Four-term mayor of Alexandria on defeat: ‘I know that Act 2 is over’
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Version 0 of 1. The morning after his battle to stay mayor of Alexandria finally ended, Bill Euille was uncharacteristically subdued. “I’m ready to move on,” said the longtime politician and city fixture, who lost to Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg by a wide margin Tuesday after a narrow defeat in June’s three-way Democratic primary. The primary loss was a shock and a huge upset, but this fall, Euille fought on, launching a well-funded write-in campaign for the general election. [See full state election results] “I haven’t given it a lot of thought,” said Euille, 65. “But now I know that Act 2 is over.” Act 1 of his life took the Alexandria native, raised by a single mother in public housing, to T.C. Williams High School during the difficult desegregation era memorialized in the movie “Remember the Titans.” He graduated from what is now Quinnipiac University in 1972 and returned home to work as an accountant for a construction firm, rising nearly to its top job before starting his own contracting company. Euille’s public life began in the 1980s, with a couple of terms on the School Board followed by the City Council in 1994. He was elected the first African American mayor of this historic waterfront city just south of Washington in 2003 and was reelected every three years — until Tuesday. Silberberg, in her victory statement Tuesday night and on a local talk radio show Wednesday, honored Euille’s years of public service and said she would seek his counsel when she starts her mayoral term in January. But remnants of the bitter campaign seemed to linger. She repeated her criticism of Euille’s reliance on developer contributions and his willingness to vote on redevelopment proposals that were financially backed by his donors. As a private citizen once more, Euille says he might find a job, lecture, teach or write a book. But he intends to stay in Alexandria, stay active in volunteer roles and “be a statesman.” His immediate plan, he said, is to appear Thursday on a Brookings Institution panel to discuss regionalism in economic development. Euille, a gregarious and outgoing figure, seemed to be everywhere in Alexandria during his long tenure as mayor. He also seemed to know everyone in town, whether cutting the ribbon on a new athletic field, shaking hands at farmers markets, dropping in at one of the city’s many restaurants or sharing thoughts after his morning workout at the YMCA. Tuesday night, when Euille appeared at the Democratic Party rally in Del Ray to congratulate Silberberg and pledge his support, observers said he had tears in his eyes. “I said I wouldn’t cry,” Euille said. “But this is a family, and it’s all about love and respect.” [Alexandria’s vice mayor claims top job] Council member Del Pepper (D), in office since 1985, found herself watching the soon-to-be-former mayor at their party’s celebration, held at Pork Barrel BBQ, and marveling at “the breadth and depth” of his knowledge of the city. “He’s somebody who has connections everywhere,” Pepper said Wednesday. “The city we see — that everyone values for its diversity, its progress — he’s been the force behind it.” Among Euille’s accomplishments were his proposal to build affordable housing units atop a new fire station at Potomac Yard, working to close the old Mirant/GenOn coal-fired power plant, negotiating an increase in affordable apartments in new developments from Old Town to the West End, and finding money to rebuild the city’s only public high school, T.C. Williams, as well as Jefferson-Houston elementary school. [Euille: Housing tops issues facing city in 2012] His efforts didn’t always meet with universal regard, most notably his championship of redeveloping the city’s Old Town waterfront. But Pepper credited Euille with often creating citizen committees to study issues and advise the City Council on how to proceed. Bill Rivers, a local youth sports advocate, recalled Euille’s support of a public-private partnership that built a “miracle field” near Lee Center to serve children with special needs. When Rivers went back to the mayor to talk about improving the town’s swimming pools, Euille emphasized the need for a facility that would offer beginner swimming lessons, not just space for competitive teams, Rivers said. The mayor also pressed for free summer bus shuttles for poor children who might not have someone to drive them to the pool. Glenn Klaus, a city resident who remembers the dilapidated condition of King Street in the 1980s, became active in civic affairs after Euille’s loss in the primary and started a Twitter campaign to urge the write-in effort. Klaus suggested that Euille’s signature accomplishment was the city’s long-debated waterfront redevelopment, now underway. With a combination of threats and negotiations, he resolved a nearly century-old standoff between the city and the Old Dominion Boat Club, which cleared the way for a park at the foot of King Street. “Isn’t there room for a park somewhere down there that we could name after William D. Euille?” Klaus asked. |