If former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder’s slavery museum is being abandoned in Fredericksburg, some Richmond officials say it’s time to talk about the project—or something like it—for Shockoe Bottom.

Despite being slashed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones, Richmond’s executive-protection unit puts the Virginia capital in the company of larger, higher-profile cities,  according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch survey.

The Richmond Police Department spent $11,586 on security for Mayor Dwight C. Jones during President Barack Obama’s inauguration last month. The department sent six officers at various times and three vehicles to Washington, according to its response to a Richmond Times-Dispatch request under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Officials provided no further details, citing security reasons.

A commission assigned to help clarify Richmond’s city charter is starting on issues that created sparks between City Council and then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. The Charter Review Commission will look first at concerns involving the city attorney and chief administrative officer, along with who has the authority to hire and fire certain employees.

Could hard times bring Richmond and its neighbors together? Mayor Dwight C. Jones would like to think so. Jones, who became mayor Jan. 1, told regional political and business leaders yesterday that localities need to cooperate now more than ever. “They say behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining, and in the midst of this economic downturn, it just might be that we’ll be forced to work together,“ the mayor told a crowd of about 275 people at the annual meeting of Venture Richmond at the Jefferson Hotel.

The Richmond Police Department says it expects to spend at least 50 percent less on security for Mayor Dwight C. Jones than it did for Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, but officials weren’t saying yesterday how much it will cost.

Four senior aides to former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder won’t be part of the new administration of Mayor Dwight C. Jones. Wilder’s press secretary, Linwood Norman, as well as Senior Policy Adviser Kim Neal, Policy Adviser and nephew Isaac Graves and Director of Minority Business Development Rita Henderson are no longer employed by the city, spokesman Michael Wallace said yesterday.

No one is begrudging L. Douglas Wilder his livelihood. But you have to question his $50,000 raise from Virginia Commonwealth University amid the state’s $3 billion budget shortfall. VCU bumped up Wilder’s annual salary to $150,000—funded entirely by the state—despite a freeze on the state portion of faculty salaries. If VCU can find a private donor to subsidize Wilder’s pay, fine. Otherwise, this extravagance comes at the wrong place at the wrong time and from the wrong source—the taxpayer.

Former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder doesn’t have to worry about a freeze on his salary from Virginia Commonwealth University. Wilder got a raise to $150,000 when he returned to VCU full time this month.

Doug Wilder—governor, mayor, rascal—is making history even when he isn’t. In 2000, Wilder briefly considered a federal judicial appointment. That Wilder declined a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s most conservative, should not come as a surprise.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has started to name his administration, beginning with Suzette P. Denslow as chief of staff and David M. Hicks as senior policy analyst.

The singing that broke out at Richmond City Hall yesterday might as well have come from the City Council and Mayor Dwight C. Jones.

If you’ve blazed trails as a governor and mayor, what do you do for an encore? If you’re L. Douglas Wilder, you start a blog. Wilder concluded his four-year term as Richmond’s mayor yesterday, announcing in an e-mail newsletter that he’s started a blog, http://www.WilderVisions.com. The site, which will cover local and national topics, uses the masthead created for his mayoral e-mail newsletter, Visions.

Dwight Clinton Jones was sworn in as mayor of Richmond yesterday, marking the start of the second administration under the city’s new form of government. With cameras flashing in a brief ceremony at City Hall, Jones promised to uphold the state and federal constitutions and to perform impartially his duties as mayor. The oath was administered by Judge Marilyn C. Goss, a member of First Baptist Church of South Richmond, where Jones is pastor. Jones recited his lines with his left hand placed on a Bible held by his 12-year-old twin grandsons, Bryce and Mandell Jones.

If you’ve blazed trails as a governor and mayor, what do you do for an encore? If you’re L. Douglas Wilder, you start a blog. Wilder concluded his four-year term as Richmond’s mayor yesterday, announcing in an e-mail newsletter that he’s started a blog, http://www.WilderVisions.com. The site, which will cover local and national topics, uses the masthead created for his mayoral e-mail newsletter, Visions.