Fort Apache: Wards Corner...the area that Norfolk's City Council has forgotten

The area which was once known as the “Times Square of the South,” has become a dangerous section of town, filled with abandoned businesses and rundown apartment complexes. Though Norfolk’s City Council has been promising for years, to clean up the Wards Corner/Southern Shopping Center area, residents are still waiting and living in fear.

The following commentary which voices the frustration felt by law abiding citizens, appeared on the community website known as Wards Corner Now on September 19, 2009:

“The East Little Creek Road Corridor between Wards Corner and Wal-Mart is becoming a gun range with humans as targets. Two murders this week in the 800 block of Banaker Road. One murder last week in the 300 block of Fort Worth Avenue and today, Saturday, another shooting in the 800 block of East Little Creek Road.

Why isn’t Norfolk going to war on this dysfunction that is becoming a part of every day life in our area? Is it because most of the killings and shootings involve black folks? If this criminal activity were taking place in Downtown, you want to bet that the Mayor and several City Council folks would have their mugs all over the television news. Case in point â€" The Granby Theater shooting in March of 2007. All hell broke loose in the city’s officialdom.

Why is violence in one part of the city dealt with severely and in other areas almost ignored? One answer is institutional racism. Black folks killing each other in Norfolk is ok as long as it doesn’t effect the economic development efforts in Downtown.”

Wards Corner Now is a group of concerned citizens, churches and businesses in the Greater Wards Corner area.

The following crimes occurred in the Wards Corner/Southern Shopping Center area between January 1, 2007-September 2, 2010 (Source: Norfolk Police Department crime statistics):

-484 assaults -462 burglaries -247 robberies -22 rapes -15 homicides -121 narcotics violations -665 acts of vandalism -1,187 larcenies -11 acts of prostitution -241 stolen vehicles

*Reporter’s note: While seemingly limitless resources are spent on the Ghent/Downtown area of Norfolkâ€"Wards Corner has become the most forgotten part of the city. It should be an embarrassment to the city council.

How many hard working residents have to fall victim to crime before this complacent council takes action?

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