Good morning!  

I want to thank you, Ed (Solarz) and Genesis for having the vision and the patience to see this through. A six-year effort is remarkable. 

I was telling him earlier, my family lives around the corner, and so I spend every morning driving right past this intersection, picking up these three little boys and taking them to school. And so for years, I saw this empty parking lot. Sometimes there were trucks parked in it, sometimes there was a stretch of RVs parked in it, but there was never much going on. 

And so to see it now as a thriving building that has become a new community, transforming our city, is super encouraging. So thank you for helping to see that through. 

Six years is a long time, and there are lots of components and lots of complexities to getting projects like this done. Ed spoke to the creation of the capital stack here and just how complicated it is to put the money together to make things like this happen. 

Ed was talking through the amenities, the fact that this is transit-oriented development, right on the Fall Line Trail, a bus stop that's right here, bike parking to make sure that people are prioritizing biking and walking, building on a node that is part of our Master Plan development, putting solar on for more sustainability. I'm glad somebody can figure this out in the city. Super encouraging.  

But these are all of the elements of what a future-thinking, forward-thinking city has got to do, and this project is a great example of that. 

Again, I want to thank Merrick Malone, who runs the City’s Department of Housing and Community Development, for investing a million dollars of City money. 

I speak often about the fact that we cannot create affordable housing without public subsidy. And so the City has to be super thoughtful through our Affordable Housing Trust Fund, through our performance grants, through the use of ARPA funding, to help make deals like this pencil, and now we have 150 units serving households earning less than 60% of the area median income, an incredible addition to the affordable housing landscape here in Richmond. 

I think the other thing that I want to talk about is, Ed mentioned that this was a six-year effort, and a big part of that six-year effort is what happens on the front end: engaging community, getting community support: Councilmember Trammell, thank you for shepherding this through the process. 

Now, one of the things that we are embarking on as a city right now is a revision of our 50-year-old zoning code. And a huge component of that code reform process is changing zoning on corridors like this, on transit-oriented development, making it easier to build multifamily housing. 

We could have cut two years out of this process if it were appropriately zoned for the uses that the City has envisioned through our master plan. 

And so I want to hold this up as an example of why we need to see zoning code revision across the city, so that we can have more projects like this in every part of our city, on these major nodes and corridors. 

But this is an incredible example. We're so excited to see the work that you have done. We're excited to have 150 more units in our affordable housing portfolio. 

As I share often, over the last five years, the City has invested $120 million to subsidize affordable housing. That's created about 5,800 units that have either been completed or are soon to be completed. 

And that's the work that we've got to do. 

Affordability and affordable housing have been at the top of our priority list. 

When I decided to run for office, a lot of that decision was actually motivated by my experience in the East End, where for a decade I watched the housing conditions change, the market change, and lower-income families get pushed out of my community. 

And part of what I came into this job saying is that we have got to make investments on the front end so that folks don't get pushed out of communities, and so that we can continue to have communities where people across the income spectrum can live together in mixed-income neighborhoods. 

And so this is a phenomenal example of how we're going to get there as a city. 

And again, I can't thank you enough, to the Breeden Construction team, to the Johannas Design team. Just an incredible partnership to get this project off the ground. 

Well done. Thank you so much.

Greetings! Thank you for having me. It is really a joy to pay honor and respects to a legend in our Richmond community 

This is a wonderful day to honor a man who gave so much, not only to this congregation but to our entire city.  

Forty‑five years of serving from this pulpit, and also serving Richmond far beyond the pulpit in ways that you all know: Reverand James was a teacher. He was a servant. When he  was not preaching and teaching at Virginia Union University Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, he was supporting the work of the NAACP and the State Baptist Convention.  

He had a huge heart for justice. He made time to serve on the state parole board, and he was a chaplain at the former Spring Street State Penitentiary -- the first African American to serve in that counselor role.  

He cared deeply about equality—always on the leading edge—fighting for women’s leadership in the church. And now we see the amazing women that are serving all across Trinity. 

He led the church in the deep work of mercy ,  He opened the doors of this place to the unhoused, allowing Trinity to be a hub, early on for Caritas, years before we had a permanent one on the Southside. He was one of the first leaders to step forward and open the door to say, “We need to be able to serve this community.” 

