Richmond isn’t likely to see a repeat of last year’s budget fight between the mayor and the City Council. However, local nonprofits could be preparing for one of their own. After scuffling with then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder last year, City Council members are working closely with Mayor Dwight C. Jones on changes to his $629.6 million plan for fiscal 2009-10.

President Barack Obama could have been speaking directly to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones when he spoke these words during his inaugural address: “Those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day,“ Obama said, “because only then can we re store the vital trust between a people and their government.“

The developers pitching a minor-league ballpark for Shockoe Bottom are giving Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones an extra five months to swing. At Jones’ request, the developers have pushed their deadline to get preliminary city approval from March 1 to Aug. 1, project spokesman Pete Boisseau confirmed yesterday. The delay won’t affect the ballpark’s targeted opening in 2012, but it will mean that local investors who hope to buy a team will have to do so without any guarantee that the Shockoe Center development will be approved, he said.

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.

The Richmond School Board kicked off a new year and a new term in speedy fashion last night, naming a new chairwoman and vice chairwoman in a meeting that lasted less than 30 minutes. With the big business of budgets and executive hires looming in the weeks ahead, the first official get-together of the board was focused on the business of being in business. Chandra Smith, one of four holdovers on the nine-person board, was elected as chairwoman, and newcomer Kimberly B. Gray was the choice as vice chairwoman.

Colonial Heights City Council last night elected first-term Councilman C. Scott Davis as mayor, rejecting the reappointment of John T. Wood to a third mayoral term. At a special meeting, the seven-member council also elected Betsy G. Luck as vice mayor. Davis, who is chief of police at Richard Bland College, is serving his first four-year term on the council. He was nominated by Luck for the two-year mayoral term and was backed by all of the council members except Wood.

On his first full day as mayor, Dwight C. Jones put Richmond on notice that hard times are here to stay and that the path to renewed prosperity doesn’t necessarily go through City Hall.

Meyera Oberndorf remembers the Greekfest riots at the Virginia Beach oceanfront in the summer of 1989 as both the worst and best moments of her 20 years running Virginia’s largest city. She was stunned by the violence, which caused millions of dollars in damage and brought out the National Guard. She was disheartened by accusations the city did not welcome the young black college students who flocked there on Labor Day weekends.

Treska Smith hopes her second push to change Petersburg doesn’t take as long as her first. Smith, who lobbied for 16 years for student uniforms in Petersburg’s public schools before they were approved, is now pushing for the election of the city’s mayor by the people. Smith, Gloria Brown and others are seeking to secure enough signatures on a petition to present to the City Council, which upon approval would send the proposal to the 2010 General Assembly.

Petersburg residents dissatisfied with the City Council’s leadership are taking a cue from Richmond and circulating a petition they hope will lead to an elected-mayor form of government.

Perhaps it’s too much to hope Dwight Clinton Jones will toss away the security blanket Mayor L. Douglas Wilder draped around himself. Wilder has been the mid-city mayor with the big-city security detail—around-the-clock coverage from an eight-member Executive Protection Unit whose police officers chauffeur the mayor to his appointments in a Mercury Grand Marquis.

Ever since his election, folks have wondered how the Rev. Dwight Clinton Jones of First Baptist Church of South Richmond will balance his role with that of Mayor Dwight Clinton Jones.

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 Mayor-elect Dwight Clinton Jones reached out today to more than 40 leaders in a wide range of fields to prepare his transition to the top job at City Hall. Jones expanded his mayoral transition team to 45 leaders, including corporate executives, public finance experts, political leaders and business owners—even a former professional basketball star. The team is divided among 10 areas of public policy—budget and finance, education, public safety, community development, economic development, human services, parks and recreation, transportation, employee relations, and information technology.

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.