Cheered on by a racially diverse, sign-waving crowd of more than 500 people, Mayor Paul Fraim announced Tuesday that he will seek re-election in May.
Fraim was flanked on the podium at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott by most of the city's elected officials and Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms. During his speech, he listed the city's progress in redeveloping downtown and some of Norfolk's poorest neighborhoods and reducing the real estate tax rate to $1.11 per $100 of assessed value from $1.35 as examples of accomplishments during his tenure as mayor.
"I believe I have earned the right to ask for your vote again," he said.
Fraim has served on the City Council for nearly 24 years and has been mayor for nearly 16 years. So far, he has only one announced opponent - Dan Montague, a retired shipyard worker and frequent council critic whom Fraim easily defeated in 2006.
"I don't know if anyone else is running," Fraim said, adding that he will wait to do any fundraising until he knows for sure. Four years ago, he raised $200,000 from one fundraising dinner.
Most of Norfolk's businesses elite, constitutional officers, council members and the city's General Assembly delegation attended the event, as did Old Dominion University President John Broderick and Harry Lester, president of Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Fraim, an attorney, is essentially a full-time mayor, representing Norfolk on many regional agencies as well as overseeing downtown development. He said he has not grown tired of the job, which pays $27,000 a year.
"It is what I do every day," he said. "It is my passion."
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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Time for Change
The long term ideology of the "Good Ol Boy" system in Norfolk needs to come down. Mr. Fraiom not Mayor Fraim is an antagonistic moron. He has no capapbilities of running a successful city with a diverse racial population. He has expressed racial overtones in City Council meetings and favored economic gains for those on the West Side from a political standpoint to the re-segregation of the public school system. The racist viewpoints Mr. Fraim hordes is not the way to run or operate a racilly diverse city with half of the citrizens Black and poor.
Get rid of him
For years Fraim has been in Norfolk bringing the City down. He has installed a puppet regime like the idiot Regina VK Williams and the even bigger idiot Bruce Marquis. There is no doubt that a new mayor would see the corruption and abuse of position that the City Manager and Department Heads are doing every day.
The Mayor supports Regina Williams abuse of leave ( taking time off to go on vacation and to care for her husband) on City time!!! Marquis miss appropriation of funds, abuse of police power, and firing good policemen for minor issues that don't even hold a candle to his criminal behavior.
Fraim just stands by and and does nothing as this B.S. is taking place on his watch!!! I would like to see some new candidates in the Running
all i know is
wards corner looks like a post apocalyptic hole. sure downtown is lovely but how about using some of that "authority" to keep promises to the taxpayers in the middle of the city? norfolk does not end at 21st st. how about using some of that nhra/zoning authority to force the owner of that decrepit eyesore of a strip mall that is all but vacant? maybe that is where that 200 large came from? bah, its all such a waste of time. the government has become a resource black hole sucking in everything and accomplishing nothing but its own proliferation.
About time
About time for a change leadership in Norfolk starting with the Mayor and the City Manager who makes over $220,000 a year for spending our money and the comes back to tell us we all have live with the cut backs that she will incorporate in the budget. Also let's not forget the City Council who is has some side businesses that are contract with the city and tell me if this is not a conflict of interest. Let's start fresh from the top.
Spelling test
Can anyone spell Old Boy?
Why was sessoms there?
Is sessoms a mayor on his own, or can he not survive with fraim to tell him what to do?
brothers in arms
Fraim owes Sessoms because he and the entire city council of VB helped Norfolk Southern get $40 mil of our tax dollars for an abandoned railroad right of way for the proposed billion dollar light rail boondogle. Keep in mind the right of way was assessed at 9.5 mil and is now off the tax rolls completely, eliminating a great source of revenue for the city.
Spending other peoples money (OPM) while enriching your friends must be a thrill for these guys.
Randy Wright for Mayor!!!
I think it's time for Councilman Randy Wright to run for Mayor of Norfolk. Look what he has done for Ocean View. Perhaps he can do the same for the entire City of Norfolk...
Hmmm, You mean Judy Boone should run for Mayor?
