The Next 60 Years and Beyond

Virginia Beach Mayor Robert M. “Bobby” Dyer and City Manager Patrick Duhaney recently delivered the annual State of the City address. The event is the first in a series of five throughout the region sponsored by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. In celebration of Virginia Beach’s 60^th anniversary, the presentation focused on “The Next 60 Years and Beyond" and highlighted major city initiatives, key business happenings, recognized several organizations, announced new events and provided a look forward for the city.

The full text of the speech and a video recording are available below. The 2023 State of the City address is also scheduled to be rebroadcast on Cox Channel 48 and Verizon Channel 45, beginning Sunday, March 19.

Full text of the speech:

MAYOR DYER

Welcome everyone and thank you all for joining us here today!

Well, we’re almost a quarter of the way into 2023 and in case you hadn’t heard, Virginia Beach is celebrating its 60^th Anniversary this year!

Quite a lot has happened in Virginia Beach during those 60 years and even more will take place as we look forward to and embark on the next 60 years.

Again this year, I am thrilled to deliver this State of the City address alongside our City Manager, Patrick Duhaney.

Since joining us here in 2020, during the height of the pandemic – barely three years ago – Patrick has led our city organization through one of the most challenging and eventful periods in recent history.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

Thank you Mayor and yes, the last 60 years is full of Virginia Beach history that made significant impacts not only locally, but regionally and beyond.

In the lead up to this milestone year, all throughout 2022, we took a long look back at the history of this great city and paid honor to many of the individuals that were instrumental in forging the success of Virginia Beach and were key to making our city what it is today.

(60^th Anniversary video)

We’ve already kicked off some exciting and unique ways to mark our 60^th anniversary, and we’re going to keep the momentum going and continue the celebrations throughout the rest of this year.

So stay tuned for more information on how you can join in and be a part of the celebration.

MAYOR DYER

In conjunction with the 60^th anniversary this year, the City has also refreshed our visual identity. A brand is how people perceive your organization. It’s what they think of you, how they feel about you, and why they support you.

What better way to commemorate this milestone year than through the creation of a special 60^th anniversary logo as part of the city’s branding refresh efforts.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

The elements of our updated logo represent the interconnectivity of our more than 450,000 residents, City staff, multicultural neighborhoods and military communities.

• Gold and orange represent the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean—an opportunity to start each day refreshed and renewed.
• Blue represents the miles of clean, healthy waterways that connect and inspire us.
• Green represents our abundant natural resources and agricultural areas, as well as our vast recreational offerings.

We invite local businesses to use the 60^th anniversary logo on their promotional signage, restaurant menus, retail specials and more to attract consumer interest.

MAYOR DYER

As we celebrate our anniversary and look forward to all the exciting opportunities that lay before us, I want to acknowledge some very special people who have inspired me with their sincere love for Virginia Beach and their unwavering commitment to uplift those around them.

T.E.A.M. L.A.M.B. stands for Tell Everyone Around Me Love All My Brothers. After experiencing the loss of their friend Cordaro Lamb Simpkins to gun violence, David “Israel” Leader, Ed Walls and Micah Walls founded T.E.A.M. L.A.M.B. on the mission to combat gun violence by spreading peace, unity, and positivity.

Through cultivating community events, mentorship, and fashion, the team has made an incredibly positive impact by partnering with the City to host meaningful community events during the Something in The Water festival and in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. And they will be doing it again this year!

Ronnie ‘Mack’ McAdoo is the Founder and Director of 1 Died 4 All sports ministry of Trinity Church, which was started in his backyard after he received a vision from God of how to use the game of basketball as a platform to reach kids and share the gospel with them.

Since 2016, Mack and his wife Janet have been traveling all over the world using the platform of sports to introduce the gospel. To date, more than 6,500 kids have attended their camps.

Danette Crawford is a powerful speaker, author, television host, evangelist, and the founder of Joy Ministries, which offers educational and mentoring programs, and support assistance for youth, families, and single mothers in need. The heart of everything that she does is to change lives and to assist others with overcoming life challenges they may be experiencing.

Through her many programs, Danette has provided over $60,000 worth of food to families, provided transitional housing to single mothers, and graduated more than 1,300 children through their summer reading camps.

