Satyendra Huja was unanimously elected the new mayor of Charlottesville by the five-member City Council Jan. 3. Council member Kristin Szakos, who nominated Huja, was unanimously elected vice mayor.
Huja is the Council's senior member and has served the longest of the five members, he said. He succeeds Dave Norris, who served as Charlottesville's mayor for the past four years.
Szakos said she believes Huja will do well. "He's got a lot of institutional memory about why things are the way they are," she said. "He's good at looking at things in a broad way to see it in context of other things. The fact that he comes from an academic approach to planning is something that makes sense in a town that is quite academic."
Huja has been involved in city and community planning for more than 30 years, including his position as director of strategic planning for the City of Charlottesville from 1998 to 2004. He was elected to council in 2007 and 2011, and is also an adjunct professor in the Architecture School at the University. This semester he will be teaching a course called "Planning in Government."
Huja, who is Sikh, said he is "happy to have the opportunity to be mayor. Our community is very diverse, so people like me can get elected." He added that he has many aspirations for his term, including improving bike systems and trails, job creation and affordable housing, all of which he hopes will benefit University students.
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