Happy Holidays!
I hope everyone had a restful and fun Thanksgiving with family and friends. The Doyle family was all together at our house with nieces, nephews, dogs, aunts and uncles. We had a ball together.
November was quite interesting relative to happenings in Norfolk. Norfolk City Council passed a resolution on a new public transit bus redesign for the city. Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) oversees public transit throughout the entire region. We took the opportunity to work with HRT to undergo a redesign in Norfolk. It has been decades since we evaluated and modified the current bus patterns across the city and as a result we were seeing declining utilization. This future change was much needed given the nature of our evolving community and changing technology. We conducted extensive public engagement to gather community input. The idea was to shift to a more frequent network and targeted service. Benefits include the following:
- 70% of residents near frequent service – service every 15 minutes. (did you know lots of our service is every 30 minutes?)
- 38,000 more jobs will be within 1/4 mile of a bus or train that arrives every 15 minutes
- 24% growth in number of residents who could reach the average job location
The current service costs the city $20M annually. The new enhancements will result in a 1% increase in cost and will be implemented in 2022.
Do you see streetlights unlit (or on during the day?) in your neighborhood or around town? Report them! I have been hearing and seeing myself about the issue as have other council members. Thus, we invited Dominion Energy to present to Norfolk City Council to share how they replace light poles, lights and more. Please call 1-866-366-4357 or use this link to fill out a form: https://www.dominionenergy.com/virginia/report-outage-or-emergency/streetlight-outages
While family was in town for Thanksgiving a bunch of us visited the winter wonderland at the Wisconsin! The battleship has even more lights than last year and it is beautiful! See the picture below. On Saturday night we saw Santa, the Grinch and the boat parade near the Wisconsin. Quote from a family member: “This exceeded my expectations!” Please visit the Wisconsin if you are around.
I wish all a safe and happy holiday. Get vaccinated if you have not and get the booster as well!
Cheers!
Courtney
Grady and his hurt tail.
Wisconsin Winter Wonderland!
Swearing-in of Councilwoman Danica Royster for Super Ward 7. Great election victory.
