|
REGULAR MEETING December 9, 2019
<br />percent (80%) of employees said this led them to work more hours and bring home more earnings,
<br />and employers in the pilot showed openness to helping fund this as a benefit in the future. This
<br />innovative approach gained attention from around the world, with South Bend officials invited to
<br />address leaders of governments as far away as Paris and Dubai. Any place with low density and
<br />lower -income workers stands to benefit from this approach. Over the coming months, we'll use
<br />the $1 million grant award to scale up the program, attracting new employers and expanding job
<br />security for workers. We believe this will be an excellent complement to the services of
<br />TRANSPO, which is seeing strong progress under its new leadership, and we look forward to the
<br />results.
<br />Mayor Buttigieg continued, Speaking of transformation and change, I must acknowledge the
<br />political process now underway to decide on the City officials who will take office next year. A
<br />year from now, this speech will be given by a new mayor, leading a new administration, with a
<br />different style, different strengths, and perhaps different priorities. This is the most natural and
<br />healthy feature of our democratic system: its ability to balance continuity and change. The new
<br />mayor and Council will face no shortage of challenges: addressing land use on vacant lots that
<br />used to hold collapsing houses but are not yet ready for new construction. Ensuring our level of
<br />violent crime does not go back to prior levels and driving it down even further. Further closing the
<br />gap on income and employment relative to the rest of the nation and doing so in a way that reduces
<br />the persistent and glaring racial inequity in our society and our city. Connecting us to a region and
<br />a world that is becoming more dynamic and demanding at a time when connectivity is key.
<br />Partnering with others, from businesses to universities, to bring about results that make us all better
<br />off. Leading us in celebrating what is best in our City and holding us together whenever we face
<br />the worst of what our times can throw at us. The work of a mayor —the speaking and the listening,
<br />the hiring and the firing, the building and redesigning, inventing and implementing, celebrating
<br />and mourning —it's a daunting task for the most confident person. But it can be done well, through
<br />teamwork and commitment, and a readiness to put policy ahead of politics. The next mayor will
<br />have the benefit of leading a growing City, a rejuvenated City, a City headed in the right
<br />direction —benefiting from the work of these eight (8) years just as I stand on the shoulders of
<br />those who have come before. You hear a lot of numbers from me —in this speech and in general —
<br />because I believe in carefully measuring our outcomes, watching what works and what doesn't
<br />based on hard data, adjusting our approach as we go. But the truth is that the single thing I am
<br />proudest of in this City over the last seven (7) years, and change isn't something I can put into
<br />numbers, is the simple fact that this City believes in itself again. I'm under no illusion that I alone
<br />should take the credit for that. It is a reflection of the dynamism of our neighborhoods, the passion
<br />of our advocates, the urgency of our leaders in every sector, the legacy of those who came before
<br />me. But I also do believe we helped.
<br />Mayor Buttigieg went on, I believe that the combination of careful listening and bold action, deep
<br />tradition and original thinking that characterize the women and men of this Administration, have
<br />helped to bend the trajectory of this City and cement the status of these years as South Bend's
<br />comeback decade. And I am thankful to have played a part in that. From running for office in the
<br />first (I'`) place —which is itself an act of hope —to serving every day, I have sought to live out the
<br />values of this City and call fellow residents to be our very best. And you have called me to be more
<br />than I used to be, time and again. I'm not done serving this City yet. But since this is my last State
<br />of the City address, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for giving me this chance to serve.
<br />I love this City. I love South Bend... enough to move home when not everyone understood why.
<br />Enough to write a book about this City. Enough to give over the better part of my thirties to leading
<br />it. More people should hear our story. When 1 go on the road, I talk about our experience as a
<br />metaphor for what needs to happen in our country. America needs to find ways, as South Bend
<br />has, to embrace our future without fear and adapt to change so that it works for all of us. America
<br />needs to seek greatness, not by dredging it up from some impossible "again," but by looking
<br />squarely to the future, just as our forebears did. Like our City, this country needs to use technology
<br />and innovation in a fashion that is true to our history and tradition, but fearless and original, to
<br />make everyone better off. I love our hometown. I love walks and runs along our river, block parties
<br />in our neighborhoods, ball games and meals out in our downtown, and public art in our parks. I
<br />love the seasons —all four (4) of them. When I look out the window of the fourteenth (14`h) floor
<br />and see the setting sun glinting off the frozen railroad tracks on the west side on a winter afternoon,
<br />or when I smell the moist summer air in our backyard as Chasten and I fire up the barbeque grill
<br />on a hot July evening, I think of how lucky I am to live in this City of ours, this extraordinary
<br />community of a hundred thousand souls first (1ST) known to the Potawatomi as "Ribbon Town";
<br />13
<br />
|