South Bend Mayor delivers State of the City address

Mayor Pete Buttigieg hit a list of topics he plans to commit to when he delivered the State of the City address Tuesday night at Adams High School.

“Our job is to make sure we’re one of those cities that experiences more benefits than downsides,” said Mayor Buttigieg during his speech.

The speech made for a packed house as he highlighted a number of recent initiatives such as the Smart Streets project and homelessness projects in South Bend.

“But the bottom line is this: our city’s momentum is extraordinary. We have a lot to celebrate and we have our work cut out for us,” said Buttigieg.

He also hit on current issues like street crime and gun violence in the city.

“This is cause for serious concern and we must work very hard and together to reverse the recent uptick and make sure that South Bend is an exception to the national pattern,” said Buttigieg. I spoke with him after his speech about the issue as well.

“There’s no magic wand for this kind of thing but we know some tactics work better than others,” he said while talking about the South Bend Group Violence Intervention aimed at tackling these issues across the city.

Mayor Buttigieg also talked about what’s in store for the city including more widespread WiFi access to the city outside of what was added to the downtown area. He mentioned new technology being added to street department trucks for ease of access and accomplishment on their job, as well as the digital divide across the city and partnering up with local rec centers to offer more such as bike shops and new tech to residents there.

One topic that had several people on their feet was his recognition for youth in the community after the recent Florida high school shooting, voicing his support to local youth.

Buttigieg “They are a voice of moral clarity and they deserve our support.”

Including senior at Adams, Rebekah Amaya

“Recently with the younger people in our community that we’ve lost to gun violence, it’s really saddening to see that but it’s also nice to see that the mayor is taking an initiative on that as well,” said Amaya.

She says she only hopes the support continues.

 “We want our voices heard and I think that, moving forward, South Bend has done a good job of this but could continue to build a really strong line fo communication between young people that are very passionate about their city an seeing progress and leaders in their community that also want to see progress,” said Amaya.

Stick with ABC 57 News for the latest on development on these and other topics presented at the State of the City address.