Surferheel

Mike, I agree with you to an extent. However, the fact that the Renaissance and the Sports Hall of Fame aren't making money is no fault of Council. Downtown is a revitalizing area. You can't expect the first couple of City projects in a relatively stagnant downtown area (think Portsmouth downtown 10 years ago) to thrive. They'll take time to become income producers. And I'll be honest, both projects bring a lot to the downtown area, so I don't care that they aren't revenue generators yet. Many people are conditioned to want payoffs immediately, an I'm sorry, that's not going to happen in a revitalizing area. As far as Ntelos and the parking circle fiasco, I'm with you. Ntelos has been doomed from the start. Bad access, the parking is inadequate, and the view across the river isn't exactly first class. I have no words to express how useless the roundabout has been. I mean, at least stick a flag, statue, or emblem in the middle for pete's sake. It's hideous and serves no purpose. All I can say is, the City is finally attempting to bring good projects to the City after a long time of doing nothing. Have some patience and I think some of the projects will pay off.

It's also the same 2 or 3 bozos on the comment section, complaining about their tax dollars. Some people do not understand the concept of taking money to make money. The cities (and therefore the taxpayers) partially funding large projects is an easy concept to understand and therefore get fired up about. When you start talking about rates of return for the public entities, these guys don't want to hear it or don't understand it. It's really frustrating to read their comments. I live in Portsmouth, and would be more than happy to share my tax dollars on projects that will enhance the quality of life within the city. Does anybody know a ballpark figure of how many jobs and what kind of jobs this would create for the city?

My wife and I went to Comfort tonight for dinner, Just our luck, tonight was the only night of the week that they were closed

Henry, I was there as well. I guess I was somewhat out of the loop, but I was unaware of the inner connectivity plan between the seven cities. I realize this will not happen for many years, but I am pleased that the localities at least have a long term plan. I would love nothing better than hopping on a train from Olde Towne Portsmouth (where I live) and commuting to VB Town Center (where I work). I was very impressed by all of the speakers as well. In particular Coucilman Wright of Norfolk showed great passion for the plan.

I thought that the opening would be soon. I drive by it on Crawford every day and it has looked nearly completed for some time now. From what I have seen, the entrance looks very nice. Also, it looks like the Comfort restaurant and the catering/lunch restaurant will be open for business fairly soon. Also, my wife and I walked by the new ice cream shop on Monday, and the inside looked very well done. They haven't done much to the outside, but if I recall correctly, they were having issues with the zoning and/or planning staff.

Work on the Comfort Restaurant looks to be coming coming around. Construction on it has been going on for well over a month. It also looks like the upstairs is being renovated into condos/apartments. I believe work may me commencing on the Farm Fresh building as well. Yesterday moring, the doors of the building were open and it looked like a couple of construction workers were going in and out. My question is, where will the parking be for the store? Are parking requirements relaxed in Portsmouth for a "Neighborhood Grocery Store"? A few new apartments and an ice cream store beside Olde Towne Bakery (I've been told) are also going up on High Street in Olde Towne. It looks like the apartments are either fully completed or nearly completed. The ice cream shop renovation just went underway a couple of weeks ago. A few older businesses have also shut down as the redevelopment continues on High Street. Both pawn shops have recently went out of business. I've heard that they both will be renovated and new businesses will be coming in, but I haven't heard which businesses they will be. There was a rumor a few months back that a Panera Bread Restaurant may be coming to the area. Two new Restaurants have opened on High Street over the past few months. Alt Platz Brewery opened over the winter and a new Italian Resaurant (can't remember the name, something Amore) opened basically across the street from Alt Platz. I haven't been to Alt Platz, but the Italian place is pretty good. The atmosphere of the place is great and the food is good, and very cheap for an Italian restaurant. My wife and I got a couple of takeout subs for dinner last night, and it came up to just over 12 dollars. Finally, it looks like the construction of the city "gateway" is coming along as well. Much of the curbing has been installed and it looks like the traffic divider has also been consructed and initial landscaping efforts have begun on it (basically dirt has been added to it). That's all i got for right now, but I'll keep everyone updating as some of these projects progress.

Hi ladies and gents. I work for a real estate developer in the Tidewater region after working on the public side of development for a few years. I've been a lurker on this board for a while and value the comments and insights that many of you give pertaining to development within the area. I actually use this board for work related projects and respect the fact that so many citizens are so civically aware of actions going on in their cities. I look forward to reading and contributing to the disscussions and thread topics in the future.