Richmond City Council president and mayoral candidate William J. Pantele met Mayor L. Douglas Wilder by a blighted lot in Shockoe Bottom yesterday.

"Look at this," Pantele said moments earlier, referring to the weedy vacant lot next to a graffiti-covered building. "This simply should not happen."

Pantele, one of five candidates running to succeed Wilder, pledged to adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy on street crime, including prostitution, assaults, graffiti and loitering, if elected.

Citing a survey that found 43 percent of respondents are afraid to walk alone at night, Pantele also called for expanding from about 40 to 400 the number of volunteers in the Neighborhood Assistance Officer program. He also called for improvements to the city's 911 system, which got a 20 percent dissatisfaction rating in the survey.

Pantele praised the city's police department for Richmond's sharp drop in crime in recent years but said further improvements are being blocked because of "bureaucratic inertia" in such areas as code-enforcement and street lighting.

"I don't think there's any incremental cost to it," Pantele said of his proposal. "It's about leadership."

Wilder fired back after saying he just happened by Pantele's news conference with his press secretary, Linwood Norman, and Interim Police Chief David McCoy.

Wilder, who is not seeking re-election, characterized the council president's remarks as an attack on police and firefighters.

The mayor said if Pantele and the rest of the City Council had wanted to help reduce crime, they would not have cut the police budgets as proposed and they would approve an ordinance requested by police giving them authority to shut down nightclubs with a record of violence and other problems. Pantele said no new laws are needed.

Wilder also defended his administration, noting that crime in Shockoe Bottom is down 67 percent in the past four years and that 81 percent of respondents in the recent survey agreed the city is moving in the right direction.

"Don't you acknowledge that at least as moving forward?" Wilder asked.

On a related matter, Wilder said his police-chief search committee met again this week and is still expected to recommend a candidate by mid-September.

Asked if he had been interviewed, McCoy said only, "I'm involved in the search process."
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.