Gavin Buckley | |
---|---|
Mayor of Annapolis | |
Assumed office 7 December 2017 | |
Preceded by | Mike Pantelides |
Personal details | |
Born | Boksburg,South Africa | 8 February 1963
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Julie Williams (m. 1997) |
Children | 2 |
Gavin Buckley (born 8 February 1963) is a South African-born Australian-American [nb 1] politician and former restaurateur who has been the mayor of Annapolis, Maryland since 2017. Born in South Africa and raised primarily in Perth, Western Australia, he moved to Annapolis in 1992, eventually opening multiple bars and restaurants in the city.
A Democrat, he was elected mayor in 2017, his first bid at elected office, defeating incumbent Republican mayor Mike Pantelides. [2] [3] He was re-elected in 2021. [4]
As mayor, Buckley has worked to allow denser development in the City Dock district, drawing opposition from historic preservation advocates. [5] He was in office during the Capital Gazette shooting on 28 June 2018, and has advocated for stricter gun control laws in its wake. [1]
Gavin Buckley was born in Boksburg, South Africa, and lived briefly in London before growing up in Perth, Western Australia. [1] Because their father traveled often for work and then died at an early age, Buckley and his twin, Paul, who died at age 14, were primarily raised by their mother, Pauline Brosnan, an Irish native active in the Australian Labor Party. [6] Gavin was expelled from two Australian high schools, St. Norbert and Belmont Senior High School, for poor attendance; [6] [7] and began working in the countries of Scotland and France, and the U.S. State of Florida, where he arrived in 1985. [1] [6]
Buckley came to Maryland in 1992 by boat, with only 200 dollars in cash; in the region, he found work as a waiter and farm labourer, among other jobs. [1] He overstayed his initial visa, but was granted amnesty under Reagan administration-rules through his agricultural work, and was naturalized in 2009. [6]
Buckley eventually settled in Annapolis, Maryland, where he began a business career, first opening a coffee shop called The Moon, and later four restaurants in the West Street area (Tsunami Seafood, The Metropolitan Kitchen and Lounge, Lemongrass Thai and Sailor Oyster Bar,). [6] [8] [9] He was one of several partners in West Village LLC, which renovated a strip of dilapidated buildings on West Street near Tsunami in 2001 and restored a variety of businesses to what had become a "relatively desolate" part of the city. [10] [11] [12] [13] Buckley's businesses accrued several debts and contract disputes between 2006 and 2012, which he attributed to cash flow problems due to the Great Recession. Buckley was also cited by local authorities for failing to display boat registration numbers and failing to obtain a rental license. [6]
A dispute with the local Historic Preservation Committee in 2015 over a large mural on the outside of Buckley's Tsunami restaurant brought him to public attention in municipal politics. [1] [14] Throughout the controversy, Buckley argued that Annapolis's economic development depended on loosening historic preservation policies, saying "We have to celebrate our history, but you can't get stuck in it." [6]
Buckley ran for mayor of Annapolis in 2017 with no prior political experience. He defeated longtime Annapolis State Senator John Astle in a Democratic primary with unusually high turnout, a "stunning" result after a primary campaign in which he presented himself as a contributor to the renewal of downtown Annapolis, a fresh voice from outside the political system, and an ally of underprivileged Annapolitans. [15] In the general election campaign, Buckley proposed a "firestorm" of reform proposals, including replacing curbside parking on busy Main Street with a trolley, that his Republican opponent, incumbent mayor Mike Pantelides, mostly dismissed as unrealistic. The race was unusual for its relative civility, with Buckley and Pantelides dining together publicly. [16] Pantelides's campaign at times contrasted his Annapolis pedigree with Buckley's Australian identity, but Buckley believes this tactic backfired, telling an Australian newspaper "People are very nice to Australians here." [1] Buckley defeated Pantelides by over 1,000 votes in the November election. [17]
In office, Buckley fought to relax zoning restrictions in Annapolis's City Dock area to match those in the West Street area where his restaurants operated, a move he argued was necessary to revitalize economic activity in "the best real estate that the city has". [5] He introduced legislation to do so in a City Council meeting in May 2018, where it was rejected after historic preservationist opponents raised concerns about losing the area's designation as a National Historic Landmark District and pointed out that a "cultural landscape study" mandated by the city's master plan for the area was still underway. [18] [19] Buckley announced his intention to reintroduce the legislation with more sponsors after the study had been completed, and in June the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the district one of "America's Most Endangered Historic Places." [5] [20]
Buckley was in office during the Capital Gazette shooting on 28 June 2018, in which five people were killed at a local newspaper's office. In the aftermath, Buckley requested a federal proclamation allowing flags to be flown at half-mast; he told the press on 2 July that the administration of President Donald Trump—who had repeatedly described press members as "enemies of the people"— had denied the request. [21] Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, called Buckley later that day; on the following day, the White House issued the requested proclamation, saying Trump had ordered it as soon as he learned of Buckley's petition. [22] [23] In the wake of the shooting, Buckley called for stronger gun control, blaming the National Rifle Association of America for opposing legislation restricting gun sales to certain people with mental illnesses, such as the accused Capital Gazette shooter, and suggested looking into gun buyback programs such as those enacted in Australia. [1]
In 1996, Buckley underwent surgery for intestinal cancer at 33. [1] A year later, he married Annapolis native Julie Williams. They have two children: Dash and Miles.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Gavin Buckley | 5,787 | 61.1 | |
Republican | Mike Pantelides | 3,671 | 38.7 | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Gavin Buckley | 7,124 | 72.6 | |
Republican | Steven Strawn | 2,570 | 26.2 | |
Anne Arundel County, also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, which is also the capital of the state. The county is named for Anne Arundell, Lady Baltimore, a member of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England, and the wife of Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605–1675), founder and first lord proprietor of the colony Province of Maryland.
