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New Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott Goes on Record

Editor’s Note: In the months leading up to May’s municipal election, Wheeling residents heard plenty about what Mayor Glenn Elliott and the city’s new council members want to accomplish over the next four years. But they may not have heard much about just who these people are — how they see themselves, how they spend their free time. As they prepare to be sworn into office today, city reporter Alec Berry reached out to these new leaders to find out more about them.

Glenn Elliott moved back to his native Wheeling from Washington, D.C. in 2009. At that time, he never expected he’d be the Friendly City’s next mayor.

Elliott, 44, is a 1990 graduate of The Linsly School. He graduated from Georgetown University’s Law Center in 2001 and returned to Wheeling in 2009. In 2013, he invested in downtown by purchasing the Professional Building on Market Street. He announced his run for mayor in 2015 and, in what many viewed as an upset, defeated former Vice Mayor Eugene Fahey on May 10.

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Q: What’s the last book you read?

Elliott: Not surprisingly, my reading during the campaign, and since, has been severely curtailed from what it used to be. But I did manage to squeeze in “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek a few months ago — not because I had time to do so, but because someone I respect considerably told me I need to read it. I’m glad I did. Even though it’s a book targeted to entrepreneurs, its lessons are just as relevant for those engaged in public service seeking to change the status quo.

Q: What makes a good conversation? Are they hard to find?

Elliott: The best conversations require both a certain amount of unpredictability and a willingness on their participants to step outside their comfort zones freely and without fear of judgment. If they’re hard to find these days, it’s primarily because too many of us, yours truly included, are too distracted by our cellphones to give the conversations we engage in our full, undivided attention. And that’s unfortunate.

Q: Favorite spot in Wheeling?

Elliott: This may come off as morbid, but I love taking in the view from atop Mount Wood Cemetery. It’s the only place in Wheeling that I know where you can readily see North Wheeling, downtown Wheeling, Center Wheeling, South Wheeling, Fulton and Woodsdale simply by turning your head. Coming in as a close second would be the rooftop of the Professional Building, where my deck chairs are frankly worn out from overuse.

Q: What do you like to do?

Elliott: I absolutely love to travel, which sounds odd to say after a year in which I’ve rarely ventured outside of the 26003 ZIP code. I enjoy surrounding myself with interesting people, even more so if it overlaps with an amazing meal, relaxing music and a terrific glass of wine.

Q: Who were you in high school? What do you think of this person now?

Elliott: Shy and awkward are probably the first two words that come to mind. I definitely wasn’t one of the “cool kids,” so to speak, but playing basketball helped me fit in perhaps more than I otherwise would have. As I look back on high school me, I wish I could tell him to be more comfortable in his own skin.

Q: Other than Wheeling, what are some of your favorite cities, and what aspects of them do you find appealing?

Elliott: Sedona, Ariz., because it combines sublime natural beauty with a very carefree cultural environment; Cinque Terre, Italy — which is actually five small towns connected along the Italian riviera — because it has managed to maintain all the charm of Tuscany without being over-commercialized with chain hotels and restaurants; Pittsburgh, Pa., because it managed to reinvent itself quite successfully following decades of decline in its industrial base.

Q: You can play one song at your funeral. What is it? Why?

Elliott: This is a tough one. I have favorite songs, but as I think about it, most aren’t exactly funeral-worthy. And those that are funeral-worthy would be too sad for me to have played at my own funeral. So I’ll go with “D’You Know What I Mean?” by Oasis for the same two reasons I play it from time to time on any digital jukebox I encounter: One, even if it borrows the same chord progressions from the band’s better-known “Wonderwall,” it is a woefully underappreciated gem of a song by a terrific band, and two, it is roughly eight minutes long, and therefore a great value for a jukebox play.

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