Every year, mayors across the country deliver a State of the City speech that highlights their accomplishments in office and their vision for the future. These speeches are a unique opportunity for mayors to engage their communities and showcase their leadership, but they also provide a glimpse into the issues that are top of mind for people who live in cities and towns.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams teased her potential broader political ambitions in her fourth and final State of the City address, but she focused on citywide leadership and improving residents’ lives. The largely positive response to her speech—from civic groups, councilmembers and citizens alike—showed the mayor’s ability to galvanize her audience and set an agenda for 2024.
City leaders are increasingly calling for greater equity in government, with many pushing to make their departments more diverse and urging their residents to participate in decision making. This year, we saw more than double the number of mayors who made these calls than in previous years.
Cities are stepping up to the climate crisis by promoting renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency in their buildings. Some mayors are even addressing the blight problem, with some focusing on the removal of vacant and abandoned properties in their neighborhoods. This year, the blight and elimination subtopic received more attention than ever before in our analysis of mayors’ speeches. We found that it was the most-cited subtopic of any of our analysis’s ten topics.