Hmmm, You mean Judy Boone should run for Mayor if you count OV's" accomplishments. I think OV would better be served with new leadership altogether considering it is the only place where you can get a $20 hooker from the porch of your $500,000 home without ever getting in your car. While OV Ave. may have come a long way, I think so much is to be desired on any side street you turn down. Those nice homes are still nt getting the representation they need when you look at the gang violence nd prostitution right out the back door of those homes. Let's face it, Randy Wright supported the development of Downtown more than he ever has for OV or Ward's Corner. Both are still the ghetto. Considering the current trend this country is in the midst of, you would rhink there was more support for Paul Riddick! I know, you can get yourself off the floor now, lol. I couldn't be happier since moving from the hell hole called Norfolk.
??
What have you been smoking?
Devotion or not
It's time Norfolk got new leadership. Especially when the current leaders want to make it harder for people to petition local government. That alone says that the mayor and city council want to run things THEIR way without the interference of the citizens. This being said, it's time for 'King Paul' to go.
Be careful what you ask for
We got rid of the taxin-mayor in Virginia Beach, and ended up with an even worse developer puppet.
Pay close attention to the mouth of the candidate. Check to see if their lips are moving, or if there is a hand up his.....back... making his mouth move.
Knowing what you've already got . . .
Norfolk knows what it has: you can't be afraid of change after having the same person in charge for so many years and seen year after year of how he tries to go around what the public want.
At least Sessoms hasn't tried to derail the citizen's right to petition. Paul has been in office long enough, it's time to let someone else take the reins.
I seriously doubt Sessoms is going to be more than a one-term mayor.
Rhetorical nonsense
Does Fraim really think we are going to give him the credit for reducing the real estate taxes? Please! He and his city manager didn't want to do it but the political pressure, mainly from the Tea Party, is what made it a reality. His full time job needs to be somewhere else. Regardless of the the job he has done, after 14 years it is time for some new blood.
THAT'S A LOT OF DEVOTION
That many years shows that he is commited to the city. Sadly, nowadays, that kind of commitment is hard to come by.
Maybe it's time for CHANGE.
No person should monopolize a seat of public trust like this. Yet, we will continue to re-elect the same people over and over again. To continue to do so breeds complacency and corruption. Think of how local/state/federal politicians begin to get complacent and start thinking that they are above the constituents or feel that they don't have to listen to their constituents. Twenty-four years in that position is sixteen years too long. Two four year terms should be the maximum any seat should be held. The US was suppose to be a country of "citizen politicians", we need to get back to that instead of the self-centered career politicians that have never worked an honest days work. The only way we will ever get control of our government (on all levels) will be to insist on term limits for every elected and appointed seat.
Mr. President con't
I personally like Paul Fraim.
I'll probably end up voting for him. Is there anyone else, besides D.M., out there?
Paul Fraim was my neighbor
Paul Fraim was my neighbor for many years and a company I worked for did work for him too. I like him as a person but that still doesn't mean I'd vote for him.
I Like our "Mr. President"
"he listed the city’s progress in redeveloping downtown and some of Norfolk’s poorest neighborhoods and reducing the real estate tax rate from $1.35 per $100 of assessed value to $1.11 as examples of accomplishments during his tenure as mayor."
That's almost straight from the lawbreakers DIA press release. Nice try Pilot.
Fraim's legacy is more empty holes in the ground downtown. Businesses being shut down. Public private ventures not completed. The NRHA is not help for the poorest neighborhoods. The tax rate is manipulated by the city. Schools are falling apart. Cops killing other cops. Gangs in neighborhoods and the percentage of city debt has grown over the last four years. The explosion in the debt and the subsequent drop in the bond rating is the biggest threat to the city besides a Cat 3 or larger hurricane.
I think you get the real picture. You will not hear anything about the real issues in this election though. No credible candidate to Mr. President. No critical analysis in media coverage too. No vigorous debates. No deep discussions on issues. No candidates with intellectual rigor. Nothing. Just one man and his money.
I personally like
Admiration
One has to admire a man that can give 24 years to the City of Norfolk! He sure didn't do it for the pay.