Dwight Clinton Jones starts his new job as Richmond’s mayor on Thursday and will face a number of pressing issues. Among them will be filling key administrative posts and balancing the city budget in light of state cuts and a long-standing dispute between Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and the City Council.

Dwight Clinton Jones starts his new job as Richmond’s mayor on Thursday and will face a number of pressing issues. Among them will be filling key administrative posts and balancing the city budget in light of state cuts and a long-standing dispute between Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and the City Council. Jones and the new council also will help decide where and how quickly minor-league baseball might return to the city.

Four years ago, Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder breezed into City Hall with great fanfare and broad support. He promised to shake up city government and did just that. But the jolts came at a substantial price. Now, Wilder—Virginia’s first and only black governor—is closing another chapter in his storied political career.

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder blasted attorney David M. Hicks yesterday, saying Hicks sought $2 million to settle a lawsuit against the city while also leading the transition of Mayor-elect Dwight Clinton Jones.

Outgoing Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder took a victory lap of sorts yesterday, touring more than $1.2 billion in actual and proposed development projects in the downtown area. SLIDESHOW: Wilder tours downtown development

As the Richmond City Council is creating more favorable conditions for a proposed development on the James River, Mayor L. Douglas Wilder is reminding that the city could forcefully buy the land and preserve it as a park.

Richmond Mayor-elect Dwight Clinton Jones is ready to accept congratulations, concerns, questions and suggestions. His transition team is settling into an office suite on the 11th floor of City Hall and can be reached by e-mail at or by phone at (804) 646-6933.

Richmond city government retirees will have to wait a little longer to find out whether they’ll get a raise in their pensions, but it could be worth their while. The City Council postponed last night’s scheduled vote on a proposed 1 percent cost-of-living increase for retirees and discussed taking up the matter in January, after Mayor-elect Dwight Clinton Jones takes office. Jones supported a raise for retirees during the fall campaign and reiterated that position in general terms yesterday.

Minus Richmond’s current and future mayor, members of the City Council and School Board pressed last night their priorities for the 2009 General Assembly session. The dinner discussion touched on a range of topics but was dominated by talk of a hope that lawmakers would limit the impact of potentially severe budget cuts on critical services, including education and public safety.

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.