Will Norfolk learn?
Re “Hampton Roads Ventures spurs City Council direction to invest in Norfolk” (Our Views, Jan. 22): Among its failures to adequately provide visible, accessible and supportive leadership and development needs in providing for the demise of Military Circle, MacArthur Center and Waterside, and the long-delayed casino project, City Council is now facing the embarrassment of Hampton Roads Ventures, a for-profit subsidiary of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, created in 2003.
According to The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press Editorial Board, “Hampton Roads Ventures has lost track of where to find Norfolk or even Hampton Roads on a map.”
Since 2008 (the last time it funded a local project), it has helped six other states, such as a food bank expansion in Florida and a salmon barge in Washington State. But its mission to jump-start development in Norfolk continues to fall flat, “despite the group being directed in 2022 by clearly unhappy City Council members to find and help fund a worthy development in Norfolk.”
Three years later, council has finally decided to take another look at HRV, where its three employees, who collectively make close to a half-million dollars a year in salaries and benefits, have refused to release its complete financial records.
Isn’t it the duty of council to monitor such agencies to ensure they are working efficiently and effectively? Seventeen years without funding a project in Norfolk. Where do I sign up for a position?
Tazewell Hubard, Norfolk
Apology owed
Re “Prosecutors: Fatal shooting of man during chase was justified” (A1, Jan. 28): Having been in California, and as someone certified in Virginia to work as an armed security officer, I find it unconscionable for the government to take 10 months to determine that officers that shot Santonio Lee “did exactly what their training and duty justifies them to do.”
In addition to all the other violent criminal activities stated in The Pilot article, Lee shot at officers five times. Why did officers and their families have to wait 10 months to find out the government was not going to charge them with murder? The state and Norfolk owe them an apology and a statement of support for continuing to strive to take violent felons off our streets.
Joseph L. Bass, Suffolk
Fair share
Gulf Coast states are the poorest states in the United States. California citizens pay more taxes than any state in the nation. When the poorest states need help they get it. Now Republicans want to withhold help to the fire-stricken California.
I am sure California taxpayers contribute more than their fair share of funds to finance the federal government. What if their governor decided to withhold paying federal taxes to Washington and use the money to fight their fires and help folks affected by this natural disaster? That would get the attention of the Republicans that do not want to help a non-Republican state.
Donald Lane, Chesapeake
Confirmation
I watched the confirmation hearings for Department of Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He backtracked on his views on vaccines, HIV and autism. No surprise. He also said President Donald Trump wants him to investigate why the U.S. lost so many citizens to COVID.
That one I can answer: Poor promotion of vaccines, offering quack alternatives, ventilator shortages and giving media time to non experts such as My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell instead of Dr. Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Then there was the discussion about former President Joe Biden requiring more nurses at nursing homes, which he feels should be changed to avoid nursing home closures. If a facility cannot have appropriate staff for patients, they should close.
For years we have waited for Medicare to be able to negotiate for cheaper drug prices but that now is on hold. Listen to Caroline Kennedy.
Gloria Ross, Virginia Beach