Vice Mayor wants to clean up Waterside

NORFOLK, Va. - Norfolk Vice Mayor Anthony Burfoot wants to take drastic action with the nightclubs at  Waterside Festival Marketplace. He is calling for change following a deadly shooting inside the Waterside garage early Sunday morning.

25-year-old Juan Carlos Ovalle-Peralea was shot and killed and his roommate was wounded.

Police have charged 24-year-old Reginald E. Royals with murder, malicious wounding, and two gun charges.

The violence started with a fender bender, as the bars were letting out for the night.

That is why Burfoot is calling for all the Waterside bars to be closed for good if problems involving drunken fights, assaults, shootings and ABC violation continue. 

It is also why Norfolk Councilman Randy Wright is now saying he wants to put surveillance cameras in the lower level of the garage.

Burfoot told WAVY.com, "If we can't get the cooperation from these bars, that we think is important for the public safety and welfare of our citizens, we need to let these people out of their leases and let them go elsewhere."

Burfoot said he wants to bring the bar owners and managers down to City Hall and tell them they need to improve things or they will be shut down.

Short term, he says the plan is to hold bar owners accountable. Long term, Burfoot wants to develop the Waterside Festival Marketplace into a more family-friendly atmosphere.

He said he would like to see Waterside be more of a "restaurant row."

"It's time to go in another direction," said Burfoot.  "We've been talking about it too long.   One thing we can't afford is to have, week in and week out, to continue to have things happen and some are turning a blind eye to these things."

Burfoot told WAVY.com, "I have shared with my colleagues the problems I see festering over there at Waterside.  And, you can put all the police you want down there and it's not going to force people to act right in an inebriated state."

"I would rather see the place go dark before I'd see something else happen," said Burfoot.  "Tensions are very high over there on the weekends.  I would hate to see someone else get hurt and at the end of the day we had an opportunity to react and we didn't.  Life is worth more than a dollar."

WAVY.com did some digging and discovered police officers have been called to Waterside and the Waterside garage nearly 340 times in the last 12 months.

"That's unacceptable," said Burfoot.  "When businesses look to relocate the first thing they want to know is the police reports, because they are investing millions."

The vice mayor said he wants the bars to cooperate and work to end the problems and get on the same page as the city with its vision for what Waterside should become.

"Either you are our partner in this, or you are out," said Burfoot.

WAVY.com went to Waterside to get reaction from the owners and managers of Bar Norfolk and Have a Nice Day Cafe.  They would not comment on camera.  One manager did quickly say though, he did not like the vice mayor's plan.

Neither does Norfolk Councilwoman Daun Hester.  She told WAVY.com, "I don't think we need to close down the bars.  I think we need to find a way to help them continue in business."

WAVY.com is continuing to work on this developing story and will have more later tonight on the web and also on WAVY News 10 at 11 p.m.