PilotOnline is reporting that the Norfolk City Council will hold a special meeting tonight, called by Mayor Paul Fraim, to discuss the Alphonso Albert situation. According to the article, Fraim is taking the blame for the Albert appointment:
Fraim said he feels responsible for the controversy because he asked Williams to form the new crime-fighting unit. Moreover, when she suggested naming Albert, he approved.
“This is not the manager’s problem; I feel like it is my problem,” he said. “And I need, as the mayor, to try to fix it.
Council member Daun Hester is organizing a rally in support of Albert and city manager Regina Williams, who has taken a lot of heat over the appointment.
Hester has called for a rally on the plaza of City Hall at 1 p.m. Tuesday, prior to the City Council’s regularly scheduled 2:30 p.m. meeting.
“This mobilization effort is to show the general public that African-Americans can stick together for justice,” she wrote in an e-mail sent Sunday afternoon. “It is the opinion of many that this effort is targeted at Norfolk City Manager Regina Williams and that Mr. Alphonso Albert’s past is being used as the vehicle.”
UPDATE: Tonight’s meeting was canceled because Council member Terry Whibley couldn’t attend. The issue will be discussed at tomorrow’s regularly scheduled meeting.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Famous words ‘there you go again’ does the politics of the past ever stop, next years city election will have a clear choice of politics of the past or a new way a better way.
What is sad is that Mr. Albert, who at least on the surface, appears to have turned his life around, and he is in the middle.
He may or may not be “innocent” but someone is dealing off the bottom of the deck and Mr. Albert is catching the deuce on each hand.
I don’t know if it was Riddick or Williams or both, but it’s Albert who has the most to lose here and now.
We all know his past. I don’t think he should be put in that particular position. But I also don’t think he should be used as a pawn in someone else’s chess game. And while it may not have started out that way, that IS the way it’s playing out now. And in my opinion it sucks.
Based on the mayor’s comments, I have certain concerns about how the position was created and filled. But, yeah, it sucks being a pawn. Alphonso is a good man. He doesn’t deserve this.
I feel like the City Council members are nothing but wimps. They are hypocritical and spineless. If they remove Mr. Albert or do away w/ the job just to do away w/ him, then they are doing the neighborhoods they are so concerned about cleaning up a disservice.
It appears that “society” is dedicated to keeping a felon chained to his past. No, Mr. Albert cannot change his past but he HAS changed himself. Society keeps telling felons to get an education, do all you can do to turn your life around…yet when a felon does this, he is shot down. I guess it’s ok for a felon to aspire and dream, but don’t dream too high, don’t aspire to make more than the average joe makes, because he’ll be put in his place!!
If Mr. Albert has changed, then he should have met his financial obligations. A $90,000+ annual salary on a $400,000+ budget should allow him to make a dent in the arrears.
True, though, the true culprits are city manager Williams and council itself.
BTW, Whibley was not at the regular meeting anyhow, so it would have made no difference.