PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth City Manager Steven Carter says his focus, more than a year and a half into the job, is turning long-discussed ideas into visible progress.
“We’re an older city. We have a lot of things going on. We have great history, but we also have old infrastructure,” Carter said. “Those are some of the things you have to come in and understand before you start trying to make any major moves.”
Carter said his first short-term goal after arriving in April 2024 was to understand Portsmouth, its people, its history, and its challenges.
From there, he said, he worked to strengthen project management and push forward initiatives that had stalled for years.
“We’ve talked about some things over several years, but really haven’t put any feet on it and gotten them moved,” he said. “What we’re doing now is putting project plans together for all of those things, with beginning and end dates.”
As city manager, Carter serves as the city’s administrative head, overseeing day-to-day operations across departments, while the City Council provides political direction.
Looking ahead, Carter said his top priorities are public safety and infrastructure. He pointed to major efforts such as the Crawford Bay waterfront redevelopment, demolition of the city jail, and construction of a new City Hall.
The new building would move government offices out of an aging waterfront facility and open that site for redevelopment.
“I really want people to understand that for every negative headline you see about Portsmouth, there’s a lot of positive work being done to counteract that,” Carter said. “Most importantly, I want to change the way Portsmouth thinks about Portsmouth.”
