By: Patrick and Colin A5

Good Things in our Community The Kellam High School athletic fields keeps the community active and is a great location for many sport practices/games. Kellam High School has a football, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, softball, and field hockey field. It also includes a track that surrounds the football field and many tennis courts. These fields are open to the students as well as the public. Everyone is welcome to run around and enjoy themselves, as they play some of their favorite sports. These fields attract many people because there are many games played there as well. Although Kellam is moving to a new and improved location; the athletic fields can and will still be used.

Good Things in our Community The Kayak Launch point off of Princess Anne Road provides a great resource for the community. People are able to simply put in their kayak or other types of boats and enjoy nature. It is fantastic exercise and people are able to experience the beauty of the environment around them. Wildlife may greet you as you paddle around but you need to make sure to not get too close! The West Neck Creek also provides a luxury spot for fishing. This area benefits the community in many ways.

Good Things in our Community The park located in the Holland Oaks community is a very resourceful place for the community. It provides a great place for children of young ages to run around and enjoy themselves. Children and adults are able to exercise and spend time with each other, as well as pets. With many different slides and obstacles, children are able to play many of the fun games they enjoy. Behind the park, there is also a trail that leads into the forest where much wildlife lives. The park is accessible from the Rolling Woods community as well; which brings many more people into the park. There is also a lake behind the park where people are able to fish.

Negative things in our Community One of the things that is not good in our community is burned out streetlights, such as the one depicted. This could pose a threat to our community for, there could be people taking a walk in the evening and a car does not see them, for instance. This also poses a problem because of the high nuisance animal rate in our community. The reason that is a problem is because we have many coyotes, raccoons, and other disease carrying wild animals that are not easily spotted because of the streetlights being broken. The last reason the streetlights need to be fixed is because it is just really sketchy when I am walking home from my friends house at night.

Negative things in our Community A problem we have in parts of our community is that we have many coyotes. Coyotes can be an infectious animal that can carry rabies. Coyotes in a community for too long might make them too comfortable around humans and possibly harm pets or humans. There is no clear answer to ridding communities of the coyotes since they are considered a nuisance animal. They can be shot on sight if on personal property, according to the city of Virginia Beach Animal Control. Because my community is Back Bay/Pungo and there are many farms, coyotes can be shot if they are endangering livestock or personal farmland.

Negative things in our Community *There are no pictures of the graffiti due to obscenity One of the negative things in our community is the rundown foundation of an old restaurant called Captain Georges. This restaurant was once a nice restaurant that served seafood and other things but they tore it down. What was once a nice rundown restaurant turned into an overgrown heap of rubble covered in graffiti. Many dangerous animals now live here such as snakes an other deadly animals. This used to be where we would come to swim and kayak and bring our dogs to throw the ball for them, and it was very popular in our community but currently it is rarely visited. It is sometimes used for a skate park, but the people who made it so took there additions and left. Sometimes people who come there are up to no good (drugs).

Change is Necessary “Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – JFK The rubble heap in our community is something that needs to see change. We have proposed a solution to fix the dismantled rubble heap in our community. We believe that a marina would be a suitable replacement to the current dilemma because it is right next to the bay and the closest dock is many miles away. We believe it would solve the problem of people doing drugs there and would bring more publicity to the area. It would be beneficial to the community and environment. It would not cost much because all we need to do is repave the current vandalized concrete foundation and put in a small building. There would only be a few people involved to build the small building, since there is already a dock and some foundation. It would take approximately five years to build under the supervision of VA Beach Waterways.

Citations vbgov.com Animal Control: (757)

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