Priorities

PUBLIC SAFETY AND NEIGHBORHOODS

Traffic Enforcement:

  • Implementing traffic calming infrastructure.
  • Utilizing technology to enhance enforcement capabilities and increasing police presence.

Code and Zoning Enforcement:

  • Conducting routine inspections to ensure compliance.
  • Developing user-friendly reporting systems for violations.

Neighborhood Community Policing:

  • Engaging violence interrupters and implementing conflict mediation and outreach programs.
  • Forming partnerships with local organizations to foster community trust and collaboration.

Grassroots Public Safety Education:

  • Supporting neighborhood watch programs and promoting community involvement in safety initiatives.
  • Fostering youth engagement through educational programs and activities.

Supporting and Staffing our Police Department:

  • Championing recruitment, retention, and professional development initiatives for the next generation of police officers.
  • Increasing the number of DCJS sworn officers for the NPD to strengthen public safety efforts.

The FY 2024 budget upheld support for crucial public safety endeavors, which encompassed:

  • Sustaining our collaboration with the Newark Community Street Team (NCST), including resources for additional contracted vendors to establish an enduring grassroots street safety program.
  • Introducing a novel city role dedicated to coordinating equity in policing, partnering with NCST, and facilitating a citizen review panel.
  • Launching a new position in the NPD, titled Public Safety Aid, designed to bolster recruitment by:
  • Offering employment to young individuals (ages 18 and up) aspiring for a career in public safety.
  • Preparing these employees for the Police Academy.

HOUSING

Include affordable rental housing in new developments and create more homeownership opportunities:

  • Support new mixed-income development in areas of opportunity
  • Enhance the public commercial and residential land disposition process

Preserve existing housing stock and strengthen neighborhoods:

  • Promote affordability
  • Target grants for owner-occupied and rental repair

Deconcentrate poverty, strengthen neighborhoods, and facilitate mobility to areas of opportunity:

  • Continue transforming public housing communities
  • Promote housing choice with tenant mobility services and landlord support programs

Build regional capacity and coordination around affordable, attainable, and workforce housing and access to opportunity:

  • Support regional housing nonprofits
  • Provide technical assistance for housing partners

Secure more dedicated, ongoing, and flexible funding for housing:

  • Fund and sustain the Affordable Housing Trust Fund

Revisit the development patterns of some of the city’s oldest neighborhoods that host a variety of neighborhood-scaled housing options—duplexes, four-plexes, cottage courts—seamlessly interspersed with single-family homes. This varied housing stock, termed “Missing Middle” can:

  • Meet the growing demand for walkable, urban living
  • Respond to household demographics
  • Address the need for more housing choices at different price points

ECONOMIC AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Economic Development is essential for any economy to thrive. It creates jobs, grows businesses, and generates the revenue necessary to invest in programs and services that matter most to our citizens.

Our commitment to supporting small businesses encompasses:

  • The Capital Access Program, tailored to aid new, existing, and expanding enterprises lacking access to conventional financing.
  • The Enterprise Zone Program, furnishing state and local tax incentives to businesses that invest in and generate employment within the city’s designated Enterprise Zones.
  • The Commercial Corridor Program, furnishing crucial capital for enhancing the economic vigor of our city’s primary streets and neighborhoods.

Moreover, Norfolk’s Economic Development Authority has secured a $250,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to extend personalized technical assistance to minority-owned businesses. This assistance includes expertise in business consulting, accounting, marketing/PR, and website development.

As businesses establish, expand, and relocate to Norfolk, we actively contribute to the expansion and diversification of our economy. Be it starting up, relocating, or expanding, Norfolk welcomes and fosters a thriving business environment!

EDUCATION: INVESTING IN NORFOLK'S FUTURE

Our FY 2024 budget allocated a total of $395.3 million in local and state funding to Norfolk Public Schools, marking a $10.9 million increase from FY 2023.

  • State and City Contributions: The Commonwealth’s contribution in FY 2024 was $239.6 million, and the city’s contribution was $155.7 million. City support for NPS has grown 29.7% since FY 2019 through FY 2025, while state support has increased 23.5%.
  • FY 2025 Budget: Our FY 2025 budget allocates a total of $402.2 million in local and state funding to Norfolk Public Schools, marking a $6.9 million increase from FY 2024.

RISING SEA LEVEL AND RESILIENCE

Norfolk is actively addressing climate change impacts such as rising sea levels and increased flooding. The city is executing strategies to adapt to these changes and enhance its resilience against their effects.

Our residents, civic leagues, and other non-profits are designing and installing innovative water retention systems and green infrastructure to mitigate flooding caused by stormwater.

In the FY 2024 budget, the city continued investing in its neighborhoods through initiatives such as:

  • Allocating $53.3 million for capital improvement projects, which includes the rejuvenation of the St. Paul’s community and the LED streetlight conversion endeavor.
  • Dedicating $2 million to the Granby Street Corridor project.
  • Allocating $3.45 million for citywide tennis court renovations.
  • Providing $123 million for projects promoting coastal, economic, and neighborhood resilience, which includes:
  • $56.6 million for the Coastal Storm Risk Management project.
  • $40 million for ‘behind the wall’ initiatives targeting flooding mitigation in various neighborhoods.

TRANSPORTATION

Norfolk, the most multimodal city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, boasts a thriving economy largely fueled by Norfolk International Airport. This airport is a cornerstone of our prosperity, contributing over 17,000 jobs and an impressive $2.2 billion in economic impact. With the distinction of being the sole FAA-designed medium hub airport in the state, Norfolk International Airport achieved a milestone last year, marking its 85-year history with a record-breaking performance, serving over 4 million passengers.

As the demand for passenger rail service continues to surge, Amtrak has answered the call by introducing a third roundtrip train connecting Norfolk to Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the allure of Carnival Cruise Line led to a remarkable expansion in Norfolk’s cruise offerings for 2023. From May through October, vacationers from all corners of the country set sail from The Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center, embarking on captivating journeys to the Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, and New England

Excitingly, Norfolk’s reputation as a cruise destination is set to soar even higher in 2025, as it becomes the Homeport for Carnival Sunshine, ushering in a year-round schedule of weekly cruises. This move is expected to welcome around 200,000 passengers, generating a substantial economic impact of nearly $25 million for the city.