Seattle Mayor Durkan delivers State of the City speech

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan delivered her annual State of the City speech Tuesday at 11:45 a.m. at North Seattle College.

The mayor made the future of Seattle a core focus of her speech, saying that the city is currently at a turning point.

We have always invented the future. And that’s what I want to discuss today: How together we can build a city of the future. We have a generational opportunity to intentionally choose what kind of city we want to be 50 years from now. Because today, Seattle is at a turning point. Seattle is quite literally under construction. And now is that moment in time that we can build the city we want.

We must remember that real progress advances our common humanity. And our social compact is strongest when built upon our mutual dreams and aspirations — when we all strive towards a shared vision of what is possible. And from listening to Seattle, I believe we have that shared vision.

Part of this turning point involves the city’s commitment to “double down” on its efforts to build affordable housing in Seattle, the mayor says, which includes passing the Mandatory Housing Affordability plan. The city can expect to “leverage tens of millions of dollars in new affordable housing investments,” which includes developing Fort Lawton. The mayor also wants a focus on help for middle income residents. The mayor’s office plans to begin a transit program this summer that will provide free ORCA cards to 1,500 low-income residents.

Beyond that, Durkan mentioned her plan to pay for two years of college for Seattle high school graduates.

Our city of the future must also be one where people have access to opportunity and jobs. We should all be proud of what we’ve done over the last year together to make those connections possible.

On my first day in office in 2017, we created the Seattle Promise College Tuition Program to expand the one-year  South Seattle pilot program to two free years at to all Seattle colleges … The next great innovation on climate change, curing diseases or empowering community could be sitting in one of our Promise classrooms. And for any student watching, you have until Friday to apply for Seattle Promise!

In March, I will be sending our plan to execute on the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise levy to fully realize Seattle Promise, expand high quality preschool to 1,700 kids, close the opportunity gap for our K-12 students. On Thursday, in partnership with Seattle Colleges, we will also announce the availability of a new Seattle Promise Equity Scholarship. Because tuition is not the only barrier to college, this program allows many income-eligible 13th year and 14th year Promise Scholars in our Seattle Colleges to receive resources for things like books, child care, and food.

In the mayor’s speech, she reached out to the City Council to help move these plans forward.

“We can put all these ideas — big and small — into action to help people,” Durkan said. “That’s what building a city of the future is about. Think about a city where all that is possible. That’s where we are headed. That’s where we must go. Council members, I hope you can help take us there. I don’t pretend for a moment that it is going to be easy. But I know in my bones it is the right thing to do.”

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