PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth residents asking for help with litter, blighted properties, stormwater drainage, and potholes are getting relief through a new Public Works pilot program called "Right of Way."
The initiative targets the city's main entry points and troubled corridors, including Portsmouth Boulevard, a known flooding hotspot. Crews are clearing debris from curbs, trimming overgrown trees, and keeping storm drains clear to prevent flooding and make sidewalks safer.
Damir Evans, superintendent of Portsmouth Public Works, said the goal of the program goes beyond cleaning up.
"It restores the pride because we want to live in a clean city and we want it to look good, but we all have to do our part in taking care of it," Evans said.
Dantevious Gregory, an equipment operator for Portsmouth Public Works, has been working with his crew in the Douglass Park neighborhood.
"We're just doing our part to make it better for everybody, make it safer, one part of the city at a time," Gregory said.
The city hopes to clear the main roads within the next year and eventually expand block by block into individual neighborhoods. As the program grows, more crews will be added.
"Once we finish the main roads, then we want to branch out into individual neighborhoods," Evans said.
Evans asked residents for understanding as the new initiative gets underway.
"Be patient with us, we're working. This is just a pilot, we're trying to see what we can do better, what we can do differently," Evans said.
For residents who have lived in the area for decades, the work is a welcome sight. Kurt Williams grew up in the area and attended elementary school there 40 to 50 years ago.
"I lived here part of Lincoln Park and Douglass Park," Williams said.
"But they’re making the city look better. They’re building up places to live and all that kind of thing," Williams said.
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