The End of the Beck Era

Outgoing Mayor Bill Beck presided over his last City Council session yesterday along with Councilmen Scott Howson and Joe Wilson.

Beck was given a hand-sewn Fredericksburg flag. Howson, an avid outdoorsman, got a new fishing vest. And for one of Wilson’s favorite hobbies, he received a bottle of Glenfiddich single malt whiskey.

“With the help of a few others, I think we can polish off this bottle tonight,” Wilson joked.

The end of an era so to speak. While the “good government” crowd certainly has not gone by the wayside, Fredericksburg is certainly gifted with one of the more talented and relatively conservative group of elected officials it has seen in decades. Time will tell whether or not the Tomzak era will prove the past four years to be mere happenstance or the beginning of a new renaissance of citizen involvement in city affairs. I suspect the latter.