These individuals have truly impressed me with all the good work they continue to do, year after year, throughout this city and Hampton Roads. T.E.A.M. L.A.M.B., the Mc Adoos, and Danette please stand and be recognized.

The wonderful example set by these individuals has inspired me to create a new effort that we’ve kicked off in this 60^th Anniversary year.

It’s The H.O.P.E. Initiative, which stands for Helping Our People Excel. This initiative seeks to recognize and support those who are committed to making their community and Virginia Beach an even better place through a certification program and cross-group networking.

At the beginning of this year, we invited individuals, community groups, faith-based organizations and corporate entities to apply to participate in the HOPE Initiative. Through this program we want to develop a cadre of individuals and groups to collaborate with each other on an ongoing basis to move forward their efforts to positively impact their communities.

From all the applications we received, three standouts were chosen to be the 2023 "Champions of H.O.P.E." and today I’d like to introduce them to you.

Our Individual Champion of H.O.P.E. Honoree is Batrice [Ba-treece] Buttler-Brown. All on her own, Batrice [Ba-treece] began going out into the community to provide snacks to anyone she met that was in need. She found that something as simple as a small snack can go a long way towards improving a person’s mood. These interactions also give Batrice an opportunity to engage with the people she meets and to hear their stories. If there’s a way that she can assist someone, Batrice [Ba-treece] never hesitates to do so with the assistance of her network of helpers and friends.

Our Community Group Champion of H.O.P.E. honoree is Girls on the Run Hampton Roads. Girls on the Run, led by Executive Director Ellen Carver, offers after-school youth development programs for girls throughout Hampton Roads. They teach young girls critical life skills and inspire them to strengthen their confidence through interactive lessons and physical activity.

Their mission is to empower girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident while creatively integrating running as a free and accessible form of stress release.

And our Business/Corporate Champion of H.O.P.E. honoree is Sprouty LLC. Led by Stephanie Sprouty, Sprouty LLC provides clinical and behavior skills training, individual and staff consultation, and mentoring support for practitioners in the behavioral health field. The training provided readies behavioral health care professionals to meet the complex challenges faced when providing guidance through the treatment process.

Each of these honorees represent the best in community partnerships and we are honored to have them as our 2023 Champions of H.O.P.E. in this inaugural year for the H.O.P.E. Initiative. We thank you all for everything you do!

Will our Champions of H.O.P.E. please stand and be recognized.

Through the H.O.P.E. Initiative, we are recognizing those who are committed to making their community and the city an even better place for everyone. We’re building a strong network across our city to support those who are doing amazing things, and to provide the opportunity for them to connect and partner with each other for even greater impact.

If you have a business, nonprofit or faith organization that’s doing work in the community, or even if you’re individually doing work on your own, consider joining us in the H.O.P.E. Initiative, because together, we can accomplish so much more.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

(New City Hall video)
As the City moves forward into a new era of continued public service to our residents and visitors, last May, we also moved into our brand new City Hall building!

In the fall, we officially welcomed the public into the new City Hall and held an open-house-style building dedication ceremony to mark the event.

This 135,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is fully outfitted with the proper amount of space and technological equipment throughout to enable staff to provide the best possible service delivery to the public every day.

The new Council Chambers were built to accommodate even more members of the public, and we invite you in to participate in our public meetings and the activities of our local government body.

MAYOR DYER

And this is as good a time as any to recognize our Virginia Beach City Council members. I’d like to thank you all for your commitment to our city and your dedication to public service.

Patrick and I look forward to continued work with you in the months and years ahead.

We’d also like to take a moment to acknowledge someone else who dedicated many years of his life to serving this city as a former Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council representative for the Bayside District – Councilmember Louis Jones, who we lost suddenly last June.

Louis Jones served on the City Council for nearly 36 years. He also served as mayor from 1982-1984 and as vice mayor from 2001-2018 and was appointed interim mayor for several months in 2018.

When I was first elected to City Council in 2004, Louis took me under his wing as a mentor and a very close friendship was formed.

Over the years, Louis led many organizations throughout Hampton Roads, including the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, the Bayfront Advisory Commission, the City’s Development Authority, and the Minority Business Council just to name a few. He was also very instrumental in bringing the Lake Gaston Pipeline project to Virginia Beach.

