There's just more than one month to go until anyone interested in running for mayor of Richmond must put their money where their mouth is. June 10 is the filing deadline for when mayoral candidates have to submit 500 signatures of support with at least 50 from each city district.

So far, five people have announced their intentions to run. Incumbent Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and City Council President Bill Pantele have not said whether they will seek the spot.

To keep you informed, Richmond.com will give you the skinny on each candidate every Thursday until June 10.

Today, meet Lawrence Williams.

Lawrence E. Williams

Age: 55
Family: I have a son, 23, who recently graduated from VCU with a business administration degree and attended Richmond Public Schools. I have a daughter in Richmond Public Schools who is 17, a cheerleader and became a member of the national honor society last week.

Occupation: Architect
Background: Williams was born and raised in Church Hill, attended Richmond Public Schools and has an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Virginia. He also has a master's degree in architecture from Harvard University. He's also a member of Mount Tabor Baptist Church. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor four years ago and has made three failed bids to represent City Council's 6th District. In addition to working with other architects on the Downtown Master Plan, Williams has worked with several community development corporations across the city, including the Hull Street, Church Hill and Barton Heights areas of the city. Because of his experience and views on how to make things work, some people have dubbed him "Obama light."

What would people be surprised to know about you?

They'd be surprised to know that my heart and soul has always been built to care about Richmond. I'm hardwired to care about Richmond. I've had the opportunity to work with (State Senator) Henry Marsh, (Former City Manager) Robert Bobb, (State Delegate) Dwight Jones, (Former Richmond Mayor) Walter Kinney and (Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce President) Jim Dunn. I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of the good, very effective leaders of Richmond. I've always worked myself to be a composite of all that leadership. And I care, that's why I run.

What's your favorite Richmond restaurant?

Steve's Restaurant because it represents downtown urban.

Any pets?

I have a Labrador retriever. His name is Time. I'm fascinated by timelines and the importance of making the right choices and the impact it has on everything.

Why should people vote for you?

What I represent is more of a management style for a mayor. Most mayors in the past 30 or 40 years have been somewhat politically-oriented in terms of how to get elected, but I want to take Richmond politics and move it forward so we can begin to look at task force politics as opposed to banquet or social politics.

Oftentimes, people look at electability. I think mine represents electability plus, the plus dealing with very technical issues and management issues, like the baseball Diamond. That should have been negotiated on a conference table over a year and half ago. I had contact with architects on that, and many thought the scale was inappropriate for Shockoe Bottom and others felt the Boulevard was not the greatest priority for the city.

Many of those things could be worked through a fiscal planning approach. Most preachers and lawyers are not accustomed to dealing with the construction elements and complex issues. That's what architects and community planners are trained to do. [Director of Community Development] Rachel Flynn has done an excellent job with the downtown master plan. It illustrates what that kind of professionalism can do for the city. I want to continue that.

What are your top priorities?

Schools. Fundamentally, I want to make certain we get at least two to three new middle schools and those would have social services in the school so young parents can deal with the total family structure at one central location. Middle school is the fork in the road. We want to be able to catch them there.

The second reason I'm running is because with schools...we also need to decide where we're going from a leadership perspective. The emphasis I want the media to focus on is not the school system but the neighborhoods around the schools, making Richmond the most livable city in America. Until we do that, we're not going to solve the school issue.

The focus is not on the schools but the neighborhoods around the schools.

The fundamental goal for the whole campaign is to make Richmond the most livable city in America because we can do it. Richmond is a small town. We're so close. It's very critical at this point that we go in the right direction and focus on the right issues.

The fourth reason I'm running is the city jail needs to be relocated and re-thought in terms of how we deal with the inmate population. It's a revolving population and so therefore they deserve some training. (There are several) industrial training possibilities near the Philip Morris plant. And clearly, there should have mental health and social services in the jail. The population is too great to be ignored as long as it has. We have two African-American males on the Supreme Court, and one would think that they would be sensitive to say, "Let us begin to look at the city jail and Virginia prison system."

Again, if we look at downtown, and it's growing, we have a lot of changes in the city, but we have to think of it from a regional perspective, making sure affordable housing is part of the regional objective.

When I ran in the last election, you get a different perspective than probably 99 percent of the population and, fundamentally, what I found is in each of the districts, there is some type of amenity that holds the neighborhood together, whether it's a park or the river or maybe some type of commercial hub, like Carytown. The only place that doesn't occur is in the 6th District. The fifth reason I'm running is that I would like to see Shockoe Bottom north developed into a park to give value to the tops of the hills, which overlook downtown to the east.

What else do you want to say or want people to know?

The fundament reason is because I know Richmond is very slow to change and I'd like to carry a Richmond fast forward campaign. Otherwise, will be another four years and we will not have accomplished much. The last four years speak for itself. There have been several positive things and several difficult things.

I think I bring a very balanced temperament to caring about Richmond and all of its citizens and my candidacy represents a candidate that will care about all the citizens, from an elderly lady in the Fan whose door I knocked on to a fellow who tells me he can't vote. I run because I don't think the other candidates will really care and get issues resolved over the next four years. It'll just be politics as usual. I need the citizens to see that, and I think they will see that in this election.

I would appreciate it very much if voters look closely at the candidates and dynamics we've had in the past and see the potential with all of us working together.

Meet the rest of the candidates:

May 1: The Rev. Dwight Clinton Jones

May 8: Lawrence E. Williams

May 15: Donnie Corker

May 22: Paul Goldman

May 29: Bill Pantele

June 5: Rodney D.C. Barnes