Good evening, St. Louis! Neighbors, city workers, community partners, members of the Board of Aldermen, friends, distinguished guests, and those who are watching from home.It is an honor—and truly, a privilege I do not take lightly—to stand here tonight for my first State of the City address.To everyone this evening, I want to tell you that the State of Our City is promising.Despite some big challenges, there has been so much good and quite a bit of fun this first year. The SLU Billikens made it to March Madness, we hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship and the 2026 Olympic Figure Skating events – gave Alyssa Liu her iconic hairstyle, and announced that we will host the LA28 Olympic Soccer games.We also secured a direct flight to London, and celebrated both Powell Symphony Hall’s official reopening after their beautiful renovation, and our beloved Gateway Arch’s 60th anniversary. Our zoo welcomed five cheetah cubs and two critically endangered leopard cubs. We still haven’t found the four monkeys and the goat- but we are still looking!Our City workers also continue to win, with the Forestry Division and Board of Public Service winning multiple national awards. And just this week, it was announced by USA Today that Forest Park was named the best park in the nation.Those are a few of the new and exciting things, but as you know, when I took the oath of office a year ago, I promised a government focused on the basics: core services, public safety, and growth. I promised that we would start proving, pothole by pothole, brick by brick, that this city government can set standards and meet them.The change has started. Our city is on the path to a turnaround, and we are not nearly as far away as some people think.I want to begin with a sincere thank you. To the workers in our City departments who have been doing more with less for far too long—thank you for your dedication. To our community partners—thank you for reminding us what it means to truly be with the City. The state of our city is a direct reflection of the work you all do every single day.I also want to thank our Board of Aldermen for representing their constituents with passion and purpose. Alderwoman Clark Hubbard passed several tornado relief funding bills. Alderwoman Sonnier led discussions on Code Blue and other efforts to support our City’s unhoused. Alderman Narayan has continued to champion Short-Term Rental regulations, and Alderman Aldridge passed a bill allocating an additional $1 million for displaced tenants.Alderman Devoti passed legislation to modernize our City’s Charter, and Alderwoman Velazquez has long been a strong champion of charter modernization, especially in collaborating on Personnel reform. Alderwoman Cox Antwi deserves recognition for getting the Earnings Tax renewal on the ballot. Can we all take a moment to celebrate that this critical funding for city services passed with a massive 85% support? It’s the largest marg 

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