After eight years in office, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is set to hand the keys to City Hall to Mayor-elect Danny Avula on Jan. 1.
In the final days of his administration, Stoney sat down with VPM News to reflect on his mayoral tenure.
In the 2016 mayoral election, Stoney won a majority of the city’s nine districts with 35.5% of the vote— becoming the youngest mayor in Richmond’s history at age 35. In 2020, amidst a pandemic, a failed development project and a summer of protests, Stoney was re-elected, receiving 38% of the citywide vote and surpassing $1 million in campaign donations.
In April, Stoney dropped his 2025 bid for governorto run for lieutenant governor instead — calling it “the right choice.”
Stoney considers reducing the city’s poverty rate, increasing public school funding, delivering the Diamond District project and ordering the removal of Confederate monuments in 2020 his top accomplishments.
The mayor said navigating the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest challenges he faced during his two terms.
“There was no guidebook, playbook, or owner's manual that talked about a global pandemic,” he said. “It's hard to be the mayor when everybody's isolated.”
In all, Stoney said he feels Richmond is in a far better place than it was a decade ago.
Editor’s note: The video above contains a longer version of Stoney’s interview. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.
Keyris Manzanares: What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment, and why?
Levar Stoney: To look back at where we were and where we are today. In terms of poverty, we've been able to reduce the poverty rate by 33% with innovative programs like our Richmond Resilience Initiative, which guarantees basic income. With our transit being fare-free, the fact that we brought over 6,500 new good-paying jobs in the city has allowed a lot of individuals to rise out of poverty.
No. 2, I would say, is keeping my promises when it comes to public education. We've increased funding by nearly 60%, allowed for every elementary schooler [and] every middle schooler to have access to an after-school program, and we are paying the way forward for those graduates from RPS to go to community college as well. I’m very proud of that.
A third one would be the Diamond District: 20 years in the making, we finally got it over the line, a new ballpark for the Squirrels. The Squirrels will be staying in Richmond for the long term.
Last but not least — yes, I know a lot of historians will tie me to this for a long time — is the removal of the Confederate monuments. For a century, these monuments stood. We are now writing our own future, writing the future of what Richmond may look like for every resident. Who knew that inclusivity and being more welcoming would be not just good socially, but economically as well?
In May 2021, you published an opinion piece in The New York Times apologizing for what happened during the spring/summer 2020 protests, including the Richmond Police Department tear gassing a peaceful protest. Is there anything from that period that you regret or wish you would have acted differently?
I have no regrets. I work way too hard each and every day in this role to have any real regrets. However, with the wisdom of hindsight, there are some things I would want to have done differently.
Being the chief executive of a city where there’s unrest occurring is a challenging role to have, and I did my best to ensure that we brought order back to living here in the city. When things did not go the way I wanted to, not only did I hold individuals accountable, but I was the one who stood up and said, “We did this wrong,” and apologized for it.
I think that's what you need — a little bit of both, right? You need someone who’s gonna take charge and provide order, but also someone who's willing to admit when things did not work out the way they had desired.
I have no regrets. I work way too hard each and every day in this role to have any real regrets.
Can you talk to us about other challenges you faced in the last eight years and what have you done to deal with that?
Well, another challenge that no mayor is prepared to tackle is the [COVID-19] pandemic. When I was preparing myself to become the mayor, there was no guidebook, playbook, owner's manual that talked about a global pandemic. It's hard to be the mayor when everybody's isolated, right? You saw me on TV every day. You saw me on social media, trying my best to give confidence to our residents that everything was going to be OK. That was certainly a challenge.
Beyond that, I look at where we are today [and] where we were a decade ago. We are in a far better place — as a local government, but also as a city at large — than we were a decade ago.
You've said delivering City Center is one of your top priorities before leaving office. What can you tell us about the status of that project?
We are in the final stages of City Center, which would redevelop the site of the old Richmond Coliseum.
More than anything, I want to see that monstrosity demolished. However, we have to agree to terms that not only suit the city, but also suit whoever our private partner might be on the other end. So right now, we're doing our best to dot the i's and cross the t's and get to some sort of resolution with one of the partners.
We have two finalists involved, and whoever is able to give us the best deal — give the taxpayers the best deal — is the one we'll go with. Unfortunately, we haven’t been unable to find an agreement at the moment, but I feel confident that we are this close to getting something done.
