Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms addressed the Virginia Beach community on Thursday in his annual State of the City address.
The mayor touched on various topics, like new attractions in the city such as TopGolf and iFly, to new attractions in the making, like the $200 million arena scheduled to be built at the Oceanfront.
He also said the city should expand the Tide light rail. Back in October, city council members rejected a proposal to shift money away from the ongoing light rail project.
Mayor Sessoms mentioned that Town Center has generated 64 million dollars in business taxes, and the second phase should start soon.
More than 1,400 have been added in Virginia Beach in 2015, which was a record year for tourism.
He also touched on the charges he facedfor violating the state's conflict of interest law. In December 2015, four of the five charges Sessoms faced were dismissed. Sessoms pleaded "no contest" to the remaining charge. He was ordered to pay $1,000 to the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
The event, put on by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce was held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
During the event, Sessoms sent his love to Norfolk Mayor Fraim and called him a friend.
Sessoms says he is leaning toward running again but will have the answer soon. He says it's a family decision.
All of the left over food from the event will be donated to a homeless shelter across the street from the convention center.
The city hired artist Jim Nuttle to illustrate Sessoms' main points in real time. Instead of a Power Point presentation, Nuttle brought the ideas to life on a white board as the mayor spoke.
