Five o'clock having arrived on this Wednesday, September 9th
It's my honor to call to order this special council meeting for the city state of the city address for 2026
First item of business before we begin the presentation is the Pledge of Allegiance of the flag
If you could please join as you are able and join me in the pledge
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation
Under our indivisible with liberty and justice for all
President Jorgensen members of the city council and my fellow residents of Racine
Thank you for joining me tonight for the 2026 state of the city
We have a great deal to be proud of this year. We have invested in our schools
We have invested in our neighborhoods. We have invested in the safety and well-being of the people who live here
And yet there are dark clouds on the horizon because we are still working to free ourselves from disinvestment
And from the constraints placed on us by the state and federal governments
So let me begin with the good news and it begins where it should always begin with our kids
This is the time of year when parents rejoice at sending their children back to school
With the school year underway, I would be remiss not to celebrate what our public schools mean to this community
The strength of this city is tied directly to the strength of its public schools
So to the teachers and staff who came back to work this fall
Thank you
Your dedication will shape this community's future because you are shaping our most precious resource our children
I am proud to say that all three of my children attend case high school in Racine unified schools
They are thriving and they will be ready for adulthood because of our USD
Because of its IB program and because of the teachers who inspire them each in every single day
This fall many of our students returned
To new or renovated classrooms because the voters of this community approved a school referendum
Just before the year began. I was glad to join ribbon cuttings at case high school goodland school and waterwood school
And this spring during one of our clean sweeps
We worked alongside students at the new red apple school to plant flowers for neighbors up and down the block
If you ever want proof that voting matters remember this a referendum that invests hundreds of millions of dollars in rebuilding and repairing our schools
Past by five votes
Not five percent but literally five votes out of tens of thousands of votes cast
Democracy matters and every vote counts
Good schools do more than prepare young people to be workers and citizens
They anchor neighborhoods and they are central to the revival of this city
Neighborhood reinvestment and repair remain a top priority for us alongside the school construction
The city has taken on project after project to strengthen the places our residents call home
We launched our clean sweep program bringing city crews and city resources into one neighborhood at a time
To trim trees repair sidewalks fill potholes all the way bulky waste and handout smoke detectors
The repairs matter but what matters more is that the residents of those neighborhoods feel seen and appreciated
Through our home repair and enhancement grants. We have delivered more than 1,100 grants of $10,000
To each homeowner across each to homeowners across the city
We're using federal funds to build houses with habitat for humanity in three neighborhoods
And we launched we're seeing rehabbed and ready putting a $25,000 grant in place to bring a vacant house up to code and sold to a homeowner
All of it is working home ownership and we're seeing has climbed from approximately 51 percent to 62 percent
Prichard park apartments will add 266 new market rate units to the city
We have taken an all of the above approach to housing our goal is more home ownership
But our commitment is to every resident
At every income level rich or poor owner and renter alike
We are especially excited about the lincoln king neighborhood
A grant from governor evers allowed us to build 33 town homes
Which will set self for half of what they cost us to build putting home ownership within reach
In that neighborhood. We rehabilitated eight more homes in that neighborhood and we're building two other new homes with habitat
Humanity
As proud as we are of the housing we may be proud or still of the new king center now under construction
It opens early next year and it will offer not only new recreation space, but medical dental and behavioral health care services
Our public health department will be housed there as well so that we can improve community health
From inside the community it will be the first net zero building in the city
And more than 20 percent of the hours worked on that site went to receive residents
This project will be transformative
For the neighborhood for the kids and families at julie and tama school right next door
And frankly for the entire city
My thanks to the staff and community members who gave so much to make it real
And to president biden senator ballwin and governor evers for directing the funding our way
We're continuing to pull unsafe led service lines out of our drinking water system
More than 1200 residents have signed off on replacing lines this year and close to 400 are already complete
My administration made a promise to remove those lines and with resources from the infrastructure law
We secured a 40 million dollar grant to get there faster
Ride our bus system now has a solar ray helping to power our bus fleet thanks to a grant from senator ballwin
And then there's passenger rail
Passenger rail has been talked about in southeast wisconsin for decades
Sometimes they say it's an idea that's so good. It cannot go away
When the bipartisan infrastructure law passed a few years ago, it set aside billions of dollars for new rail corridors
To be ready for it racene joint konosha cut a hay and milwaukee informing an intergovernmental body
the mark rail commission
To be able to apply for those funds when they become available
It will connect downtown racene to the airport to racene and konosha and to the metro line on to chicago
If it comes to fruition, it could spark more than a billion dollars in investment and put tens of thousands of residents within reach of a job
At lakeview park
We installed new playground equipment. I have not driven past it without seeing children playing
I am glad we could give this community something that has brought so much joy to so many families
And gun violence and homicides are declining as our police self-crime and our department of community safety works upstream to interrupt its causes
Alongside our investment in schools housing and community centers. We are investing in people
Helping our residents into jobs that can support a family
Our youth employment program our police and fire cadet program and our commercial drivers license training have opened city jobs to more city residents
More than half the people we hired this year live in racene or moved here to take the job
Compare that with the roughly one third of our current workforce who live in the city and you can measure that progress
I want to single out the police department and the library in particular who made big strides in this regard in the last two years
We also celebrated america's 250th birthday with a wonderful event on july 5th and a time capsule to mark the occasion
We added a new sister city of branford, ontario and we welcome visits from our sister city mayors in mexico and france
All in all there is much to be proud of in the progress that this city is making
