So we have a couple members of council that are joining remotely and they're having difficulty logging on.

So we'll be just a couple more minutes until we can solve those technical difficulties, and then we'll begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice as well.

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 RUSD, because of its IB program, and because of the teachers who inspire them each and 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 Watawood 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, passed 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, haul away bulky waste, and hand out 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 Racine Rehab 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.

Homeownership in Racine has climbed from approximately 51% to 62%.

Pritchard 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 townhomes, which will set sell 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 are building two other new homes with habitat for humanity.

As proud as we are of the housing, we may be prouder 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% of the hours worked on that site went to Racine residents.

This project will be transformative for the neighborhood, for the kids and families at Julian Thomas 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 Baldwin, and Governor Evers for directing the funding our way.

We are continuing to pull unsafe lead service lines out of our drinking water system.

More than 1,200 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 array helping to power our bus fleet, thanks to a grant from Senator Baldwin.

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, Racine joined Kenosha, Cuttahay, and Milwaukee in forming an intergovernmental body, the Mark Rail Commission, to be able to apply for those funds when they become available.

It will connect downtown Racine to the airport to Racine and Kenosha and to the Metro line onto 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 solve 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.