For Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the final countdown is on.

Old friends are coming by for one last visit to an office that's filled with 14 years of politics and memories. His 15th-floor view is not the same as it was when he started.

“It's amazing how much things have changed," McCrory said.

But looking out on it all, he said he's proud of what he and Charlotte have accomplished.

• RAW INTERVIEW: Mayor Pat McCrory Talks About His Years In Public Office

“You never want to leave because there's always something next you want to accomplish, but you've got to give others that opportunity,” he said.

Among his accomplishments, McCrory counts Charlotte's growth, including the addition of the light rail, and the city’s response after 9/11.

“I was calm on the outside, but I was very nervous on the inside,” he said. “People looked to the mayor for comfort.”

He also pointed to the city's response after Hurricane Katrina. Charlotte housed Gulf Coast evacuees in the old Coliseum.

“Getting a last minute call from the White House saying, ‘Can you take two or three plane loads of people off the runway in New Orleans and bring them to Charlotte within four hours?’ That was a moment in time that I'll never forget,” McCrory said.

But there have been down times, too, like the threats he said he's never talked about.

“In my 14 years, I had very few threats, but the few you get, made my wife a little nervous,” he said.

He still won't discuss them in-depth, but he said, “I made a point never to have security and to be very open to the public.”

“I firmly believe that elected officials -- be it mayor, governor or senator -- should walk among the people and not have all this protection and entourage,” he said.

McCrory’s office is filled with photos of famous people, but he said it's the common people he has found most impressive over the years.

He'll join those ranks of common people, at least for a while, as he leaves the mayor’s office to work with his brother in a consulting business. Beyond that, he can't say for sure.

“There' a chance that I will definitely run for governor again,” he said. “We're getting a lot of people from throughout the state asking me to do it again, but that's something I'm going to have to huddle up with my wife about.”

McCrory said the next two weeks will be emotional. He fought back tears when community leaders honored him at Monday night's city council meeting.

Two seats away from him sat the man who will take his place, so Eyewitness News asked his advice for Democrat Anthony Foxx.

“I think most of the things I want to tell him are private. I think the main things I'm going to tell him are: respect the ethics, don't forget your family and respect the office. Never lose respect for the office and don't start thinking the world revolves around you, because it doesn't,” McCrory said.

The mayor said he's proud that neither he nor his administration has been tainted by scandal. He said fewer and fewer politicians can claim that these days.

As for the woman who beat him in the race for governor, McCrory said Gov. Beverly Perdue shows "more energy" than her predecessor, but he said there've been a lot of promises made that can't be kept.