Joseph P. Riley, Jr.

Joseph P. Riley, Jr. is an American politician. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1943, graduated from The Citadel in 1964, and the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1967. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1968-1974. First elected Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina in December 1975, as of November 6, 2007 he has been elected to a ninth term.

Riley is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition [cite web| url=http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/about/members.shtml| title=Mayors Against Illegal Guns: Coalition Members] , a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Riley served as President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors for 1986-1987. He currently serves on the USCM Executive Committee. [cite web| url=http://usmayors.org/uscm/about/org_leaders/executive.asp| title=U.S. Conference of Mayors] He is a founder of the Mayor's Institute of City Design. [cite web| url=http://www.micd.org/news/anniversary.htm| title=Mayor's Institute of City Design]

Awards & Recognition

* President of the National Association of Democratic Mayors (1988-1992)
* Outstanding Mayors Award by the National Urban Coalition
* Distinguished Citizen Award by the National Association of Realtors
* South Carolina's Order of the Palmetto
* South Carolinian of the Year
* Verner Award by the South Carolina Arts Commission (1982)
* Municipal Leader of the Year by American City & County (1991)
* Thomas Jefferson Award from the American Institute of Architects for Public Architecture (1994)
* Seaside Prize from the Seaside Institute (1997)
* President's Award from the U. S. Conference of Mayors, for outstanding leadership (2000)
* Urban Land Institute J. C. Nichols Prize for Visionary Urban Development (2000)
* Keystone Award, by the American Architectural Foundation ( 2002)
* One of the twenty-five most dynamic mayors in America, Newsweek Magazine
* The American Society of Landscape Architects named him an Honorary Member, for leadership and vision

References