What do you think about when you think about the city of Portsmouth?
For many people, the perception may be negative, and the city’s most recent council meeting may not help.
Tuesday night’s Portsmouth City Council meeting got heated as the city’s mayor and council members argued over information about how and why the city’s assessor ended up out of their job recently.
“I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, it does hurt us,” said Tony Goodwin, owner of Market Street and General Store in Portsmouth.
Goodwin was also born in the city. He says infighting like what happened at the council meeting makes doing business harder.
WTKR“I think there’s a need for new ideas and vision,” said Goodwin. “Quite frankly, I think we’ve lost our vision for a number of years now.”
Even so, he believes Portsmouth is what he calls a diamond in the rough.
“There’s a lot of passion in this city,” said Goodwin. “People just like myself really believe the city can do better and we won’t give up.”