He believed in creating community. As you all know the value of the Trinity Family Life Center, just a few miles from here. For years, that place served as a village to so many people in the city—whether it was sports, programming, or food provision.  

That was actually my connection - when I was working in the health department, we were doing a lot of work with Trinity at the time.  That was a time when we were able to support some of the family strengthening, the fatherhood work. And Trinity again was just on the leading edge—partnering with the government and caring well for the residents of our community. 

That lives deeply into my own story here in Richmond but has touched touching thousands of people.  

He, through all these things, embodied what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ. There are countless people in our community who are better as a result of it.  

He also believed in the importance of civic engagement. He was a mentor, a supporter to so many up‑and‑coming young political leaders—and caried on a long legacy of the important influence among Black pastors in our political process. And I think his influenced pushed those of us in politics to remember that this wasn’t about the glory, this wasn’t about the media, this wasn’t about the stature. But it was really about the moral obligation we have to do what is right—and to make decisions for the sake of the people that we are committed to serve. For the sake of young people and families who want a better life. For the sake of those who are on the margins and often not heard, but who are central to our city and central to the gospel that was the light of Reverend James’s life. And so I can think of very few people in Richmond who more deserving of this honor of naming a street after him. I’m so thankful we have the opportunity to do this. Blessings.  

Good afternoon President Newbille, Vice President Jordan, and Honorable Members of Council. 

Thanks so much for the opportunity to be here with you today. A couple of weeks ago, we kicked off the budget process together. 

There, we emphasized our shared desire to continue building on and improving the collaborative process we started at the very beginning of our time together back in January 2025.   

Since that time, we’ve been continuously looking at our budget process: what’s working, what we can improve, and how we can make better decisions together for the residents of Richmond.   

I want to thank our City Assessor, Richie McKeithen, CAO Donald, and PFM, as well as the incredible work of our Finance and Budget Teams, for helping lay the groundwork for this conversation.  

Last year, I asked our teams to develop stronger revenue forecasting tools for three key reasons:  

First, we need good information to be able to put our fingers on the financial trends and make the best decisions that we can.    

Second, the budget is fundamentally a partnership between the Administration and Council. That partnership is stronger when we are all working from the same set of facts.  

Third, we’ve got to be able to look beyond a single budget year so that the conversations we are having, and ultimately the decisions we are making, support the city’s long-term financial health.    

Today is a next step: we’re bringing more clarity to the process by sharing our revenue forecasts and laying out some of the significant drivers and decisions that are before us.     

What we’ve heard today is that we are entering a different fiscal environment.    

The tax assessor’s presentation laid out the timeline and impacts of the new assessment calendar, and laid out a revenue projection that was much lower than I, and I imagine many of you, were expecting when we were considering 18 months of presumed growth.  

As a city, we face operational realities such as debt service obligations, personnel and benefit costs, and the need to prioritize our workforce as we continue to compete with surrounding local and state government, as well as the private sector.  

This is all happening against the backdrop of a federal government that is creating volatility for local government funding, and leaving more and more for us to solve on our own.  

As we navigate those realities, I want to be clear about the commitments I am bringing into this budget process: honoring our workforce, pursuing economic development, keeping families safe and thriving, and improving service delivery remain some of my most important priorities.  

Our goal in sharing this information is simple - to help all of us – the administration, Council, and the public, have a clearer picture of our fiscal outlook as we head into budget season.   

My hope is that this shared understanding will help us craft a budget that balances our priorities and needs, while protecting the city’s long-term fiscal health.   

In closing, there are real challenges and real opportunities ahead-- and it means our partnership and our shared understanding of our financial realities are more important than ever.  

I am looking forward to your discussion today, and the questions it raises for you, and to ongoing conversations as we embark on the FY28 budget making process together.   

Thank you for your service. 

Over the last several days my Administration has continued to work with City Council to bring back the solar PPA ordinances. While I still believe in the benefits of this project, late this afternoon I learned of a potential relationship in one of our departments that could put the legitimacy of the solar PPA ordinances in jeopardy. As a result, I am no longer requesting that Council reconsider the solar PPA ordinances, and I am directing the CAO to look into the situation immediately. To the advocates and supporters of the solar PPA ordinances, I am deeply grateful to you for your dedication and commitment to building a sustainable Richmond.

