Church Street deteriorated largely because of neglect of basic city services that other parts of Norfolk received. Broken curbs, signs, potholes and much else was not fixed or it took much longer than it should have to get basic city services to the area. Norfolk wanted Church Street to fail. Their interest was in building a "New Norfolk" without regard to the thriving business and neighborhood environment that continued to exist in the Church Street and Huntersville area. It was a criminal act of theft that the city of Norfolk committed many times between the 50's and 70's in pursuit of a city that the elite felt was more suitable. Cities are like living organisms and they grow and change, become run down, and come back roaring. Norfolk was never given the chance to allow the marketplace to work. They just bulldozed 90% of the downtown and all of East Ghent because they could. The elitism of the city fathers of Norfolk, my beloved hometown, which has lost almost it's entire history to the wrecking ball, is reprehensible.
