site of remembrance because it was a site of the transatlantic slave trade.

We also have an a deep obligation to tell the stories in the city, not just of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, but also the folks who worked the water, the immigrants, the families who lived right here and made Annapolis what it is today.

Obviously this moment is important because we have to preserve this city dock for our economy as well.

All of the small businesses you see around here, every time there is a major flood, we are all on the phone checking in, making sure they have what they need, making sure we're corralling the state resources and local resources to get them what they need.

Obviously this is important for the present because of our United States Naval Academy.

And and rising seas do not respect what is city land versus what is federal land.

And so what happens here very much impacts what happens there.

And of course to the Alderman from Esport you know better than anybody when the rising seas cut off compromise street that is a real emergency management challenge for the people of Esport.

Obviously the moment of now as we address climate change across this country is so real and it can sometimes feel overburdened.

We f we feel overburdened it's just such a large problem where can we even start?

Obviously this started almost a decade ago with a vision from Mayor Buckley and the city council and the the staff at the city who knew that this was not a nice to have this was a must have not just then but knowing that the seas will continue to rise each and every year.

It's often said that success has a thousand fathers I'd like to also believe there's a few mothers tucked in there as well obviously to Mayor Buckley for his vision the city council for their dedication the staff I also want to thank the hundreds of Annapolis citizens who participated in I don't know how many charrets y'all had to make sure almost 300 three hundred opportunities for the public to weigh in here.

That's so important in this moment to county executive Pittman who has just been a a champion and and making sure that we are all staying on task and on target I so appreciate you.

The state delegation I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the state funding started under former Speaker Mike Bush.

He had the vision he knew and he wanted to respond with state dollars being the capital city um and he started the trend that I was had the privilege of picking up I know Delegate Jones, delegate Baylor, Senator Henson, make sure we in every single budget make sure we are delivering for this project.

To the federal delegation I'm so grateful that Congressman Sarbanes is here.

I also called Senator Ben Carden um the other day to share the good news there's not a lot of good days of good news in this job.

Senator Van Holland you didn't tell me that when I first ran but he was thrilled and he wished he could be here today I want to give him thanks and credit as well um it it's been said that that Mayor Littman um has taken this project and been so thoughtful and so strategic as we met this critical moment and I too received that SOS text message in February.

He asked can we involve the Navy and so uh that was my role to play in this orchestra of support that we all lent here is to call the Pentagon to call the Navy and remind them that the rising seas will also impact the readiness of our United States Naval Academy and they made a call as well there were so many calls that were made in the month Mr.

Mayor since you sent that text message and I was wanting for your vision and your commitment we're gonna hear in a minute from Secretary Strickland um from MDE who has also been just a champion of this throughout multiple administrations I want to thank you for your support you're also on our call sheet any time we get a major flood so I want to thank you and your team for that and without further ado I want to thank my predecessor who um has has been dedicated and focused to this work uh for his 18 years serving in the United States Congress I'm so grateful to be able to call him and turn to him for advice more often than I thought I would uh in this Congress but I'm so grateful to my friend um Congressman John Sarvanes Thanks very much this is a great day I'm gonna be brief I promise you know if you let a former member of Congress up to a podium they could go forever.

But uh first of all let me salute Team Maryland uh Senator Van Holland Congresswoman Sarah Elfith representative of the third district of Maryland I love saying that um to Jared uh to Stewart to everybody who's been part of this I also want to give a shout out to to Gavin Buckley um I got a lot of SOS's from Gavin over the years um so I've got a whole tech string there but thank you Jared for kind of picking up the ball and and carrying it it means so much to Annapolis it means so much uh to Ann Arnold County to the state this is an example of people coming together in a very very powerful way.

This was a Rubik's Cube from the beginning.

I mean, it had so many different and continues to have so many different interlocking parts that require special attention.

So getting these resources finally over the finish line is just it's it's a huge win.

And it demonstrates, I think, and you mentioned this here a moment ago the resilience of the people of Annapolis.

I mean, stepping up how to conceptualize this, what would it mean to execute it, putting all the phases together that you're now going to see kind of rolling out over time.

That that was a huge accomplishment.

And then the last thing I want to say is this kind of a project, this kind of a resilience project, um, in the context of what we know are going to continue to be uh increasing challenges coming at us in terms of climate change and weather disruption and so forth, is going to be a model for how you do these things around the country.

And Annapolis has always been a leader, it's always been a model.

It's always kind of uh taken the lead nationally on innovative creative approaches.

This is another example of that.

Um it's gonna be a tough slog through the execution, uh, but I know one that's going to be successful.

So, congratulations to the people of Annapolis, to Team Maryland, to everybody who got us to this point, is going to keep moving it forward.

And obviously, very much at the reins for this process uh going forward is going to be uh Mayor Littman.

I want to thank him for all his great work and bring him up.

Thanks.

Good morning.

Thank you.

My name is Mayor Jared Littman, and on behalf of the City Council members and I, it is our great honor and pleasure to thank and receive the $33 million plus the two and a half million dollars for FEMA.

And I just I am so relieved, frankly.

I know uh your my sleep isn't everyone's concern, but I've been sleeping a lot better the past couple nights, uh, knowing that this money was uh is coming.

And it this is the obviously the evolution of work from so many individuals, and they've been mentioned, but I just want to point out how our city staff continue to slog away at the financial, the technical, the environmental reviews, meeting every deadline, answering questions from FEMA.

It was a long process, and it seemed to evolve, and they stepped up and they've met all the uh burdens and and uh requests.

And their dedication has absolutely ensured our success.

To go over the funding of this huge engineering and infrastructure project, we have 24 million dollars from the concession agreement related to the building of uh Hillman Garage, 10 million dollars from the state of Maryland, and I I see uh our delegate uh uh delegate Jones, delegate Baylor, and our uh state Senator uh Henson being represented here.

4.8 million dollars in congressional earmarks, although not called earmarks anymore, two million dollars from the county, and today's 33 billion plus the two and a half million from FEMA, plus the city's bond money to ensure and that we now have all the funding in place to see this project through.

Right.

That was amazing.

This is a major investment in protecting our historic waterfront, local businesses, and ensuring that our residents can continue to enjoy this wonderful area that we all love for generations and generations to come.

This is an investment in the future of Annapolis.

I want to acknowledge we have a lot of partners, and I I recognize the city is the small player here, and so we have a lot of people I want to thank.

I first want to call out the current and former city council members who stood by former uh Mayor Buckley and I throughout this process.

They all received lots of phone calls of if this, then this, and the council, it was unanimous in supporting our efforts to move forward.

Of course, our thank you, council members.

Of course, uh I want to thank our federal delegation, Senator Van Holland, uh, Senator Alsa Brooks who couldn't be here today, Representative uh Elfrith, and of course, Representative uh Sarbans, who's always been a good friend.

Thank you all so much for your support.

Our governor and his team have been hugely instrumental as well.

So I thank Governor Moore and M Dem Secretary Strickland for your support.

The number of phone calls and conferences strategizing all along, and of course, again, I want to call out our our state delegation, Senator Henson, delegates Jones and Baylor.

I think delegate Jones gets the award for latest phone call on this matter on a Friday night in particular, too.