State of the City 
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2009 State of the City Speech
April 8, 2009
Mobile Mayor Sam Jones
Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you the citizens and friends of Mobile for your love, support and dedication to our city, to me as mayor and my administration. The potential and success. Partnerships and cooperation are powerful tools. The success and awesome potential of this community is due to our ability to work together and focus on the total community.
I want to thank our city council, led by President Reggie Copeland and Vice President Fred Richardson, for their inspiration and cooperation in our quest for excellence. Will they please stand? Join me in applauding their leadership and dedication to this city.
I am extremely proud of the collaboration we have in our city and community - the cooperation of the Mobile county commission; the Governor, Legislators and Federal leaders have helped us transform the city's character and landscape; the business community - headed by the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce - that rises to the occasion when it comes to economic development opportunities - citizens who don't mind rolling up their sleeves and channeling their energy and support to make Mobile a better place to live, work and play; city employees - who are some of the best employees you'll ever find in government; and today - to each of you who values our city's future direction. so much so that you took time out of your schedule to attend this event. We thank you.
It has been a year of unique challenges and remarkable opportunities. Despite a troubling economy where cities throughout this country are experiencing grave financial crises - Mobile has shown its resilence through effective management, conservative budgeting, a remarkable annexation effort that was made possible by our newest citizens and a promising economic job market which defies the rest of the country's gloomy analysis. The city is an incredible place to be today. As we look at the past year, we cannot help but see a year full of change; a year full of innovation and achievements that have become the benchmark of who we are today and a stellar example of the historic foundation which has brought us to this point in time.
I hope you will take time and read the details outlined in the city's publication, so I won't focus on all our specific projects. while many of you - elected officials, business, civic and community leaders - have been a part of the city's success, I'd like to take a moment and expound upon the vision that has changed the face and character of Mobile - giving city government a new direction.
As we approach the end of this term, i can say with certainty that we all have been inspired by the resilience of this dynamic city. Downtown once looked like a ghost town of years gone by, with empty buildings, decaying structures and a dwindling business environment. Not anymore! Today, it stands tall, with a skyline of growth signalling to the rest of the state and world the opportunities that lie within Mobile's midst. we are what other cities aspire to!
We realize successes and even failures come in cycles. Though all of Mobile's stars are in order today, and seemingly success is in the palm of our hands, we realize tomorrow may not be as kind to us. Therefore, it is prudent that we all seize the moment, plan and execute a deliberate effort to insure that we leave this city better than we found it.
There is something more important than ourselves waiting in the wings to take over where we left off - our children. I can assure you, they are watching our actions to see if they line up with our words.
Nothing is more rewarding than to wake up in the morning and see a seed you planted a decade ago blossom into new jobs; create stronger neighborhoods; safer streets; build parks that are wholesome and radiate the pride of the city; or travel on infrastructure that make you proud to call this place home.
We face a different set of challenges as we venture into the age of technology which has become as vital as the human minds that created it.
Mobile has a can-do spirit! When others count us out, we know the value of banning together - not just to focus on our differences, but to collectively come up with solutions that enables us - as a community to look boldly toward the future.
For the past two years I have been fortunate enough to represent Mobile at a global conference in chicago - hosted by Mayor Richard Daley.
As i sit there this past year listening to the presentations from mayors who represented cities with populations and resources that far exceeded Mobile - I had a daunting thought that years back - we wouldn't even have a seat at the table.
But today, even though we had the smallest population and budgets - we are now seated among some of the nation's largest and most progressive cities. This is a testament to our grit to make business and education a priority in our city - garnering the attention of people throughout the nation and world. While we are progressing, we must remain vigilant about improving our social capital. We must nurture our business community - whether large or small, and continue to support a matrix where we contnue to attract new businesses.
Our education system has made significant strides in many areas, but it is vitally important that we do not lose focus of our duty and role to support education. when you look at the staggering number of youngsters dropping out of school, the pain of what lies ahead in these students lives should be enough to propel all of us to band together. one of the projects of our workforce development inititives is the "drop-out summit," under the capable guidiance of Carolyn Akers and the Mobile Area Education Foundation.
The job of educating our children lies not only in the hands of superintendent Roy Nichols, the school board and teachers, but also in your hands.
We can recuit thousands of jobs into the community, but if our populace is not educated or equipped with the means to meet the challenges of this ever-changing job market, our efforts would be in vain.
Another challenge we face as a community is our dire need to come up with a solution to combat youth crime and violence. Last year, the majority of the crimes you saw on your evening news was committed by youngsters between the ages of 15 to 20-years-old.
We are catching them and locking them up. But it is always somewhat disheartening when I get a call from a parent who is vehemently arguing their child is not capable of such a thing. However, they don't know where their children have been, who they're with and what they are doing. Folks, it is time for parents to take responsibility for their children.
Mobile's progress is far too precious for us to allow our children to be lost, with no array of hope. We can no longer sit in the corner and say it is not our problem.
It is all of our duty to team up and be a part of the solution. If that means supporting the education renewal, being a principal for a day or creating jobs to sustain our young people's job ambitions - let's do it.
I am cautiously optimistic that the economy will start improving by year's end. We will continue to be very conservative financially, but aggressive in our efforts to secure the air force tanker contract. The implementation of our master plan and the continued redevelopment of downtown will be our priority. Our cruise industry will expand with a new state-of-the-art gangway; and let me announce today that we have been notified that carnival has confirmed the fantasy's schedule from Mobile through January 2012.
Our police and fire departments will increase in size and capacity. The citismart accountability model will continue to provide a high level of efficient services to citizens; and the quality of life in our community will be unparelled in this state and region. We will continue on a course of well-planned expansion with a solid revenue base.
To those who would say that things are not what they used to be, I say you are right; and I am glad that things are not like they used to be. Some are still talking about the good old days. I was here - where were they? these are our best days. Regardless of the challenges we face, god has blessed us with an abundance of opportunities. A famous mobilian by the name of Leroy Satchel Paige once said, "don't look back, something may be gaining on you."
The I, me and my leadership approach is no longer acceptable or productive. That day is gone. Leadership is not about individual accomplishments. It is not about me and this might be a revelation to some of us, but it is not about you. It is really about how we as a people, entrusted with positions of leadership can work together to provide the very best to the citizens of our community. The real challenge is not whether we can. It's whether we will. I believe in our city, our people and our ability. If you believe, we will achieve future success.
We've come a long way from where we started. We still have work to do. I look forward to working with each of you to make our city the very best in the nation.