ST. LOUIS - Mayor Tishaura O. Jones delivered her 2024 State of the City Speech at the Sun Theater in the Grand Center Arts District in St. Louis City.
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“Today, the City of St. Louis is safer, stronger, and healthier than we were last year. And next year, we’ll be safer, stronger, and healthier than we are today,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
The Mayor outlined her administration’s continuing efforts to make the City of St. Louis safer through infrastructure projects designed to improve our streets and expand the ways we get around our city, such as the Metrolink Green Line expansion.
“We’ve taken the historic American Rescue Plan funds from the Biden-Harris administration and are putting them to work on paving, lighting, and traffic calming measures on our roadways,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. “We aren’t just making it safer to get around in your car. Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or riding public transit. The Green Line, which will also connect to the Red and Blue lines, will give more St. Louisans the ability to move around the city - for jobs, education and entertainment - reducing the need for a car.”
She also highlighted the work of the Office of Violence Prevention, as well as significant improvements to 911 response times over the last year, both part of a holistic, long term approach to public safety.
“In 2023, OVP helped divert over 550 9-1-1 calls to behavioral health responders and our Crisis Response Unit helped St. Louisans in over 6,500 cases,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
“Last year, we answered just over 50% of calls within the first 10 seconds. The national standard is 90%. Today, I’m proud to report that more than 80% of 9-1-1 calls are answered within 10 seconds. ”
“The collaborative work of Chief Tracy, Wil Pinkney and Public Safety Director Charles Coyle, has made historic changes to our alternative emergency response, like Cops and Clinicians and 9-1-1 Diversion programs, which includes Behavioral health clinicians in our 9-1-1 dispatch center.”
The Mayor emphasized the ways her administration is investing in economic development that uplifts families, supports small business, and helps to foster local communities.
“We’re also providing tools to help homeowners stay in their homes and get help with repairs,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. “The Healthy Home Repair Program received $15 million in ARPA funding, and we more than doubled the number of houses we served this year from 155 to 317. This is generational work. It took generations to get here and building vibrant neighborhoods all over St. Louis will take time.”
Mayor Jones spoke about the ongoing renovation of the old Killark Electric Plant into a workforce hub for North St. Louis City.
“The old Killark Electric Plant at MLK & Vandeventer will soon have a new name – The Monarch on MLK,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. “Once redeveloped, the Monarch’s 15-acre site will transform into a world-class, transit-accessible workforce development hub designed to prepare St. Louis residents for high-paying, in-demand careers.”
As part of her administration’s efforts to build a healthier city workforce, the Mayor announced that the City of St. Louis launched a hiring website, powered by new software that will make it faster and easier to apply and get hired by the City. The website is powered by the Taleo software. She also announced that the hiring freeze on the City of St. Louis would be lifted on Monday, May 20, 2024.
“Our city hiring has been plagued by slow and inefficient technology for decades,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. “Last week, under the leadership of Director of Personnel Sonya Jenkins Gray and our Bloomberg/Harvard fellow Krizia Lopez, the City launched a new hiring website, powered by new software that will make it faster and easier to apply and get hired by the City.”
A full transcript of the speech as written for delivery can be found here.
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