By Rachel DePompa – bio | email
Mayoral Candidate and City Council President Bill Pantele held a press conference this afternoon in Shockoe Bottom. (A press conference “gone awry”… when Mayor Doug Wilder made a surprise appearance. But we’ll get to that in a moment.)
Pantele was touting his new plan to crack down on street level crime. He told a crowd of about 25 people he would adopt a zero tolerance policy for neighborhood crime if elected mayor. He said part of the focus would be on prostitution, assault, graffiti, loitering and vagrancy. Pantele said, “It all starts at the top, with having determination that neighborhood crime matters. It does and I’m serious about it and rather than finger pointing or confusing it’s time for real leadership.”
That last part… “confusion” may be a jab at Mayor Wilder, who showed up in the middle of the 20 minute press conference with the police chief and several other city leaders in tow. Wilder had statistics ready to go about how crime has dropped in Shockoe Bottom in the last several years. I’ve been to nearly every press conference held by a mayoral candidate this year and this is the first time Wilder has ever showed up. When asked why? He said he just happened to be in the neighborhood.
We’ve included video of a portion of the press conference and an interview I did with Wilder. You be the judge on whether or not the appearance was planned. And I’m curious what you think of this little demonstration of the in-fighting that’s been going on for nearly four years now between the Mayor and City Council. Let me know what you think!
-Rachel
Tags: City Council, Mayor, Richmond
