assumed frontrunner status in the race, and in September won the D.C. Democratic primary with 50% of the vote in a six-person race, then won the November 3 general election by a 2–1 margin despite not having held any elected office since 1982. Upon his election, the Control Board announced that it would begin ceding back to Williams much of the executive authority it had stripped of the mayor's office during Barry's tenure. Mayor first term During his first term he restored the city to the financial black, running budget surpluses every year and allowing the control board to terminate itself two years ahead of schedule. He brought some $40 billion of investment to the city. Unprecedented capital investments and service improvements also came to some disadvantaged neighborhoods under Williams' administration. By 2001, real property values were climbing steadily and Washington, D.C., was experiencing a real estate investment boom in the residential, commercial and retail markets. Congress dissolved the Financial Control Board in September 2001. In 2002 the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) named Washington, D.C., the top global and U.S. city for real estate investment. (It made the top slot again in 2003 and 2004.) Williams also alienated some lower-income residents. His first term in office was marked by the beginning of a period of gentrification throughout the city. Longtime residents complained of being priced out of their homes and neighborhoods and forced to move to neighboring Prince George's County, Maryland. In addition, one of Williams' budget-trimming measures was the closure of inpatient services at D.C. General Hospital, the only public hospital in the District. The D.C. Council voted down Williams' proposed closure in the spring of 2001, but their decision was overturned by the Control Board soon afterwards. Mayor second term In 2002, Williams ran for re-election and stumbled into a political scandal. The firm which he hired to collect signatures to put his name on the Democratic Primary ballot had irregularities with hundreds of names on the petitions. As a result of the irregular petitions, the Williams campaign was fined $277,700 by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics and his name was removed from the Democratic Primary ballot. He was forced to run as a write-in candidate. His chief opponent, minister Willie Wilson, also ran as a write-in candidate. Despite this handicap, Williams won both the Democratic and Republican primaries as