Most serious threats we face come from outside these walls, but before I turn to them there are two manners here at home
That I hope this council will address
The first very recently we discussed which is flocked cameras and their security around it
Let me be clear
As I said yesterday, I will not include funding for flocked cameras in the budget that I produce on october 5th
Serious concerns have been raised by residents of this city
By more than two two dozen wisconsin law enforcement agencies that have already terminated their flocked contracts and by a growing number of jurisdictions across the country
We should end this relationship now
Give our police time
They need to close pending investigations, but do not wait until the end of the year
Every week we wait diminishes the community's trust and confidence in its own city
On tuesday the council faces a choice
Stand with the residents and their legitimate privacy concerns or flock
I hope this council stands with the community
The second is the pace at which the council hands out liquor licenses
Our community survey told us plainly what residents want in our comprehensive plans
They want fewer bars fewer liquor stores fewer pawn shops and fewer payday lenders
And yet we go on handing out liquor licenses like their jelly beans
You can buy alcohol in every city in the neighborhood in this city. This is not about prohibition
It's about concentration
License is clustered in low-income neighborhoods next door to homeless services down the street from schools
No community in america has ever revitalized itself with an abundance of liquor stores in neighborhood neighborhoods that were once redlined
Not a single one what those neighborhoods need is decent housing
good jobs human services
Strong schools and public safety
And it is not only how many licenses we grant it is how slowly we hold bad ones accountable
Some establishments drain substantial police resources month after month and degrade the quality of life
For everyone living around them
For the good of this city
I am asking the council to take a harder look at the license holders
We already have and a more skeptical look at every new application that comes before you
Now to the threats from beyond our borders
So i'm going to start by saying I am proud of what this administration our staff
Our partners and our community members have accomplished this year
But make no mistake if our relationship with the state and federal government does not change
The city is in for a dire future
For more than two decades the state legislature has squeezed cities financially while forbidding us from acting on our own behalf
That is not an accident is the product of 20 years of republican dominance in madison
As state funding fell the cost of cities city services shifted onto property taxpayers
Our state aid was cut or held flat for nearly all of that time until the last two years
Consider this had funding to receive simply kept pace with inflation over those two decades
This city would have received more than 300 million dollars more than it did
Imagine what that would mean for the city
For the services we could provide for the buildings that need to be rebuilt and for the property tax bill of every family in this room
President bine's american rescue plan brought this city benefit many benefits and chief amongst them was helping closing our structural deficit with the american rescue plan
This is the last year we can use those dollars going forward
We will need partners in the legislature who understand what is at stake when local government is starved
And alongside the defunding has come the assault on local control
More than 100 bills have been signed into the law to strip authority from communities like ours housing
Raising the minimum wage rules for landlords inspections of our rental units labor standards public health standards
Infrastructure environmental protection on subject after subject. We are preempted prohibited or banned
Local control was once a wisconsin virtue it gave communities the freedom to govern themselves
And let municipalities be laboratories of democracy testing ideas
Learning what works and sharing what we learned with one another
Again, here are just a few things that we can't even consider we are not allowed to consider raising the weight rate minimum wage
We can't further regulating rental housing any further than we already do
We're not allowed to inspect group homes. We can't set building code standards that exceed the state standard regardless of our safety concerns
We can't set labor standards for any of the projects that we have here beyond a certain point
In this semi quincentennial year, there are many ways the state could honor the american experiment
The best of them would be to give cities back the freedom to govern themselves
Of all the concerns I have raised tonight, it is the federal government that worries me the most
And that is because what is under assault there is not simply our budget. It's our values
Racine is a diverse community home to many immigrant groups races and ethnicities
That is one of our greatest strengths, but we now find ourselves in distress
Watching an assault on our democratic values that comes not from some foreign adversary
But from our own federal government
The climate of fear that ice has created in our immigrant community has done a reparable harm
Unfair trade tariffs are raising prices here at home and alienating allies. We have stood beside for generations
Food assistance and health care benefits have been cut for our most vulnerable neighbors
Efforts to open city jobs and programs to underrepresented people are being dismantled along with diversity equity and inclusion work of every kind
Currently interference with male imbalance puts free and fair elections themselves in jeopardy
That's a short list drawn from a long one. These actions do not merely wound us as a matter of policy
The offend our most basic values
President trump has been one of the most negative and disruptive forces of my lifetime
But he is one man and in a little more than two years. He will be out of office
What must not lead with him is our principles
We must summon the strength the whole fast to opportunity to fairness and justice for all americans
Whatever their background because if the state of the city is to be strong
We have to come through the next two years with our principles intact
Sometimes showing up for america means having the resolve to stand up to america when it is acting unjustly
That is why in this 250th year. I still hold
Enormous hope for our future as a city and as a country and it is why I will end with this
The way to fix what is wrong with us is to embrace what is right about us
And I can think of no clear act of fidelity to what is right about this country than to exercise your right to vote
Whether you agree with everything I said here tonight or none of it
I hope every person listening will show fidelity to the country. I believe we all love by voting in a free and fair election
In two days, we will mark the 25th anniversary of the tax of september 11th 2001
Let us remember the sacrifice of those we lost and let us recommit ourselves to this project of ours
The longest-serving democracy of the world
Thank you. God bless each and every one of you. God bless for seeing and god bless the united states of america
Good night
At this time I would entertain a motion to adjourn
Some motion to adjourn in multiple seconds. All those in favor, please say aye
Opposed we are