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My community is the City of Norfolk. People gather in their civic leagues and garden clubs, in their church communities; in groups to support local entities like the King's Daughters (supports CHKD), the Virginia Symphony League and the Opera Guild; in advocacy organizations (Mothers out Front, Mother Board757, the League of Women Voters); in environmental groups (the Elizabeth River Project, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Sierra Club), in their public and private school and university groups), in the shopping/dining areas (Ghent, Granby Street); for social and recreational needs (PrimePlus), for sports, for entertainment (Town Point Park, Scope, Chrysler), for healthcare (Sentara)
My community is very diverse: 47% White, 41% Black. This is partly because of the large Navy presence in the area. Sailors and their families are stationed here and many stay after their tour of duty. The median age is 30 with only ~10% over 65. It is very densely populated. The downtown are is heavily used from the Granby restaurants to Town Point Park and Waterside. There are almost no historical buildings left standing, but there is a strong sense of history and a vibrant art museum. The port is frequented by day-sailors and wanna be sailors, tourists, and cruise liners. There are many churches, which are heavily segragated, and non-denominationals are planting new congregations.
The Elizabeth River and the Chesapeake Bay dominate the economy of the region with shipping, ship building and repair, and fishing (recreational and commercial) interests. The community has worked hard to clean up the Elizabeth and it's tributaries which were heavily polluted were contaminating the Bay. The local utility has dominated political thinking in the area for too long, but very recently has bowed to public pressure and is installing wind mills in the Atlantic.
The gerrymandering of our districts is obvious and detrimental. Some of Norfolk is included in a Virginia Beach district; some extends up the Eastern Shore. It is difficult or impossible for the representatives to serve the geographically distant areas with vastly different needs. There are no factory farms in Norfolk, but there is commercial fishing.
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