Louis was affectionately known by many as “Mr. Bayside,” and that nickname was much deserved. His love for his district and the entire city was clearly evident through his decades of service to the community. He was hard at work campaigning for what would have been his ninth term on city council when his untimely passing occurred.

In December, in honor of his tremendous contributions to our city, Council voted unanimously to change the name of the Bayside Recreation Center to The Louis R. Jones Bayside Recreation Center.

It was a true pleasure and an honor to work alongside Louis for those years and although he is greatly missed, the City of Virginia Beach is a much better place because of him.

Would the family of Louis Jones please stand and be recognized.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

Our Resident Satisfaction Survey showed that Virginia Beach exceeds the regional and national averages for effective communications with the public and we are very proud of that. What we’ve learned from residents is that it is important for them to have opportunities to participate in city policy development and decision making.

In 2022, we deployed 13 surveys where nearly 6,000 participants provided their input on the variety of survey topics.

In 2024, our Council has a big decision facing them and again, we want to hear from you. How do you want to select your city council and school board representatives? A decision on a preferred election system must be made by City Council before the 2024 election. This is your opportunity to provide input on City policy development and decision making.

Join in the conversation with University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service either virtually or in-person March 25 through April 3.

Go to SpeakUpVB.com to find the most convenient location and time for you.

We’re all aware of the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic took on the entire world, and during that time, City Council approved more than $20 million dollars in funding to support the Virginia Beach Pandemic Relief Partnership which provided essential resources to residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations.

The success of that relief partnership laid the foundation for VBThrive, which was launched in July 2022 thanks to the support of a three-year, $15 million grant from the City of Virginia Beach with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Through the United Way of South Hampton Roads, VBThrive is providing services to the more than 50,000 families in Virginia Beach who continue to struggle due to the long-term impacts of the pandemic and do not qualify for state or federal government assistance. The new VBThrive Center opened at the Meyera [Myra] E. Oberndorf Central Library.

VBThrive supports these individuals and families with mentoring, housing, workforce readiness and wraparound services including in-depth coaching to guide participants on their path to permanent self-sufficiency.

So far, there’s been more than 450 referrals to the VBThrive community partners, which include:

• Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia
• Endependence Center
• Virginia Beach Community Development Corporation
• Urban League of Hampton Roads, and
• The Hampton Roads Workforce Council

And to date:

• more than 270 participants have enrolled in VBThrive
• $3.5 million dollars in grants have been provided to 180 local businesses
• and $610,000 in grants will be provided to 61 nonprofit organizations

This critical funding and services are part of the City’s continued effort to support those in our community who were hit hardest by the pandemic.

MAYOR DYER

Virginia Beach was not exempt from the harsh impacts that the pandemic brought to our city. Years from now, when the pandemic is looked back upon, it will be noted how we all navigated through a period in time like no other. And you may have heard me say more than once that anyone would be hard pressed to name a city that came through the global pandemic much better than Virginia Beach.

And I believe one of the most telling indicators of how well our city managed during the pandemic is to look at the continued success of our school system.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

For the 14^th consecutive year, Virginia Beach City Public Schools has continued to maintain record levels with respect to the On-Time Graduation rate, which stands at 94.9%, and a low dropout rate of 2.9%. With those metrics, our public schools outperformed the Commonwealth’s averages in both on-time graduation and dropout rates.

Our public school system is key to the success of future generations for Virginia Beach.

Let’s all please recognize our school superintendent, school board members, our educators, school counselors and everyone in our public schools community.

High-performing schools are one of the main factors that contribute to a good quality of life for our residents. We, as part of the city’s leadership, always aim to have a clear understanding of how residents feel about life here in Virginia Beach, and we’ve collected some pretty impressive metrics to tell the story.

Findings from our 2022 Resident Survey revealed that:

• 91% of residents rate the quality of life in Virginia Beach as either excellent or good
• 90% of residents rated Virginia Beach as an excellent or good place to live (which is a much higher rating than most other cities)
• And 81% of residents rate Virginia Beach as an either excellent or good place to raise children

Also, in the Old Dominion University Life in Hampton Roads 2022 Quality of Life Survey, 85% of our residents rated their quality of life in Virginia Beach as good or excellent.
These are just a few examples of the fantastic scores the city has received straight from our residents.

