Survey and pass this link along to your friends, neighbors and colleagues.
From Chris Bonney:
About eight weeks ago Steve Craft, of NASA Langley Research Center’s Strategic Relationships Office and a long-time TED Conference fan had an idea.
“Wouldn’t it be neat if we could have a TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference here?”
A lot of us have bold ideas like this, but never act upon them. Craft and his associates at NASA Langley clearly aren’t like us. They’re can-do people. In just eight week’s time, Craft and his associates at NASA found co-sponsors, lined up more than twenty speakers from all over the United States and abroad, booked CNU’s Ferguson Center and invited the community in for a day celebrating ideas and innovation.
Click HERE to read Chris’s account of the event
Click HERE to read a report from Missy Schmidt
with the Hampton Roads Partnership
Click HERE to read the account published in the Daily Press
