BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE
BACK BAY — Georgia Allen, the former head of the NAACP in Virginia Beach, will be honored for her efforts as one of the two plaintiffs in Holloway v. Virginia Beach, the federal lawsuit that ended at-large elections for City Council seats in favor of the new 10-district system.
The Virginia Beach Interdenominational Ministers Conference will honor Allen during a virtual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration at its Facebook page at 9 a.m., Monday, Jan. 17. Holloway v. Virginia Beach led to a court order changing the controversial City Council election system, which a judge found discriminated against minority voters, to a new system that includes three minority opportunity districts.
The initial plaintiff in the suit is Latasha Holloway, a community activist who has said she is running for mayor.
Georgia Allen will be recognized with the History Maker Award, the Rev. Dr. James Allen, president of the conference, told me this past week. “The lawsuit and the way they changed the City Council, that is historic. There are people out there who appreciate the fight they went through.”
James Allen, who is not related to Georgia Allen, said the event will also honor the Rev. Dr. Harry Poole of Rehoboth Baptist Church in the Seatack community with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Poole, a past president of the Virginia Beach Interdenominational Ministers Conference, is retiring after leading the church since 1986.
Additionally, the Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Guns, senior pastor of Second Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk, will be recognized for pastoral leadership – especially outreach to get members of the community vaccinated amid the ongoing pandemic, Allen said.
You can find the conference Facebook page via @vbimc.
Obviously, the pandemic has changed the nature of what is normally a key fundraising event for the conference.
My wife and I had the honor of attending a couple years back. We hope to do so — in person — once again. There will be information about how to support the conference for those who believe in its work.
A number of challenges face the city of Virginia Beach in this unusual election year.
There is the new local election system in place following the Holloway decision, and, despite an ongoing appeal by the city, this system will almost certainly be how we select some members of the City Council and (probably) School Board.
We’ve covered a lot of the issues at length in recent print editions, so I’ll direct you to previous coverage for details.
One of the challenges of all of this is keeping track of which council members represent what area for you, our readers, in a coherent way.
Normally, we identify local leaders so:
City Councilmember Barbara Henley, who represents the Princess Anne District.
But now Henley lives within District 2, unless something somehow changes with the courts. (At this point, more change seems impractical and counterproductive because we need to actually have an election this year, but that’s another column.)
It is still a bit of a moving target, but we need to tell readers what district people were elected to represent compared to their new district, even if most folks don’t have a great understanding of the changes yet.
The plan, for now, is for our house style to identify members of the council by both the district to which they were elected and the new district in which they reside. We’ll try to provide context so that makes sense whenever we can and as space allows.
Reach me with any concerns or bright ideas via jhd@princessanneindy.com.
I am committed to using our resources this year to focus as much as possible on the changes, especially impacts on government, politics, voters and representation.
We’ve led coverage of this important change for our city. That won’t change.
I’m also committed to providing a robust voter guide for local races. It will likely run in September due to early voting. I also plan a guide prior to the primaries in June, as needed, likely for the congressional race. I hope to avoid running the fall guide in two separate issues, as I did last year, but I’ll have a better sense of that by late summer.
Please consider advertising or buying a sponsor ad. I try to put the money to good use. For example, about seven sponsor ads covered just the cost of getting copies of the federal court records in the Holloway case over the past year. That wasn’t even our complete bill for public records in 2021.
This kind of coverage takes time and resources.
The voter guide is very expensive to produce, too. I want to get up to Richmond during the session to check in with our local lawmakers, as well, but that may depend on the cooperation of an emotionally complicated Chevy Silverado. I also want to hire some reporters and photographers to cover this important November election.
That is my 2022 wish list.
Welcome back, John.
Let’s get another column going, already.
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