And here’s some just-as-notable “Best Of” lists we’ve landed on over the past year from groups across the nation.

(Accolades video)

MAYOR DYER

That last accolade featured in the video you just saw acknowledged our high standing among the Safest Large Cities in America and that ranking is certainly one of the most important for us.

As you can see, Virginia Beach’s reputation remains among the best across the nation, and we’re constantly working on ways to maintain that standard and to enhance the quality of life for residents.

One of the ways we’re doing that is through the Mayor’s Youth Violence Prevention Task Force, which is led by Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson and co-chaired by former Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera and Pastor Michael Daniels of Enoch Baptist Church.

This task force is part of a larger effort between regional leaders to combat violence in our cities. And a key strategy that the city will implement this summer, with the help of the task force, is the Parks After Dark program.

From June through August, our Parks and Recreation department will offer a safe, family-friendly environment for residents to participate in expanded recreational programming and athletic activities, along with access to local resources and employment opportunities.

In addition to creating a safe place for residents to enjoy, Parks After Dark has been effective in increasing physical activity, building social cohesion and trust, and providing a framework for serving communities – all good things for our city.

I’m really excited that City Council has adopted this program and I know it’ll make a positive impact on our city, so come out this summer and join us for some family fun!

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

Although it’s always reaffirming to be counted among the best in the nation in so many different areas, our city has never rested on its laurels, but instead has maintained a consistently forward-thinking approach to the betterment of life for residents and visitors.

2022 saw the advancement of several major initiatives that the City is collaborating on to provide even more enhancements to life in Virginia Beach.

Not long after our State of the City Address last year, the groundbreaking was held for a new, 119-mile fiber optic network ring that will connect residents to faster Internet.

In collaboration with the Southside Network Authority and neighboring cities in Hampton Roads, the open access Regional Connectivity Ring will connect cities to the transoceanic subsea cables and help to eliminate the digital divide throughout the region by ensuring the availability of equal, affordable broadband access.

This Regional Connectivity Ring will serve as the foundation for smart region development for the Southside cities of Hampton Roads.

MAYOR DYER

That kind of digital capacity and connectivity is just one of the factors that attracts and keeps businesses in Virginia Beach. To continue attracting new business, we have to remain agile and reimagine our business offerings to fit current needs and those of future generations.

In addition to The Hive business resource center, Virginia Beach has a BIO Accelerator, that supports biomedical and life sciences companies, and the International Incubator which assists international companies with establishing a presence in Virginia Beach.

To add to our growing list of business assistance facilities, the Department of Economic Development has designed a plan for an Industrial Incubator. This incubator will provide office space along with manufacturing and warehouse space for industrial businesses that will be located there.

These specialized facilities are all part of the City’s ongoing intention to foster new business in the City and increase the diversity of our business offerings within Virginia Beach.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

In 2022, businesses made $286 million dollars in new capital investments in the City, more than 800 jobs were created, and several existing companies are boldly expanding their presence here in Virginia Beach.

Globalinx, a cable landing station provider, is developing the first Subsea Carrier-Neutral Station in Virginia Beach to support the transoceanic Subsea Cables.

Globalinx has begun construction on four subsea bore pipes in the Sandbridge area of the city, and this investment will further Virginia Beach’s goal of becoming the highest capacity digital port on the eastern seaboard.

MAYOR DYER

DroneUp, the drone technology and flight services company that we featured at last year’s State of the City, will service more than 150 Walmart stores by June 2024, with a goal of eventually serving all 4,000 Walmart retail stores across the United States.

Although DroneUp has experienced significant growth, the company has opted to keep its corporate headquarters here in our city and they plan to expand their base of operations by investing $7 million dollars and adding 510 new jobs to our community.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

SANJO, a multinational manufacturing technology company whose North American headquarters is right here in Virginia Beach, evaluated other options for expansion in the U.S., including relocating to Florida or Tennessee.

But they chose to remain in Virginia Beach and plan to invest $3.2 million dollars to expand their headquarters, creating 40 new jobs and nearly doubling the square footage of their current space.

STIHL, the well-known German manufacturer of handheld power equipment, plans to invest $49 million dollars to expand its manufacturing facility in Virginia Beach. This will increase their existing space to a total of 86,000 square feet upon completion and the creation of 15 new jobs.