Thriving and inclusive communities

Mayor Avula applauded the passage of RES. 2026-R033, which directs the administration to establish a Trust Policy. A trust policy defines the ways the City of Richmond interacts with the federal government, including clarifying and limiting the ways information is shared between local and federal governments and codifies the City’s existing practice that anyone, regardless of status, is entitled to safety and access to city services.

“I am grateful to Councilmember Nicole Jones’ and many others who have committed to developing the City’s Trust Policy. Many cities around the country have used a Trust Policy to build the level of trust in the way that their government serves immigrant communities. By clearly defining how information is shared and safeguarded, we are reinforcing our commitment to safety and dignity for all of our residents. I look forward to sharing more about the Trust Policy in the coming weeks,” said Mayor Danny Avula.

“This resolution represents meaningful progress in ensuring our immigrant communities feel protected and respected,” said Councilmember Nicole Jones. “The Trust Policy is just the beginning. Mayor Avula and his administration understand that saying we are an inclusive, welcoming city that prioritizes safety isn’t enough. We have to build the infrastructure so that trust can flow freely, nourishing everything we do in the city.”

A thriving and sustainable built environment

Solar ordinances

“I’m disappointed in the outcome of tonight’s actions on the solar ordinances. We had an extraordinary opportunity before us to reduce the City’s long-term energy costs, increase the use of renewable energy, and advance Richmond’s commitment to a more sustainable and resilient built environment through a solar power purchase agreement. We listened to hours of testimony from both experienced subject matter experts and ordinary residents who agreed that our proposal was good for the environment, good for taxpayers, and good for the City of Richmond. It is extremely unfortunate that the majority of Council was not able to find a way to saying yes to this opportunity.

Despite that, it was incredibly inspiring to see so many climate and renewable energy advocates such as the Community Climate Collaborative, Bridging the Gap, the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Southside ReLeaf, Virginia Interfaith Power & Light, Climate Changemakers RVA, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and many others come out and support the City’s RVAgreen 250 goals. The future of Richmond is in amazing hands with these advocates like these.

Actions have consequences, and City Council’s action tonight will make it harder to achieve the City's sustainability goals.” — Mayor Danny Avula

Master Plan Amendments

City Council also approved three Mayor Avula-sponsored amendments to Richmond 300: A Guide for Growth Master Plan (“Master Plan”). Together, the amendments bring major citywide planning efforts under Richmond’s Master Plan. They include:

• ORD. 2026-208: The Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan (CHSP), which establishes goals for identifying, recognizing, and safeguarding the City’s cultural and historic assets.
• ORD. 2026-209: The Richmond Connects Strategic Plan, which creates safer, more equitable multi-modal transportation plans for Richmonders
• ORD. 2026-210: Richmond INSPIRE, the master plan for the City’s parks and recreational spaces, which creates a transparent, community-driven vision for parks and recreational spaces in the City

"These amendments matter because they will become a part of how we evaluate whether policies, city projects, or zoning changes align with the master plan. We have abundant historic and cultural resources in Richmond, and the Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan will help us identify the cultural resources that we haven't yet documented or recognized for their significance to our community," said Commissioner Burt Pinnock, City of Richmond Planning Commission.

“Richmond has been delivering on its mission to create safer streets for everyone, particularly vulnerable populations. The ability to have a car-lite or car-free lifestyle is a building block of equitable transportation, which is why you’ll continue to see RDOT prioritize access for people walking, using transit, and riding bikes and scooters,” said Andy Boenau, Director, RDOT. “We’re proud to be delivering projects that reflect a thriving city.”

“Richmond INSPIRE gives our community a shared vision for the future of parks, recreation, and public spaces, one shaped by the voices and aspirations of Richmond residents,” said Chris Frelke, Director of Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities. “Incorporating INSPIRE into Richmond 300 makes that vision part of how we plan, invest, and build a stronger, more connected Richmond for generations to come."

Thriving Families

Constitutional Amendments

On Council’s passage of RES. 2026-R032, Mayor Avula said, “I am so proud to support this resolution. Richmond is a city for all people, and it is incredibly important that the Constitution of the Commonwealth reflect that. Reproductive freedom, marriage equality, and voting rights for formerly incarcerated Richmonders are essential for dignity and equality.

Richmond voters, like all Virginia residents, will have the opportunity to vote on these three constitutional amendments during the General Election. To learn more, visit https://www.rva.gov/elections/nov-3-election