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State of the city addresses, 2015
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Los Angeles Chicago Houston Philadelphia Phoenix San Antonio San Diego Dallas San Jose |
A State of the City Address is an annual speech delivered by a city's mayor. It can be given at any time of year, although it is most often done during the earlier months of the year in America's 10 largest cities. Some mayors wait until December to deliver their address. The audience for this speech can vary from city to city, but the address is most often given before a city council, a group of local business owners or the general public. Nine of the country's 10 largest cities by population have annual state of the city addresses.
In 2015, state of the city addresses in the country's largest 10 cities contained an average of 4,001 words. This was only 450 words fewer than the average state of the state address in 2015. The earliest was delivered on January 14, 2015, in San Diego, and the last was delivered on December 1, 2015, in Dallas. April 2015 was the most popular month for the speech, with three given during those 30 days.
State of the City Calendar
- January
- 14 - San Diego
- 29 - Philadelphia
- February
- 3 - New York City
- March
- 3 - San Antonio
- 14 - San Jose
- April
- 8 - Phoenix
- 14 - Los Angeles
- 16 - Houston
- December
- 1 - Dallas
The addresses are similar in practice to the ones given annually by governors as state of the state addresses. You can see full coverage of the gubernatorial addresses on Ballotpedia here.
New York
New York City's State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on February 3, 2015. It contained 5,201 words, and a transcript is available from The New York Times here.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles' State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Eric Garcetti on April 14, 2015. It contained 4,116 words, and a transcript is available from Southern California Public Radio here.
Chicago
At this time, the city of Chicago does not appear to have an annual State of the City address. In 2015, the mayor of Chicago was Rahm Emanuel.
Houston
Houston's State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Annise Parker on April 16, 2015. It contained 2,886 words, and a transcript is available from the Houston city website here.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia's State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Michael Nutter (D) on January 29, 2015. It contained 4,378 words, and a transcript is available from the Philadelphia city website here.
Phoenix
Phoenix's State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Greg Stanton on April 8, 2015. It contained 4,492 words, and a transcript is available from the Phoenix city website here.
San Antonio
San Antonio's State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Ivy R. Taylor on March 3, 2015. It contained 3,468 words, and a transcript is available from Rivard Report here.
San Diego
San Diego's State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Kevin Faulconer on January 14, 2015. It contained 4,624 words, and a transcript is available from the San Diego city website here.
Dallas
Dallas' State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Mike Rawlings on December 1, 2015. A transcript of the address was not made available. According to NBCDFW, the address focused on attracting young people to the city. "I want to listen to young people. I want to learn about what they want our city to look like in 20 and 30 years," he said.[1]
San Jose
San Jose's State of the City address was delivered by Mayor Sam Liccardo on March 14, 2015. It contained 2,848 words, and a transcript is available from the San Jose city website here.
Previous years
The tabs below contain links to state of the city addresses found online from the previous two years.
2014
2013
See also
Footnotes