Mayor Steve Benjamin Delivers His 8th State of The City Address

COLUMBIA,SC (WOLO)- Mayor Steve Benjamin delivered his 8th State of The City Address at Columbia College on Tuesday.

Benjamin touched on a number of topics like sexual harassment and his vision for the news year. He ALSO highlighted some of last years success and spoke of a promising future.

The Mayor starting off, talking about his plans to transform the North Main corridor into the city’s new hotspot.

“From the $50 million investment in North Main and major improvements for Hyatt and Greenview Parks to the Busby Street Community Resource & Training Center unifying community partnership and public safety and the landmark Azurest at Heritage Creek project reimagining 80 acres of undeveloped land with residential and retail, a hotel and medical clinic, business offices, boutique shops, restaurants even a co-op grocery store, this community is on the brink of a transnational year,” Benjamin said.

In addition to a more robust 2018,  Benjamin wants to do more to end homelessness by creating affordable housing that he says will ” work for everyone.”

“It’s our job – our responsibility – to bring opportunities to undeserved communities that lift people up, not exclude them or push them out,” Benjamin said. “This plan of action outlines specific strategies to make this a housing market that works for everyone – so that everyone has their own definition of a home. I believe we can leverage public-private-philanthropic partnerships and new technologies to enhance quality of life and more aptly engage our citizens. Simply put, we will become a truly smart city.”

Benjamin also wants to create a new program called “Columbia’s Promise,” which he says would give every child in public schools a chance at a higher education.

“If you work hard and finish high school, we believe you will live up to your promise,” Benjamin said. “Our commitment to you is that you’ll also be able to go to school. I believe we can rise to the challenge of higher education, helping ease the staggering costs with a new program modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise which, privately funded, has provided more than $67 million in college tuition for more than 4,000 Kalamazoo Public School graduates since 2005. They’ve done it in Kalamazoo, Seattle, Denver, Pittsburgh and even the state of Tennessee, and we can do it in Columbia.”

Mayor Benjamin says Columbia will continue to grow into an even greater city from 2018 and beyond