2026 State of the City Address – Stockton City Council Special Meeting – May 20, 2026
2026 State of the City Address – Stockton City Council Special Meeting – May 20, 2026
The Stockton City Council held a special meeting on May 20, 2026, from 12:28 PM to 1:23 PM at the Adventist Health Arena for the annual State of the City presentation. The meeting included ceremonial opening proceedings and a keynote address by Mayor Christina Fugazi, who highlighted achievements, statistics, and priorities under the theme "Stockton is Ready." No public comments were received, and no formal action was taken.
Opening Ceremonies
- Call to Order / Roll Call: Council members present: Michael Blower, Brando Villapudua, Christina Fugazi, Mariela Ponce, Mario Enríquez, Jason Lee. Absent: Michele Padilla.
- Land Acknowledgement & Blessing: Destiny Rivas provided the land acknowledgement. Elder Joseph Maes and Elder Terry Henson performed a silent blessing with sage and flute.
- Presentation of Colors: Edison High School JROTC.
- Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Councilmember Villapudua.
- National Anthem: Performed acapella by Karina Acevedo.
- Invocation: Given by Pastor Glen Shield of Progressive Community Church.
Discussion Items
- 2026 State of the City Presentation (Item 8.1)
Mayor Christina Fugazi delivered a speech emphasizing progress and readiness. Key statistics cited:
- Public works: 4,178 tons of illegal trash cleared, 25,200+ potholes filled, 12.5 miles of road resurfaced, 1,000+ street lights repaired.
- Public safety: Homicides down 43% compared to the previous year; injury shootings down 19%; zero juvenile homicides; DUI arrests up nearly 12%; over 260 firearms removed from streets.
- Fire department: Answered 42,000+ calls, resuscitated 127 people, extinguished 200 structure fires preventing an estimated $170 million in damages.
- Homelessness & housing: Opened Carolyn Henry Zider Navigation Center (68 beds), Calaveras Quarters and Park Center apartments (110 units), and Gospel Center Rescue Mission expansion (110 beds).
- Youth & recreation: 85% jump in sports participation; 347 free swim lessons; 4,000 kids in seasonal camps; 742 teens in Project Toolbox; 16 new programs and 228 new recreational opportunities.
- Libraries: Playmobile deployed 112 times.
- Parks: New Inspiration Park dedicated to fallen officer Jimmy Inn and Fire Captain Max Fortuna; Ursula Meyer Library and Community Center opened.
- Water: Groundwater recharge project expanded; Delta plant delivers 30 million gallons of clean water daily to nearly 200,000 customers.
- Economic impact: Special events generated $10 million; city-owned garages and lots brought in $4.7 million in revenue.
- The mayor announced upcoming monthly town halls starting in June to expand public participation.
- She highlighted support for the SENCAL regional emergency response contract, upgrades to the Flock license plate reader system, drone-as-first-responder technology, and Axon real-time translation cameras for police.
Key Outcomes
- This was a discussion-only item; no votes or formal actions were taken.
- The meeting adjourned at 1:23 PM. The mayor called on attendees to share positive news about Stockton and get involved.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome everybody to the 2026 Stockton State of the City. My name is Tim Quinn, CEO of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce. It is my pleasure to welcome you here to the beautiful Adventist Health Arena today for this fantastic uplifting event for our community. So with that, my name is uh Tim Quinn, CEO of Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce again. For those that weren't here when I uh welcomed everyone earlier, uh really said want to thank you for being here today for this fantastic, wonderful community event to celebrate our great city of Stockton. If you will need translation services today, there will be a QR code that we'll put on the screen here. Uh you can scan that QR code and uh pick your language for your translation services uh for that so you can uh be able to follow along with what we're doing. All right. So before we hear from the mayor today, I would like to uh introduce uh my boss, I guess, our uh the Stockton Chamber uh 2025-26 president to say a few words about the chamber and other great services. I'd like to introduce Elizabeth Kim. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Elizabeth Kim, and it has been my great privilege and honor to serve as the president of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce over the past year. I would like to begin by first thanking our valued state of the city sponsors. There are so many of you to recognize individually with the limited time that we have today, but encourage you to take a look at the inside cover of the program on your table. And you may have also seen their names displayed on the screens throughout the event today. Once again, to our sponsors, thank you. Thank you so very much. I would also like to thank our Legends Global and City staff for their partnership in making today's event such a successful one. Once again, can we give them a round of applause? And thank you to all of our members of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce for coming here today and being in attendance and your continued support and membership. If you are a member of the chamber, please your hand to be recognized. Wow. Thank you. And if you have not raised your hand because you're not yet a member, we would be delighted to have you join us. There are many exciting things happening at the chamber right now. This year, the Stockton Chamber celebrated its 125th anniversary. How amazing is that proudly founded in 1901, the Stockton Chamber continues to be the voice of our local businesses. From our outstanding annual events and monthly mixers to our award-winning programs, there truly is something for everyone. If sustainability is your passion, we offer our award-winning Green Team San Joaquin program. If you are interested in helping prepare Stockton Unified High School students for the workforce and higher education, business education alliances for you. And if public safety and curbing retail theft are important to you, our start program, standing together against all regional theft, provides a meaningful way for you to get involved. For our programs and our events, for more information, please visit Stockton Chamber.org or our chamber booth on your way out, and we'd be happy to speak with you. I could go on and on about the wonderful work the chamber is doing, but we are here for an important program for our main event to hear from Stockton Mayor Christina Fagazi. So without further ado, I will turn things over to the city staff to officially begin the meeting. And here is our mayor Christina Faghazi. Thank you so much. Just so you know, we are having an official meeting. So I hereby call the meeting to order. City Clerk, let's do roll call. The record will officially show in absence. Wonderful. Thank you. So this year's theme is really simple, direct, and intentional. The theme is Stockton is ready. We're ready to lead. We're ready to compete because this city deserves it. We're ready to invest in public safety, infrastructure, neighborhoods, youth, jobs, and the civic future. Before we begin today's program, I would like to recognize the members of Stockton City Council who are here with us today. And we have a number of elected officials. I know we have somebody from, we have Trevor from State's, I mean, excuse me, U.S.
openpublica.com