Huntington State of the City Aftermath

In the 2015 Huntington State of the City Address Mayor Steve William elaborated on the future developments, budget plans, and hopes for the city. In my latest prediction, I said that Williams would discuss new developments for the city of Huntington, and in result link all parts of Huntington together. Williams also touched on the budget for this year as well, as I predicted.

Williams described Huntington as a “vibrant, teeming with optimism, fiscally sound and is at the beginning of a renaissance.” As I predicted, a major topic of the address was the three new additions that I previously discussed. These new developments is a major part of the renaissance that Mayor Williams hopes for the city.

The first project that Williams sees in the future takes place on Hal Greer Blvd. corridor, which also includes Northcott Court. The second project is on the west end of Huntington, focusing on the River to Rail area. The third project includes the ACI plant property located just east of Marshall University, and west of the Highlawn neighborhood. Williams said “with these three projects combined, with a proposal to deploy high-speed broadband, will provide our city with the greatest opportunity for consistent expansion since the 1940’s.”

These three new developments will consist of retail and commercial businesses. As Williams previously discussed, high-speed broadband will be a major part of these additions to the city. He also stressed that high-speed broadband will act as a “virtual ribbon” between the three developments.

I predicted that the budget would be a major point and a high concern addressed in Williams’s speech. The 2015 budget for the city will be down 5% from last year’s budget. Williams stated the revenue for the city is projected to be $1,613,455 less than what was originally projected for the current fiscal year.

The new developments and the budget for the city were a major part of my prediction for the State of the City Address, but I also missed a lot of things that Mayor Williams discoursed. Mayor Williams highly stressed his concern with struggle of addiction in the city. He took quite a bit of time on the topic of addiction, and said that it was the largest issue that Huntington was currently facing. “We need to move our focus from the dealers, to the dealers and addicts,” Williams said. He also proposed the idea to establish a comprehensive plan that is all-inclusive of government agencies, recovery houses, recovery programs, hospitals, medical centers, and medical schools.

Lastly, Williams discussed his vison to embrace diversity and celebrate our differences. Williams not only wants to focus on diversity when it comes to race, but sexuality as well. He has formed a LGBT Advisory Council to act as a liaison between his office and the community.

I predicted that Williams would discuss three new major additions to the city as well as the new budget, which were correct, but I overlooked some his most important points regarding the LGBT community and the addition in Huntington. With all of these ideas combined there is no doubt that Huntington, West Virginia will continue to grow and develop.