People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) notified Mayor Dwight C. Jones today that the city of Richmond has been ranked as the 10th Most Vegan-Friendly City in the U.S. PETA, in releasing its Top Ten listing, noted the fact that the capital of the Commonwealth hosted festivals celebrating compassionate culture and is home to many vegan-friendly restaurants, bakeries, bars and businesses led to the city’s ranking. In accepting the recognition Mayor Jones stated, “I would like to thank everyone at PETA for this acknowledgement of our City. Richmond has a variety of meat-free restaurants such as 821 Café, Rooster Cart, Phoenix Garden, Harrison St. Cafe, Ipanema, and the bakery RVA Vegan. Establishments such as these contributed to creating an environment for not only eating healthy, but living healthy.” Mayor Jones introduced the Healthy Richmond Campaign in October 2011 to actively engage the public with a variety of health promotions and health education activities, ...

Mayor Dwight Jones issued the following statement following the passage of the biennial budget by the Richmond City Council: “City Council has worked hard to review and improve our budget proposal. This Administration has faced persistent budget gaps, but we have always strived to bring down spending and to present streamlined budgets for Council’s consideration. The budgeting process provides an opportunity for us to refine city operations together. And every year I am encouraged that even though this is a complex process, we work together to agree on priorities. “I feel that a fair budget was passed today in that, among other things, we have: protected necessary programs, called for lower base water and wastewater rates for Richmond residents, not imposed additional taxes, not called for employee layoffs or furloughs, provided a 2% across the board salary increase for eligible city workers provided step salary increases for eligible Police Officers and Firefighters, provided...

Mayor Dwight C. Jones issued the following statement today in response to the devastating tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma City and the surrounding communities on Monday afternoon: “On behalf of the residents of the city of Richmond, I send our deepest sympathies to all those who are affected by the destructive tornadoes in Oklahoma on Monday. To all of the families who have experienced a tragic loss as a result of the storms, please know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers.”

Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced today the retirement of the Director of the Richmond Department of Social Services (RDSS), and the resignation of the RDSS Deputy Director. This announcement follows the release of the first of three on-going reviews of RDSS. The City ‘s Office of the Inspector General reported the results of its investigation of RDSS’ Child Protective Services (CPS) during the City Council Audit Committee meeting at City Hall this afternoon. “I’m grateful to the City Auditor for his review of the City’s Department of Social Services,” said Mayor Jones. “The report is difficult and painful to read. It highlights several failures in an agency charged with protecting our most vulnerable residents. When we initiated the reviews of the Department of Social Services, I said that we would take immediate corrective actions as we became aware of problems. I am taking those next steps today.” Mayor Jones continued, “The findings in the Auditor’s report are very serious. The ...

The following are the prepared remarks for Mayor Dwight C. Jones as he outlined the STEP increases for FY2014 and FY2015 for all Richmond firefighters and police officers. “Thank you all for joining us today as we announce and detail the STEP salary increases for our Richmond Fire Department and Richmond Police Department staff. “Despite the need to close a $31 million budget gap, my administration has been committed to providing pay increases for all City employees for the third time in my term as Richmond's Mayor.  (Two raises and one bonus) “I submitted a budget to the City of Richmond to Council that included a 2% increase for all City employees. I also proposed an amendment to that budget to provide an additional increase for sworn police and fire department employees in recognition of the fact that their step increases had been frozen for five years. But we also wanted to make this effort due to the day-to-day dangers of police and fire jobs, in protecting lives and property...

Stay up-to-date on the construction of the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center with this interactive webcam. Select any date and time to see what happened on the construction site that day. Images are updated every 20 minutes to provide a fresh look at the jobsite. Click here to view .

~Homeward & City’s DSS have developed transition homelessness service plan~ In response to the closure of Freedom House, the City’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of Human Services Stephen Harms requested that the Executive Director of Homeward, Kelly King Horne, in cooperation with homelessness prevention staff at the Richmond Department of Social Services, work with Freedom House and the network of homeless assistance agencies to develop a transition plan for services to people experiencing homelessness. The findings of this report are as follows: -         All non-veteran residents of the Freedom House shelter programs have been transitioned to permanent housing or are being served by CARITAS, Commonwealth Catholic Charities, HomeAgain, and the Salvation Army. Freedom House is working on a separate plan to serve its 12 veteran residents. -         Freedom House is in conversation with other community partners about the meal...