You mentioned the Diamond District, and certainly that's going to transform that part of the city. What are your hopes for that neighborhood? When you come back to the city, what do you hope that looks like?
When you think about the Diamond District and its location, right there off I-95 next to Scott’s Addition — and then you team that with the fact that the Flying Squirrels have one of the best attendance records in all of Minor League Baseball — you get a perfect mix of dynamism and opportunity.
And so when I am a private citizen, and I come back to see a baseball game, maybe [I’ll] even visit the park that will be there. This is going to be a value add to the city. I foresee this being one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in the entire commonwealth of Virginia; that's what I think this area of the city could be a decade from now.
We are doing our best to fix the imbalance that we have in the city in terms of [putting] a lot of burden for revenue on the backs of our residents. We have to change that as a city, and projects like the Diamond District help us fix that imbalance. I want us to be able to be more balanced, like what we see in Henrico County, where we have enough commercial properties that can bring revenue in.
Property values rose dramatically during your tenure. How did you balance the benefits of this increased revenue and challenges with housing affordability? Longtime city residents are leaving because they can no longer afford to live here.
Well, some have said to me that you can almost be like a victim of your own success, right? We've seen this happen in other cities around the country — they've seen tremendous economic growth, but unfortunately you see displacement with that as well. We've seen a little bit of that here in Richmond, as well.
I will never put up walls around our city. We have to avail ourselves to new people, new opportunities, new investment. And you've seen exactly that [in] my tenure. You've seen more jobs, more homes, less poverty and less crime, and that's pretty damn good. That's what you want out of the city. That's a city that's growing and thriving versus dying and declining.
However, we must be very intentional about keeping the Miss Johnsons and the Miss Jenkins who were here in the ‘70s, who were here in the ‘80s, who outlasted the crack epidemic and white flight. They deserve to be able to stay here long-term as well.
When it comes to intentionality, we have focused on affordable housing, putting our money where our mouth is with $50 million in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund — but also using programs like our performance grant initiative that will allow for those in the private sector to invest in more affordable housing so people can live here. I think that's key to our future.
And we think about the city I would like us to become. This cannot just be a city for whose entry means having a college education. We need folks with all income backgrounds, all educational backgrounds, and that means we have to have jobs and homes for them. We've begun that work. The work needs to continue beyond our tenure.
Have we broken a few eggs? Hell yeah, we did. But I think it's well worth it. Because you were seeing more investment, more government spending in places that had not seen that in probably three to four decades. I'm proud of that.
What advice have you given to Dr. Danny Avula as he prepares to take office at the end of the month?
The advice that he probably is tired of hearing from me is: I'm a big believer that there are no other roles like this at the local level in the commonwealth of Virginia. He will be the chief executive of the city.
You have to push the envelope, particularly for those who have been left out or marginalized in the past. When you look at what we've done here in Richmond, you've seen me time and time again push the envelope. Now, has that stepped on some people's toes? Have we broken a few eggs? Hell yeah, we did. But I think it's well worth it. Because you were seeing more investment, more government spending in places that had not seen that in probably three to four decades. I'm proud of that.
When you strengthen the weakest parts of our city, we all become stronger.
What's next for you, and how will the lessons you've learned here at City Hall directly apply to the position you are aiming for?
I'm running for lieutenant governor next year, 2025 because I think every Virginian deserves a fair shot, no matter the ZIP code they live in, how much money they make, who they pray to, or who they love. I just believe that Virginians need someone who's going to fight like hell for their opportunities.
I know that Donald Trump is going to go all-out for those who make the most and those who were born with the most; who will fight for those who make the least and were born with the least? I come from that background, and I'm going to be a fighter for those individuals here in the commonwealth of Virginia. I think that's what you need in a lieutenant governor.
Editor’s note: The City of Richmond reached multiple settlements — including with a former VPM News employee — in 2022 and 2023 over the Richmond Police Department’s actions at a June 1, 2020 protest near the Robert E. Lee statue.
As part of negotiated public disclosures, RPD acknowledged that the use of tear gas was unwarranted and submitted its body-cam recordings and audio to the Library of Virginia’s permanent collection.
Questions about this article and VPM News’ overall editorial policy should be directed to Managing Editor Dawnthea M. Price Lisco and News Director Elliott Robinson.
