The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
Drew Lankford usually knew what Mayor Meyera Oberndorf would say before she spoke her first word. He was familiar with her tones, her habit of mentioning family and the stories she liked to tell about the people she met during her five terms as mayor.
Lankford has been Oberndorf's speechwriter, tailoring her message for civic leagues, police academy graduations and convention groups.
It was easy to pin down Oberndorf's style and voice. After all, she had been out in public and speaking as a mayor for nearly two decades, said Lankford, who took the job last year.
Writing for the new mayor, bank president Will Sessoms, might be more of a challenge for the speechwriter.
"He wants to keep it clean and simple and basic," Lankford said. "He wants it to be a conversation."
It seems everyone is preparing for the changes that will come with the new mayor. Sessoms acknowledges there will be some.
"Meyera and I do things differently," he said.
Sessoms has called for monthly meetings between City Council and School Board leadership to improve communication. He will also sit in on meetings with Norfolk Southern as the city negotiates the right-of-way for a potential light- rail project.
Councilmembers said they expect the council meetings to be more structured and shorter under Sessoms' gavel.
"It's his business background," said Councilman Ron Villanueva.
Sessoms is also unlikely to be at City Hall as often as Oberndorf, although he said he is trying to carve out blocks of time to be there. Some city business will take place in his offices at Towne Bank at the Oceanfront, he said.
This change is inevitable when you have a mayor who has a full-time job, said Councilwoman Barbara Henley.
"He's got to earn his pay at Towne Bank," she said.
Oberndorf was known for attending community events and ribbon cuttings, but that's not Sessoms' style. He also doesn't have the time.
"Meyera was much more visible to the community than this mayor will be," Sessoms said.
The mayor-elect said his wife, Bev, will attend functions, like book readings to school children.
City staff and councilmembers might have to take on more of those responsibilities, too.
"There are going to be some voids to fill," Henley said. "It was a luxury to have somebody who devoted all her time to the city."
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes @pilotonline.com
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You couldn't make this stuff up, only you do
I don't know where you all get this cockamamie stuff from. I take comfort, though, in knowing that election after election shows that most of these points of view represent the fear mongering fringe of public opinion that believes you can turn back the clock and build a wall to protect you from modern life.
And CHRIS33, the mayor's job in Virginia Beach (like that of Norfolk and most of the cities in our region, and all of our council representatives) is indeed a part-time job. The Libertarians in the room should respect that this model of citizen leadership is very much what the founding fathers had in mind. With the exception of the departing mayor of Va Beach, who rose to her position from that of a homemaker/civic activist, all of our mayors have had "day jobs." Whether they acquitted themselves honorably, or not, had little to do with occupations.
Of course he does
Sure he plans to push LRT. He is the puppet of the developers that paid to put him in office, and since HRT is all about TOD, he needs to waste tax funding to satisfy their need to pave and concrete the rest of VB.
LRT is not about mass transit, it's about continued over-development. If indeed LRT was a true transportation alternative, the "starter" line would fix the worst transportation mess we have. I-64 to the Naval base. Instead it is a waste of $288 million tax dollars to create more development in norfolk. And if sessoms gets his way, VB will be suffering the same tax burden that norfolk is.
As bad as oberndorf was, sessoms will be worst.
First
The first thing he should do is trash James Spore. He has done nothing but hurt city employees for years with the approval of the past mayor. Want more police officers? How about treating the ones you have with more respect instead of actually telling them, If you don't like it quit, we can hire someone at half your salary.
Say what?
Other than chairing the City Council meetings and having one vote, the job of Mayor is largely ceremonial. So we elected a Mayor that doesn't have time for ribbon cutting ceremonies and community functions? What's the point?
Half of my previous post is missing, where's the rest of it?
if it can't all be posted then i need to change the headline and divide it into two posts
Traffic and Light Rail and Thug-ism and Where the Mayor Works
I believe a workable traffic solution in Virginia Beach would involve stationing police officers at Independence and Virginia Beach Boulevard and Independence and Columbus, to ticket the box-blockers (I have another, better, pejorative expression for them) who drive south on Independence in the afternoons and just don't seem to know or care when to stop. They aren't going to make it through, but they don't hesitate to block two or three lanes of eastbound traffic on either of the cross streets just to save themselves a few seconds. Instead of all this light-rail discussion, let's enforce the laws we have.
Unlawful traffic is running unchecked in Virginia Beach because we don't have enough police officers. Get rid of the City employees that arent' pulling their weight and get some cops out on the street. There's a whole lot of thug-ism going on in Virginia Beach, and part of it involves a big lack of police officers to enforce traffic laws and make traffic stops. Thugs and wanted people drive our streets every day.
It's the ignorant and arrogant law-breakers who weren't taught common courtesy that are the biggest traffic problem in Virginia Beach. It isn't
anything BUT that.
Carve out Blocks???????
How noble of our mayor elect to try and "carve out blocks" in order to be at City Hall.
How convenient this will be for all of Sessoms developer friends who contributed to his war chest......now they can meet behind closed doors at the bank and the public will have no record of who is visiting our mayor!
Heads up Virginia Beach!!!!!
Oh, yes it is!!
Yep, LightRail is coming and so is a Housing and Redevelopment Authority with the sole purpose of taking property from one and awarding it to the legions of Sessom campaign donors who are in the construction and development business. Instead of acting like the city is a business, our city will be run by business and while they prance around the golf course, they'll use that time to carve up the city among themselves a lot more.
Light-rail is a waste of money.
Light-rail is a waste of money. To study it is a waste of money. Light-rail is a horrible idea.
All for $30K?
Say what you will about Mayor Oberndorf, but she put the hours in....day in and day out. All for the extravagant sum of...what....$30K per year?
I doubt if we'll ever see that kind of dedication again.