Montgomery Mayor cites 2000 new jobs, $1.7B in capital investments, lower crime in State of the City Address

In his annual State of the City address, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed cited a long list of accomplishments over the past year, including attracting a record breaking $1.7 Billion in capital investments creating more than 2000 new jobs. 

From Mentoring Programs to Reducing Crime

Speaking at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex on January 31st, Mayor Reed touched on a wide range of topics such as: 

• Developing small business mentoring programs
• Plans for a new arena and convention center
• Renovating community centers across the city
• Revitalizing residential and commercial corridors
• Building on Montgomery Police Department’s success in reducing crime

Last year, Mayor Reed’s administration approved a 15 percent pay raise for police in Montgomery. 

City Reserves Doubled

Reed also touted Montgomery’s financial condition, which is in good shape.

“We’re in the best financial condition in several decades. We’ve doubled the city’s reserves and secured more than $7.5 million in grant funding. And this year we plan to quadruple that amount,” said Reed.

“We brought blue chip companies to our city, from Amazon, to FedEx and Premier Tech. We saw some of our local businesses grow and expand homegrown businesses that started with the innovation and the interest of one person and their friends and their family.”

Additional Projects

Montgomery’s future is bright, according to Mayor Reed, who also updated the community on a number of projects taking place in 2023.

They included:

• A feasibility study for a new Arena & Convention Center downtown
• Reconnecting and revitalizing the Centennial Hill neighborhood, which will feature a new bridge lighting and pedestrian access project
• Remediation of the dilapidated North Gate apartments and working with developers to repurpose Fair West, Normandale and old Governor’s House Hotel properties
• A new state-of-the-art Fire Station on West Fairview Avenue
• Renovations for the Fairview Farmers Market
• Opening the Shady Street Park & Trailhead – the first greenspace built in north Montgomery in 50 years
• Extensive renovations at the Montgomery Zoo and the addition of a new planetarium adjacent to the Zoo in an effort to spur new investment in north Montgomery
• Revitalization along the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights Trail – from high-quality affordable housing to the restoration of Camp Site #4 at St. Jude

“When we think about development, we have to think about it in an inclusive and equitable way that will benefit all parts of Montgomery,” Mayor Reed said. “We have to implement strategies to drive growth throughout all of our zip codes, especially in neighborhoods and corridors that have not received proper attention over the last several decades.”

Want to see Mayor Steven Reed’s entire State of the City presentation? Below is the speech (it starts at 22:15 min. mark): 

In addition to the many projects listed above, Montgomery will open Montgomery Whitewater on the banks of the Alabama River this summer.

Be on the lookout for more The Bama Buzz updates about our Capital City.