jobfoxter.com - Washington Life Magazine: February 2007: Thoughts on a job well done Thoughts on a Job Well Done<BR> By Ann Geracimos Anthony Williams was the unassuming, unpolitical, bowtied mayor who came into office with just the right mindset and skills the District needed to save it from itself. Count yourself lucky, Washington. He provided gumption and guts enough to raise the city's reputation in the eyes of the country and the world - not to mention giving residents in the region a sense of selfrespect that had long been lacking in the political arena. He never was more than he said he was, and that was enough. Beginning life as a foster child who didn't speak until way beyond the norm, he graduated from Yale. Yes, his legacy is mixed. But aware of the importance of the bottom line in civic affairs, he was determined to bring development to the city to increase the tax base. What got left behind, perhaps, were transportation matters, the importance of good relations with Council members, and affordable housing for an increasingly strapped low and middle class worker base. As a personality, he could be acerbic and ascetic, sly or grimacing. Few dared criticize his smarts, however. He kept to his program with a protective wife by his side. Keeping to her philosophy of never giving interviews, Diane Simmons Williams did not agree to be photographed with her husband for his farewell portrait in Washington Life. Asked to provide a few words of advice for the incoming mayor and his wife, she demurred - as did Tony Williams through Diane. "Keep your thoughts to yourself" is about all she offered along this line. As did he until the end when he let loose with some sharp-tongued retorts to criticism about his contributions to the city. But that is his privilege, and will be more so now as a private citizen settling into a private office in Anacostia and considering a range of new options for his next phase. But, first, a vacation in Argentina, which no one dared call a taxpayerfunded public relations jaunt. Gone Coun

28-08-2008 | JOBSEARCH ENGINE

Washington Life Magazine: February 2007: Thoughts on a job well done

Thoughts on a Job Well Done

By Ann Geracimos
Anthony Williams was the unassuming, unpolitical, bowtied mayor who came into office with just the right mindset and skills the District needed to save it from itself.
Count yourself lucky, Washington. He provided gumption and guts enough to raise the city's reputation in the eyes of the country and the world - not to mention giving residents in the region a sense of selfrespect that had long been lacking in the political arena.
He never was more than he said he was, and that was enough. Beginning life as a foster child who didn't speak until way beyond the norm, he graduated from Yale. Yes, his legacy is mixed. But aware of the importance of the bottom line in civic affairs, he was determined to bring development to the city to increase the tax base. What got left behind, perhaps, were transportation matters, the importance of good relations with Council members, and affordable housing for an increasingly strapped low and middle class worker base.
As a personality, he could be acerbic and ascetic, sly or grimacing. Few dared criticize his smarts, however. He kept to his program with a protective wife by his side. Keeping to her philosophy of never giving interviews, Diane Simmons Williams did not agree to be photographed with her husband for his farewell portrait in Washington Life. Asked to provide a few words of advice for the incoming mayor and his wife, she demurred - as did Tony Williams through Diane. "Keep your thoughts to yourself" is about all she offered along this line. As did he until the end when he let loose with some sharp-tongued retorts to criticism about his contributions to the city. But that is his privilege, and will be more so now as a private citizen settling into a private office in Anacostia and considering a range of new options for his next phase.
But, first, a vacation in Argentina, which no one dared call a taxpayerfunded public relations jaunt.
Gone Coun

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