MAYOR DYER

DroneUp, Sanjo and Stihl, along with several other Virginia Beach businesses are all members of my Mayor’s Manufacturers Roundtable. This group of highly regarded business leaders come together to share knowledge and discuss ideas aimed at the betterment of their industry, and I appreciate their participation.

Yes, a diverse variety of large-scale business activity in our city shows that Virginia Beach always has an eye toward the future.

To that end, our Department of Economic Development is partnering with Naval Air Station Oceana on another major project taking shape – the Future Base Design Initiative.
Future Base Design has the potential to create business development opportunities that will help strengthen our local economy.

I also had the great honor to attend the Change of Command and Retirement Ceremony at Oceana a few weeks ago, so I’d like to congratulate Captain Robert L. Holmes on his retirement as Commanding Officer of NAS Oceana. Bob, we wish you “fair winds and following seas” on your next journey!

And I’d also like to offer a big congratulations to Captain Steven V. Djunaedi who has assumed command at NAS Oceana.

Captain Djunaedi was unable to join us today but Captain Holmes and the other members of our military leadership, please stand and be recognized.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

In speaking about the future, the City also remains focused on doing work today that will benefit residents for years to come.

Work on the comprehensive Flood Protection Program is moving full steam ahead with some projects set to be completed by the end of this year.

The City has also received over $40 million in grants combined from FEMA, the National Coastal Resilience Fund, and the Community Flood Protection Fund to help complete some of the projects.

Work on the Flood Protection Program will continue for the next several years, but each year brings our city closer to a new level of sustainability and resiliency that is essential to coastal living.

MAYOR DYER

Another very important project that the City is diligently working on is the design and construction of the permanent 531 Memorial, to honor and remember those we lost, the survivors, and all those affected on May 31, 2019.

The 531 Memorial Committee has compassionately taken on the procedural and emotional labor involved with seeing this project through to completion and ensuring that every consideration is taken into account to make this memorial a place of remembrance, healing, and comfort for those who visit it.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

A site for the memorial has been selected at the corner of Princess Anne Road and Nimmo Parkway. Through a Request for Qualifications process, two design firms were selected to develop proposals.

The conceptual design proposals are currently in the review phase and the committee continues to gather input from the families and the community.

A survey is available on SpeakUpVB.com to vote for your preferred design. It will remain open through March 23. A final recommendation on a chosen design firm is expected from the 531 Memorial Committee in April.

I’d like to thank those closely involved with this project:

• The 531 Memorial Committee
• Our City Council Member liaisons
• The Office of Volunteer Resources, Recovery and Resiliency
• And our Departments of Cultural Affairs
• Economic Development and
• Parks and Recreation

Everyone in the City involved in the development of this memorial is painstakingly working their way through this process and I cannot overstate our sincere appreciation and gratitude for them all.

Also, Sentara and the City have extended the VB Strong Center program, continuing our commitment to support the needs of survivors and first responders in the aftermath of the 531 tragedy.

MAYOR DYER

Sentara has been an essential partner with the City throughout the years and I’d like to congratulate Dennis Matheis [Math-is] on being named President and CEO of Sentara Healthcare.

Dennis served nearly five years as the President of Sentara Health Plans and Executive Vice President at Sentara Healthcare during a time of extensive growth. With 27 years of experience in senior leadership roles within the healthcare industry, we know Sentara is in very capable hands and look forward to continuing a successful relationship.

Dennis please stand and be recognized.

Congratulations also go out to Nneka Chiazor, a dedicated member of the Virginia Beach Development Authority, on her promotion to Hampton Roads Market Vice President for Cox Communications. Nneka's career spans 20+ years in operations and corporate leadership roles in the communications industry, and we congratulate her on her continued success with Cox in her new role.

Nneka please stand.

I’d also like to take a moment to recognize a few others here today for their serious commitment to helping our communities.

Real estate development company The Franklin Johnston Group is currently completing construction on their third affordable apartment housing community in Virginia Beach.

Combined, these communities provide more than 300 units of affordable apartments and 30 – 40 years of continuous affordability for low- to moderate-income households, guaranteed through restrictive covenants and promissory notes with the City of Virginia Beach.

The Franklin Johnston Group has been an excellent partner with the city and we thank them for their ongoing commitment to creating affordable housing for our residents.

