dailypress080305wl

Gilliland lit fuse of recall effort

By Wil LaVeist

August 3, 2005

So the adage "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is not just for international politics.

The Hampton activists who have come together to recall City Council member Randy Gilliland say they'll continue waging their own battles against city hall.

The irony is that their coalition was apparently triggered during a City Council meeting and ignited by Gilliland's own words.

Phyllis Flanders, president of the Green Space Preservation Commission, said she and members of groups at odds with the council were sitting around talking during a council meeting in May.

"All of us realized at the same time that City Council wasn't listening to us and we needed to talk to each other," she said. "We really started talking to each other instead of allowing them to keep us in our own little boxes."

That impromptu talk would turn into a meeting to plan a joint press conference.

Gilliland apparently lit the fuse days before.

In a Daily Press article about the recall effort falling 71 signatures short of the 1,420 needed, Gilliland said: "The recall petition results reflect that the overwhelming majority of citizens view the totality of my record of service on City Council."

Gaylene Kanoyton, president of Hampton Watch, which vowed to recall council members who voted to fire City Manager George Wallace, said her phone rang constantly that morning with people she didn't know from around the city.

"That article ended up waking people," she said. "When he made that statement, people came out of the woodwork."

That apparently included people who agreed with the firing of Wallace or didn't care either way. Hampton Watch gathered 371 signatures that weekend.

There are residents throughout the city who are not activists or regulars at council meetings but who are concerned about the direction the city is headed. They should drop the "You can't fight city hall" adage and get involved.

Erica Davis, a Sussex Village resident concerned about proposals to revitalize the Kecoughtan area, and Thomas Kennedy of the previously dormant anti-tax group the kNOw Campaign also spoke at the press conference.

Davis, who is active with community youth groups, is concerned about a proposal she said she stumbled upon to bulldoze houses across the street from her home to make way for a park. She said Sussex Village residents don't have a clue about Planning Commission proposals because they haven't been informed. She doesn't buy claims that it's too costly to mail notices to residents. The commission has been holding public meetings for months coordinated through neighborhood associations, but Sussex lacks one. Others have been recommending their fate. Concerned About the Kecoughtan Corridor, a grass-roots group of neighbors who live on or near LaSalle Avenue, supports the recall effort, too.

Meanwhile, kNOw has ties to state Republican Del. Tom Gear. Gilliland, a Democrat running as an independent, is challenging Gear on the November ballot.

Gilliland plans to remain on City Council if he loses what is expected to be a tight race.

Gilliland said in a statement that Gear is behind this unified recall effort and that the former Democrat has "returned to his liberal roots teaming with activist Rudy Langford, Mary Christian, and (Sen.) Mamie Locke."

Gear has denied involvement, but clearly doesn't mind the recall.

There seemed to be a subliminal equation in Gilliland's statement. Langford, Christian and Locke are black. Many believe Gear needs black support to win. Liberal versus conservative divided by black versus white.

Maybe Gear's hand is involved, but I'd rather envision Hampton rising above racial politics as other diverse cities have. Residents of different backgrounds and issues uniting for a common cause is a sign of that - even if the cause is recalling a council member for the first time in the city's history.

Watching Christian, Kanoyton, Flanders and her fellow "Green Space Gals" wrap up the press conference with a rendition of the "Buckroe Beach Anthem" was another first and quite a bit of fun.

Maybe their efforts will prompt more Hampton residents to join civic organizations to help improve government. And maybe someday stop viewing the City Council as the enemy.

Wil LaVeist can be reached at 247-7840 or by e-mail at wlaveist@dailypress.com.