Pointing to a 25-year low in crime and an all-time high in residential building permits, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird cast Lincoln as the “quality of life capital of the country” in her annual State of the City address Tuesday.
In a half-hour-long speech, the second-term mayor touted her administration’s work to improve streets and public safety, reduce homelessness, support development of all sort and revitalize Lincoln’s downtown as she tallied the successes of her latest year in office and looked forward to more to come.
Speaking to a crowd of city and community leaders Tuesday morning at the Marriott Cornhusker Hotel, Gaylor Baird said Lincoln, the 72nd largest city in America, ranks in the top 15 for home buyers, renters, retirees, working moms and families — and happiness.
“It’s clear that here in the heart of Husker nation, we outkick our coverage,” she said. “Yes, the state of our city is strong.”
Touting the lowest number of Part 1 crimes — including violent crimes like homicide and robbery, as well as property crimes like theft and arson — since at least the late 1990s, Gaylor Baird pointed to the city’s efforts to boost public safety, including a new ordinance aimed at curbing reckless driving and a 17% pay raise for the police officers who enforce it.
The mayor also highlighted the city’s partnerships with the behavioral health nonprofit Centerpointe to have mental health providers respond alongside — or in lieu of — police to mental health-related 911 calls.
Co-responders have helped on more than 220 calls since the program launched in March, while Centerpointe’s “alternative response” street outreach team has successfully housed more than 60 people this year on calls that don’t require police presence, she said.
The city opened a new $11.5 million fire station at at 17th and Van Dorn streets in January — and more projects like it could come, Gaylor Baird suggested Tuesday, when she announced the creation of a new public safety facility task force to review existing fire and police facilities.
The mayor also spotlighted her administration’s efforts to improve city roads, an initiative buoyed in April by voters who decisively agreed to continue a quarter-cent sales tax for another eight years that will fund road repairs and construction. Gaylor Baird said the vote will help the city invest an extra $144 million into street repairs.
Her administration’s work on Lincoln’s roads will soon focus on the city’s busiest, she said. The city will invest $35 million into street, sidewalk and other infrastructure replacements along O Street from Ninth to 16th streets — the biggest investment in Lincoln’s main street in nearly half a century.
That stretch of O Street is also at the center of the mayor’s revitalization efforts downtown, where the city plans to turn the old Centrum building into a “21st century library,” Gaylor Baird said Tuesday.
The city has also designated the nearby 14th Street corridor as the downtown music district, renaming a portion of it Boehmer Street, in honor of the late Zoo Bar owner, and opened a city-owned rehearsal space called MusicBox.
The mayor also touted her administration’s effort to develop housing on all fronts.
She said the city’s developmental review teams have issued more residential building permits in the last five years than any other five-year period in Lincoln’s recorded history — even before the City Council approved the mayor’s plan to combine the city-county planning and building and safety departments in a move meant to streamline the permitting process and inspections.
And she pointed to city-supported projects that have created or will soon create hundreds of new affordable housing units across Lincoln, including the first city-owned permanent supportive housing project for chronically homeless people, set to open south of downtown later this year.
Gaylor Baird, too, highlighted her efforts to make the city greener and more inclusive, including a plan to ensure the city’s fleet cars are all electric or low-emissions by 2040 and the opening of Lincoln’s first fully inclusive playground in July.
“When we answer your calls to 911, when we feed your grandparents at our senior centers, when we help build or repair your homes or care for your children at our rec centers, we show up for all of you, our neighbors,” the mayor said.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.com. On Twitter @andrewwegley
Love
0
Funny
0
Wow
0
Sad
0
Angry
0
Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Andrew Wegley
State government reporter
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today