Mayor Norris

As Rick Sincere first noted, I did indeed announce on Coy Barefoot's radio show this afternoon that I will most likely be the next Mayor of Charlottesville, as of our Council meeting on January 7. I have big shoes to fill, including our current Mayor's and all of the other esteemed leaders before him (I doubt there are many cities in the U.S. that have as many living ex-Mayors as we do!). I am looking forward to working with our presumptive new Vice Mayor, Julian Taliaferro, and the other members of Council to continue making good progress on the many challenges before us, especially & including the primary issues that brought me to Council in the first place: affordable housing, environmental sustainability, youth development and poverty & race. If anyone wants to know what direction Julian and I will help to take the City in the coming years, our overall course has already been laid out: City Council 2025 Vision Statement. There's much work to do to realize that lofty vision, but I'm up to the task.

I will make mistakes as Mayor, I can guarantee you that. But I/we will get a lot done to make this a better community, I can guarantee you that too.

UPDATE: Seth Rosen has a good write-up about this over at DailyProgress.com.