Good afternoon,

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a fun holiday season. I am looking forward to a great 2024.  How in the world is it already 2024?

I take a long power walk with a dear friend on Sunday mornings and we see all sorts of things in Norfolk along the way. This past Sunday I saw the beautifully renovated tennis courts at Maury High School!  While I think there are some final touches to be done before the project is considered complete, the six courts look brand new.  Maury High School has an excellent tennis program and has won state titles in the last few years. I look forward to the boys and girls teams practicing and competing on these courts once again and not having to travel to other courts throughout the city.  And, by the way, the Maury High School football team won the state championship in December.  Strong sports for Maury. Go Commodores!

I toured the new Elizabeth River Project Pru and Louis Ryan Resilience Lab building on the northern end of Colley Avenue in December. The building is beautiful and the property and waterfront are just incredible.  The Elizabeth River Project has taken resilience to new heights, figuratively and literally, with this building design. While they are still finalizing some work on the building, the staff has moved in and they are conducting tours on a regular basis.  Here is the link to the website to learn more about the Resilience Lab and to sign up for a tour.  https://elizabethriver.org/ryan-resilience-lab/

Have you been stopped at a railroad crossing in Norfolk for an inordinate amount of time while a train just sits on the track?  It seems recently that there have been more issues related to Norfolk Southern train stoppages causing wild congestion on the surrounding roads.  The issue appears to be worsening.  And, some of these stoppages are due to train mechanical issues, causing long delays and necessitating the use of Norfolk Police Department resources to reroute traffic.  So, the City is going to engage with Norfolk Southern to discuss these issues and with other entities at the state level to see what solutions can be found. More to come on this but I wanted people to know that this issue is not being ignored as a hopeless cause. We need to find some relief.

I wish all a healthy and happy 2024. My best to all.

Cheers!

Courtney

Ran in the Tacky Sweater 5k. Great run.

 

Renovated Maury Tennis Courts

Beautiful Elizabeth River picture from the Trail