State of the City Predictions

Andrea Steele

JMC414

State of the City Address Predictions

02/17/15

            In a classroom inside of Smith Hall, Marshall University students come to class to meet and greet personally with the Mayor of Huntington.

            Mayor Steve Williams came to JMC414, a public affairs reporting class, Wednesday, February 11 to give some insight to students as to what his State of the City speech would consist of.

            Students came prepared with questions to ask the mayor and the mayor gave a further look into what his speech would entail.

            The basic outline of his speech will follow a similar pattern of his speech from two years ago because, according to the mayor, the plans should remain consistent when following through with a long-term project.

            With all the recent construction around Huntington, the mayor will explain the future plans for the city. Continuing with the current projects around the city, the mayor said there are still four main undertakings going on. These projects consist of continuing to update the city through reconstruction, tearing down and building throughout the city. These projects are: the ACF property, which is from Marshall University’s campus to the Highlawn area, working with Frontier Communications and the America’s Best Community Competition, cleaning up Huntington and the moving of the Northcott low-income housing and lastly, bringing broadband and the “virtual ribbon” to Huntington to connect the city better.

            The mayor will also discuss Huntington’s budget and the decrease of 5% and where it’s coming from. Mayor Williams did say that there will be no layoffs and that the 5% decrease was predicted.

            Other issues that will most likely be brought up during his speech will be the storm water problems and fixing the streets of Huntington.

            The mayor finished by stating that he feels the city is strong and vibrant.