It will be
important for citizens, especially Hampton citizens, to attend to show
support. And it will be important for Hamptonians who are true friends
of Fort Monroe to speak. We'll
post details about the hearing when Hampton publishes them. Meanwhile,
here's how things stand.
After lengthy
dialogue between the attorneys for the Hampton petitioners and the city
council, the citizens’ initiative petition is moving forward. That
petition -- with formal standing under provisions of the city charter,
and with the signatures of more than 2400 Hampton voters from last
November -- calls for revising and improving Hampton’s existing Fort
Monroe ordinance.
The revised,
improved ordinance would adopt a higher municipal vision instead of
highlighting, for example, "industrial" development at Fort Monroe. (No
kidding -- that word actually does appear in the present ordinance.) It
would incorporate consideration of the site’s history, beauty and
natural resources, just as state
law requires.
The revised,
improved ordinance calls for Hampton to seek
* a Grand Public Place encompassing all of Fort Monroe,
* prohibition of any sales of this precious land,
* a substantial national park unit,
* Fort Monroe's economic self-sufficiency, and
* avoidance of any Fort Monroe tax burden for Hampton taxpayers.
(Read a slightly longer plain-language
version of the proposed improvements to the city's Fort
Monroe ordinance.)
Of course,
the city of Hampton should not and cannot dictate the decision-making of
the Fort Monroe Authority (formally, that's the "Fort Monroe Federal
Area Development Authority," or FMFADA -- sometimes called the "fah-dah"
for the last four letters of that abbreviation). But the city can and
does attempt to influence that decision-making, including through the
city council's seven appointees to the authority. (Moreover, two council
members also sit at the Fort Monroe Authority table, with speaking
privileges but not voting privileges.)
Those seven
Hampton citizens -- the only private citizens on the panel -- serve at
the pleasure of Hampton City Council. The revised and improved
ordinance, if adopted by city council vote -- or by a vote of the people
of Hampton, if the petition effort comes to that -- would adopt a
municipal vision that respects both Hampton’s interests and the public
will.
The
overwhelming public response to the petition effort of the Hampton
Committee of Petitioners constitutes a powerful demonstration that the
vast majority of Hampton citizens -- like citizens elsewhere in the
region, the state, and the nation -- want a grand public place with a
national park unit at Fort Monroe.
Hampton
citizen Sam Martin of Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park chairs
the effort, with several other CFMNP members from Hampton also
officially involved. At CFMNP, we want to do all we can to help
both them and Hampton work for the best for Fort Monroe.
Hampton has a
unique stake in Fort Monroe's future. That stake must be respected. We
support all true friends of Fort Monroe who are trying constructively to
do precisely that -- by improving Hampton's official approach to this
wonderful opportunity.
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