Minutes 07/10/1945 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1Oth~ 19h~. At a regular meeting of the City'Council, held on July lOth, 1945, Leslie T. Fox, George L. Grimes, James N. Howard, grank D. Lawrence, E. Robie Sturte?ant, C.E. Warren, H. Earl Weise- man, Pearle J. Wilson and Arthur S. Owens, City Manager. Minutes of regular meeting held June 26th were read and approved. On motion of Mr. Weiseman to grant the privilege of the floor to rep- resen~atives of several organizations on the lack of adequate food supplies, Mr. Ray J. Dunn presented the following: '~For some time, the Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce. has waged its own campaign designed to bring the attention of those delegated with the administration o f various governmental agencies, the fact of portsmouth's tremendous population~i~crease.sin~e Pearl ~ar-I bot. Officers of the Chamber of ~ommerce believe that many governmen~a~ agencies nave oaseG administrative decisions in allocations and issuance of priorities on population figures shown in the last United States Censms Bureau compilation of l~h~). These figures give the popula- tion of that portion .of PGrtsmouth located within the City limits as 50,?~. It is conceded, however, by the majority of governmental officials and others that the population located with- in the corporate limits of the City of Portsmouth to be in excess of 81,000. It is the opinlo~ of the officers of the Chamber, that due recogni- tion has not been given to the fact that ?O per cent of the population of theCounty of Norfolk resides on the western shores of the Elizabeth River, and that the vast.majority of these peo- ole comprise a great portion of the retail purchasing market.of business houses located within ~he City limits of Portsmouth. In the allocation of foodstuffs, clothing and o~her commodities, it is felt that proper acknowledgment is not made of the~tremendous demand upon our merchants by that particular group of customers residing inNorfolk Coun~y~~ The situation has been in - creasingly evident in recent weeks, as manifested by the indisputable-fact that there is an alarming shortage of foods and other supplies in the City of Portsmouth~ Portsmouth today is placed in a most difficult position and its~ splendid, record of outstanding contribution ~o the War effort seriou~sty threatened. As a re - sult of their inability to obtain proper food, clothing and other supplies, there is amazing indication that workers in the Norfolk Navy Yard and other governmental ~ndioation that worker~ are quitting their Jobs to seek employmen~ in other sections of the country where ~he food shortage is not so acute. Authoritative statements reveal that there is at the present ~ime a shortage of some 12,O00 employees in the Norfolk Navy Yard alone, and desoite this fact, there is a daily increase in the number relinquishing their Jobs. In many ~nstances question- lng has revealed that action of the resigning employees is m~tivated by the sher~ages which are so evident in this City. For the past six months, the Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce has vigorously endeavored to attract the attention 6f industrial and business organizations to the advantages of this area as a choice location for new manufacturing plants. This work is prompted by a desire to stabilize and increase the population, and thereby bring about result-~ ant profits ~o the entire community. For every 500 persons provided employment, fac~s prove that close to one million dollars a year in increased consumer purchasing p~er follows. It does littlej good, however, if we strive for and achieve such results, if our w~rkers leave of their own ac~ cord due to improper distribution of the necessities of life through ignorance and bureaucra- tic food bungling. In addition to housewives of the City being unable to purchase meat and other foodstuffs, restaurants and eating places of the City are unable to provide adequate meals, consistent with a balanced diet, to those members of our community who depend upon such service. In this regard, it might be well to consider that authoritative reports show that an an average of some ~5 per cent of ~hose patronizing our public eating places are m~litary and naval personnel, for whom ~o consideration is given in the allocation of foods and meats to ou~ restaurants. This is a serious situation and should be given merited attention at once. In view of the facts revealed to da~e~ ~he Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce in association with all others interested in the welfare of our citizens, respectfull urges the Honorable City Council to take immediate official action to demand that agencies delegated with ~he ~ask of administration of such matters correct this acknowledged error of Judgment in allocations, by issuance of official directives ordering the allocation of such additional food, meats and other commodities as to adequately provide for the needs of our citizenry. Respectfully submitted, B.B. Ferguson, President, Ray J. Dunn, Managing-Director.~ Mr.J.M. Overton presented: ~The lack of adequate food supplies and shortage of certain o~her essentials is having a serious effect upon the peace and happiness of the people of ~his City and the entire area, and unless something is done ~o relieve these shortages, serious conse- quences may soon develop. The Rebait Merchants Association of Portsmouth Join with the Chamq bet of 0ommerce, Labor organizations and other agencies in presenting this mat~er to your hon- orable body with the request that official action be taken to bring the true situation to the attention of the War Food Administrator and OPA officials. We are also of the opinion that if more food and certain other essentials of life can be secured for this section that an effective blo~ will be deal~ to the black market, especially in meats and poultry.