Annapolis is the capital of the state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baltimore and about 30 miles (50 km) east of Washington, D.C., Annapolis forms part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census recorded its population as 40,812, an increase of 6.3% since 2010.
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011.
Michael Ray Turner is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Ohio's 10th congressional district since 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party. Turner's district, numbered as the 3rd district from 2003 to 2013, is based in Dayton and consists of part of Clark County and all of Montgomery and Greene Counties.
The Capital, the Sunday edition is called The Sunday Capital, is a daily newspaper published by Capital Gazette Communications in Annapolis, Maryland, to serve the city of Annapolis, much of Anne Arundel County, and neighboring Kent Island in Queen Anne's County. First published as the Evening Capital on May 12, 1884, the newspaper switched to mornings on March 9, 2015.
The Gazette, founded in 1727 as The Maryland Gazette, is one of the oldest newspapers in America. Its modern-day descendant, The Capital, was acquired by The Baltimore Sun Media Group in 2014. Previously, it was owned by the Capital Gazette Communications group, which published The Capital, Bowie Blade-News, Crofton-West County Gazette, and Capital Style Magazine.
John Chandlee Astle is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He served four terms in the Maryland State Senate and three terms in the Maryland House of Delegates representing Maryland's district 30 in Anne Arundel County.
Lisa-Michelle Scaffidi is a former Lord Mayor of Perth, Western Australia. The first female Lord Mayor of Perth, Scaffidi became mayor following the October 2007 council elections, after the retirement of her predecessor, Peter Nattrass, who served a record twelve years in the position. Scaffidi and the rest of the City of Perth council were suspended on 2 March 2018, while the state government investigated the council's operations.
South African Australians are citizens or residents of Australia who are of South African descent.
Anne St. Clair Wright (1910—1993) was an American historic preservationist. A central figure in the foundation, in 1952, of Historic Annapolis Incorporated, she served four terms as president and as chairman emeritus of the board. She was responsible for the preservation of the historic center of the city of Annapolis, Maryland. Her preservation work, advocacy and achievements inspired many preservation movements around the United States. She is considered a leading 20th-century American preservationist. Among many civic offices, she served as the director of the Society for the Preservation of Maryland Antiquities; chairman of the board of Preservation Action; was a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisory Committee of the U.S. National Park Service; director of the Southern Garden History Society; and a director of the Nature Conservancy.
Joshua Jackson "Josh" Cohen is an American Democratic politician and former mayor of Annapolis, Maryland. Cohen, a Democrat, gained 46.5 percent of the vote to defeat Republican nominee David Cordle and independent candidate Chris Fox in the 2009 mayoral election. Cohen, who served previously on the Anne Arundel County Council and the Annapolis City Council, succeeded Ellen Moyer as Annapolis' chief executive on Dec. 7, 2009.
Michael John Pantelides is an American politician who served as the mayor of the city of Annapolis, Maryland, from 2013 to 2017. He is a member of the Republican Party. Pantelides was elected in November 2013, defeating incumbent Josh Cohen. Pantelides was 30 years old at the time of his election and was the city's first Republican mayor in more than a decade.
Lawrence Joseph Hogan Jr. is an American politician and businessman who served as the 62nd governor of Maryland from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party and son of three-term U.S. representative Lawrence Hogan, he also served as chair of the bipartisan National Governors Association from 2019 to 2020.
Roger W. "Pip" Moyer was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Annapolis, Maryland, from 1965 to 1973 for two consecutive terms. Moyer is credited with calming race relations in Annapolis following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 by working alongside the city's community leaders, notably his friend, Joseph "Zastrow" Simms, and George Phelps, Jr. (1926–2015). He is also credited with rescuing the city's economy and reviving Main Street during his tenure as mayor.
On June 28, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at the offices of The Capital, a newspaper serving Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The gunman, Jarrod Ramos, killed five employees with a shotgun and injured two others who were trying to escape. Ramos was arrested shortly thereafter. He pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible to 23 charges; in July 2021, a jury found him criminally responsible. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Maryland history.
The 2017 Annapolis mayoral election was held on November 7, 2017 to elect the mayor of Annapolis, Maryland. Mike Pantelides, the incumbent mayor, ran for a second term as Mayor. Democratic nominee Gavin Buckley won the election with 61.06% of the vote, becoming the city's next mayor.
Shaneka Tarae Johnson is an American politician and attorney who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 30A since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as an alderwoman on the Annapolis City Council from 2017 to 2019.
The 2021 Annapolis mayoral election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the mayor of Annapolis, Maryland. Incumbent Democratic mayor Gavin Buckley was re-elected to a second term.
Adrian A. Boafo is an American politician. He is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for District 23 in Prince George's County, Maryland. He previously served as the Vice Mayor and District 3 council member for the City of Bowie from 2019 to 2022.