Michelle Davis Younger delivered a “state of the city” address to the Manassas City Council.
The speech delivered Monday night focused largely on herself, her election to the City Council last fall, and what she’s been up to since then. “When I was elected in November 2020, the city saw a positive…and, yes, it was a positive and tremendous change,” said Davis Younger.
Younger replaced Hal Parrish II, who had served as mayor since 2008 and had been on the City Council since 1993. Parrish did not seek reelection.
The opening of the city’s first library branch, a new fire station on Dumfries Road, and double turn lanes at the intersection of Route 28 and Liberia Avenue were some of the infrastructure projects she highlighted.
She also praised the city police department for its national re-accreditation, which signifies the police department operates within guidelines outlined by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, founded in 1979.
Davis Younger reminded residents about a recent visit from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and a visit from Gov. Ralph Northam, who toured a coronavirus vaccination clinic.
The mayor touted the ribbon cutting of a new Tru by Hilton hotel near the city’s airport. Private investors have plunged $98 million into new developments in the city in the past year, the mayor said.
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis “broke the heart of a nation,” said the mayor. That act prompted the City Council to form a diversity and inclusion task force that seeks to identify barriers and propose concrete solutions and paths to action to City Council that promotes racial reconciliation, economic justice, and equity.
Davis Younger says she now holds quarterly meetings with Prince William County Board of Supervisors At-large Chair Ann Wheeler and Manassas Park Mayor Jeannet Rishell. “These jurisdictions must work together…people cross… they work in the county and live in the city…and that was important to me.”
A “my mayor looks like me” program for young girls, winning the nod for being Strayer University’s top alumni for 2021, gaining a position governing board of directors for Leadership Prince William, and being featured in the “Virginia Towns and Cities” magazine, a publication of the Virginia Municipal Leauge, of which she is also involved, rounded out Davis Younger’s list of mentioned accomplishments, so far.
The mayor praised the city staff work as being flexible during the coronavirus pandemic. She commended them for pivoting from conducting business in-person to online, praised police and fire and rescue crews for serving residents and area food pantries for helping to feed the hungry.
“We had seen the worst when hospitals were bursting with the sick and sicker, and we have seen the best pharmaceutical companies that have made the vaccines to bring us out of the nightmare.
A total of 175 Manassas have died due to complications of the coronavirus. The city saw a consistently low number of patients admitted to local hospitals with complications from the virus throughout the pandemic.
Davis Younger is the first woman and first black person to be elected Manassas Mayor.
