PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Portsmouth City Council Tuesday took decisive steps that Mayor John Rowe described as a plan to right the ship of Portsmouth City Hall.
“We need to get the leadership stabilized,” said Rowe in an interview with 10 On Your Side.
After a closed-door virtual special session Tuesday, City Council — in a public 4-3 vote — accepted the resignation of City Manager Lydia Pettis-Patton who had already announced her retirement for the end of the year. In a second 4-3 public vote the council fired City Attorney Solomon Ashby.
Rowe told 10 On Your side the termination was without cause.
In the Waterview community, residents have complained about difficulties in communicating with some officials in City Hall. The Rev. Cory Newell, president of the neighborhood civic league, spoke to 10 On Your Side hours after the shakeup in city management.
The decisive action sent shock waves through the city.
“Systemically, the leadership has done what they wanted to when they wanted to and how they wanted to, and it’s all led by the city manager and supported by the city attorney,” said Newell.
In the Cavalier Manor section of the city, long-term resident Cynesse Johnson doesn’t disagree with the city manager’s resignation, but she is critical of how the council handled her departure.
“I just felt that they could have handled it in a more diplomatic way,” said Johnson. “We’ve been having a lot of chaos and mayhem in this city for over 60 years. We just need leaders who will become statesmen and stateswomen and to represent the citizens because they work for us.”
Sources told 10 On Your Side the council was prepared to fire the city manager four days after she placed the police chief on administrative leave.
The nation is watching as Portsmouth deals with the aftermath of a June protest that ended with the destruction of the monument and the toppling of a statue that landed on a man and caused serious injuries.
Police Chief Angela Greene called for the arrest of 19 people, including state Sen. Louise Lucas, officers of the local NAACP chapter, and a member of the school board, for their alleged roles in the protest.
Ray Smith is the president of the Cavalier Manor Civic League and a member of the city’s Economic Development Authority. In an interview with 10 On Your Side, Smith offered carefully-chosen words to describe what’s at stake in his hometown.
“We will not correct 400-plus years of racism in [the nation] our lifetimes. There’s racism-on both sides in the City of Portsmouth. Blacks and whites must work together for progress, otherwise there is no hope,” said Smith.
Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke told WAVY News Tuesday that she believes there’s an effort to put a thumb on Black leadership in Portsmouth.
