July 30

After a great deal of consideration, I have decided not to run for re-election as mayor this fall. In November, I will have been mayor for ten years and a member of the City Council for nearly seventeen. It is time for someone else to step into this position and for me to go on to other things.

If someone had told me, when I was first elected mayor in 1997, that I would still be in this office ten years later, I would have been astonished. Being mayor of this engaged and activist community requires a lot of time and energy. Even after my term as mayor is over, I am not planning on going anywhere. I intend to stay active in the community, although I hope not quite as active as I have been. And I will be right here in this seat through the swearing-in of the new mayor and council in November.

While I have enjoyed almost every minute of it, there is value to getting new blood and fresh perspectives in this position every so often. And as my sister said when I told her I was not running again, “Now you can get a life!”

This has been a difficult decision because I have loved being mayor. It has been the most challenging and the most rewarding job I have ever had. When I was growing up, my parents told us that the most important thing you could do with your life was to make the world a better place than you found it. In some small way, I hope I have done that here.