Here today representing the company is Taylor Franklin, CEO of The Franklin Johnston Group.

Someone else who has stepped up and served as support for many in our city throughout the toughest times of the pandemic is Tony DiSilvestro, founder of YNot Enterprises. After receiving a request to feed one family in need, Tony used his available resources as a successful restauranteur to provide over 200,000 meals over a six-month period to families and first responders, residents at retirement and nursing homes, doctor’s offices, police stations, hospitals and wherever there was a need. We’re so fortunate to have people like Tony and his dedicated team of employees in our city.

Thank you Tony… if you would, please stand.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

Yes, we are fortunate that our city is home to some of the best businesses and business leaders in the region.

The developers who built the original Pembroke Mall more than 55 years ago conceived the first enclosed shopping mall in Hampton Roads, and it was only the 16th mall in the country.
Now, it’s the site of the biggest project currently under way in the Central Business District - the Pembroke Square Redevelopment project.

The City has a role in supporting this new, mixed-use destination for residents and visitors that will include retail, a senior living community, luxury apartments, and a new-to-market hotel. With this evolution into Pembroke Square, this new development will continue to serve as a special gathering place for those who live, work and visit throughout the Central Business District for decades to come.

Town Center will also be the location of a new educational facility as well – Old Dominion University’s new Institute of Data Science.

The project – a collaboration between ODU, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory, and NASA Langley Research Center – will offer undergraduate data science programs specializing in cybersecurity and marine engineering. The facility will also include a wind-energy lab.

The Institute of Data Science will allow for work across all three institutions and collaboration with researchers from the national laboratories. All this groundbreaking work in the field of data science will be happening right here in Virginia Beach.

MAYOR DYER

Those are even more reasons that people from all around are so attracted to Virginia Beach. Another key attraction is the Virginia Beach Sports Center which continues to produce amazing results. Since it’s opening in 2020, the Sports Center has:

• held over 160 events
• with 212,000 athletes participating, and
• more than 285,000 spectators attending sports events
  

Our Sports Center is the newest and largest indoor sports complex on the East coast and continues to host athletes and visitors from all over the country year round.

And Tourism Economics reports that Virginia Beach tourism, travel, and meetings and conventions has helped to generate over 31,000 jobs and create a $3.3 Billion-dollar total economic impact.

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

And as you know, each year, we like to up the ante on world-class events and other attractions, and this year is no different.

Just last week, the announcement was made that the “Beyond Van Gogh” art exhibit will be right here in the convention center this summer, from July through September.

This traveling immersive art experience of over 300 works of art by Vincent Van Gogh has been an enormous success internationally and in other major US cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston.

MAYOR DYER

And I think that event will prove to be just as popular here as it has been all over the world!

In addition to our legacy events, we have an incredible line up of some exciting, brand new experiences that are going to make for an entertaining summer at the oceanfront!

(Festivals video)

CITY MANAGER DUHANEY

That’s right, in April we’ll have the Bulls & Barrels Beach Rodeo and the return of Something in the Water!

And in June, Jackalope Fest makes its U.S. debut here, followed by the Beach IT Country Music Festival!

Edge-of-your-seat bull riding and barrel racing, world-class action sports competitions, and lots of amazing music performances are all taking place for everyone to enjoy this year!

MAYOR DYER

And we invite everyone to join in on the fun throughout the entire season!

Over the first 60 years of this City, so many innovative ideas took shape to make Virginia Beach into the thriving and successful place that it is today.

And, as I’ve said before, no mayor can accomplish anything on his own. I want to acknowledge my wife Trish for being an active partner in my success and who keeps me going.

It’s also taken the hard work of many groups of talented and dedicated people to come together to make the dreams the founders had for this city come to fruition.

City Council, our City Manager and the entire staff throughout the organization … all the people who live, work and have businesses here… these and so many others play such an important role in the continued unity, community and prosperity of this amazing City we call home.

Serving as Mayor of this great city is a true honor and a privilege that brings me such joy. Why?

Because we are growing… We are thriving. THIS is who WE are.

We are 60 years strong.

Let's continue to look ahead....toward the next 60 years and beyond, with fresh vision and innovation for our city… Virginia Beach. Thank you!