Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s victories and foibles are up for public review and discussion this week as he offers the annual State of the City address on Jan. 31.

January marked the midpoint of Mayor Stoney’s four-year term in office, a good place to pause and reflect on the highs and lows of Mayor Stoney’s administration and leadership so far, and what still needs to be accomplished in the city before his job ends in December 2021 or he joins the brain trust for his ever-ebullient mentor, Democratic presidential hopeful and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, whichever comes first.

Mayor Stoney continues to be visible and enthusiastic in the community as his administration completes big projects launched by his predecessor, such as installation of the Pulse bus rapid transit service and the renovation and overhaul of the 17th Street Farmers’ Market, Main Street Station and Monroe Park.

He was out front last March when thousands of students, parents and families marched from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School to the state Capitol calling for an end to gun violence in schools and communities. He also led the March for More rally on Dec. 8 seeking more state funding for public schools.

Mayor Stoney also helped foster a partnership to bolster after-school programming for elementary and middle schools students in Richmond; extended the hours of five Richmond community centers to provide sports and other activities and programs for people of all ages; and partnered with GRTC to provide free bus service to all city high school students, as well as free service on Election Day to increase voter turnout and on New Year’s Eve.

During the last year, he also almost single-handedly pushed for the 1.5 percent meals tax hike in Richmond to support new school construction in a city filled with aged and decrepit school buildings. City Council approved the tax hike, which went into effect July 1 and is scheduled to generate $150 million to help pay for the construction of two new elementary schools and a middle school. Ground was broken on those projects in December. 

While the mayor has much to crow about, we believe his efforts have fallen short in other areas. That’s why we give him a “C” for this term.

The schools situation has become a thorny one for the mayor, whose $800 million plan to fully fund capital projects for schools falls short, we believe, because of its lack of specificity and because it is dragged out over 20 years. Students who are just starting school this year may spend their entire elementary and secondary years in poor, dumpy and inadequate buildings until they graduate. That would maintain the disaster Richmonders voted to avoid.

We also have grave concerns about Mayor Stoney’s plan, generated by Dominion Energy CEO Thomas F. Farrell II, to replace the Richmond Coliseum and raze and redevelop a large swath around it in Downtown, while pretending it will not have a negative impact on city tax dollars and services elsewhere across the city. It is a $1.4 billion plan that will siphon future tax dollars needed for schools, public safety and other essential services for a new white elephant in Downtown that we feel is not needed.

Because the project is planned to take place in a designated “opportunity zone,” Mr. Farrell and the others also will reap huge tax breaks worth multiple millions of dollars under President Trump’s new tax laws that provide major tax benefits to investors who put money into opportunity zones.

 We believe Mayor Stoney and the city administration can come up with a better vision and plan for uplifting Downtown than the one the city is being suckered into by Mr. Farrell and friends.

Mayor Stoney also gets low marks for his handling of the Confederate statues on Monument Avenue. We believe stronger leadership by the mayor would have helped to remove these shameful reminders of slave owners and traitors to the United States who fought against this nation to keep black people in human bondage. 

Instead of taking the lead and marshaling the forces of truth and right, Mayor Stoney turned the decision over to a weak Monument Avenue Commission that has done little to change this abhorrent situation. Richmond is stuck with dishonorable people on pedestals, while it cannot seem to rally to honor true heroes like native son Arthur Ashe Jr.

Like Mayor Stoney’s term in office, our city is at a pause point, looking for the next best steps to move forward. We must not turn our backs on our schoolchildren because we believe the job is the School Board’s to handle or because the good start we’ve taken is getting a little tougher. The mayor and City Council must keep their focus on improving public schools, including through more state and local aid for buildings as well as programs to boost academics. Our students need and deserve that. Our city’s future also depends on it.

We also must not turn our backs on those living in poverty or close to it in Richmond. That includes children, working families and individuals and the elderly. Downtown development can be part of an economic empowerment plan to help create jobs, but we need a plan centered on the city’s authentic needs and not built around a desire to further enrich the rich.

And we need to press forward with a clear and honest vision of who we publicly commemorate and why. Let’s move the Confederate monuments to Virginia battlefields, museums and cemeteries where they belong and clear a path to a brighter Richmond future.