Meyera Oberndorf
| Meyera Oberndorf | |
|---|---|
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| 23rd Mayor of Virginia Beach | |
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In office July 1, 1988 – January 1, 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Robert G. Jones |
| Succeeded by | Will Sessoms |
| Vice Mayor of Virginia Beach | |
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In office July 1, 1986 – June 30, 1988 |
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| Preceded by | Reba McClanan |
| Succeeded by | Robert Fentress |
| Member, Virginia Beach City Council | |
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In office July 1, 1976 – June 30, 1988 |
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| Member, Public Library Board | |
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In office 1966 – June 30, 1976 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | February 10, 1941 |
| Died | March 13, 2015 (aged 74) Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Roger Oberndorf |
| Alma mater | Old Dominion University (B.A.) |
| Profession | public servant |
| Website | [1] |
Meyera E. Oberndorf (February 10, 1941 – March 13, 2015) was the 23rd mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia. She was Virginia Beach's longest serving mayor, and she previously served as the city's vice mayor. She was the city's first female mayor and was the first woman elected to public office in the more than 300-year history of Virginia Beach or its predecessor, Princess Anne County.
Though she was Virginia Beach's first directly elected Mayor, her role was primarily to serve as the chair during City Council meetings, of which she had been a member since 1976, and to officiate at a wide array of ceremonial functions. This is because Virginia Beach has a council-manager form of government. Virginia Beach is the largest populated city in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In 1989, prior to an annual end of the summer event sponsored by African American college students, Oberndorf announced that the event had grown too large to handle and was not welcome in the city. Combined with city officials denying use of public facilities for the event and new ordinances which led to the arrests and citations of hundreds of attendees for mostly minor offenses such as jay-walking and loud music, Oberndorf's statement heightened racial tensions which exploded with the "Greekfest" riots in which over 100 beachfront stores were damaged. Despite her claim that NAACP assertions of poor racial relations between the city and African Americans were "poppycock," city actions in 1989 and in the years following so damaged race relations that it wasn't until two decades later, at the tail end of Obendorf's long-time mayoralty, that Virginia Beach again began to have success drawing large numbers of African Americans to the resort beachfront.
In April 2007, Oberndorf was criticized by Fox News Channel commentator Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly claimed she mishandled a situation involving illegal immigrant Alfredo Ramos, who was accused and later convicted of causing a fatal drunk driving accident on March 30, 2007. O'Reilly said that Virginia Beach should have reported Ramos to Immigration and Customs Enforcement once they realized he was in the country illegally, since he had prior alcohol-related convictions, including DUI and public drunkenness. However, Virginia Beach didn't learn of the immigrant's status until after the accident.
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