New Beginning Seeks AAA Bond Rating for City As a tool to “Build a Better Richmond,” Mayor Dwight C. Jones today announced his goal to pursue a Triple-A (AAA) bond rating for the City of Richmond. The announcement came during the Informal Session of the Richmond City Council in the Council Chambers, during which the mayor issued the following statement: "I am before you today with what is perhaps the most important of my New Beginnings: the new start of planning for our long-term financial future. We are in a unique moment in time – in a dire economy – to plot our pathway into the future. We know that the economic downturn is not over and we know that the economy will rebound. During this period, the best thing we can do is to tighten our fiscal belts, assess our finances, and develop a bold plan into the future – by setting our goals now and then implementing those goals. "Today, I am setting in motion our Tier One Plan. We want to become a Tier One City and we aren’t go