Henry's 'State of the City' Address
By: Kristin Mazur
Updated: February 16, 2010
Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry delivered his annual 'State of the City' address today. Mayor Henry focused on job creation, the use of stimulus money, and how to clean up the city's rivers. He used Fort Wayne “Although GM announced the closure of 14 plants last year we not only weathered the storm, the local plant came out larger and stronger” said Henry. Henry then shifted to talking about local government. He talked very little about city-county co-location, just about a minute if that. The City-County 9-1-1 merger also only got a brief mention, but Henry did say he was confident a joint agreement would soon be signed. This comment left the audience applauding more for this than anything else he spoke about this evening. “With the recent news of the Sheriff's acceptance, we are excited and hopeful that a joint agreement will soon be signed” said Henry. Henry also talked about the use of stimulus funds and new projects in the works. Some of these projects included the resurfacing and addition of bike lanes to streets downtown, Henry also stressed the importance of downtown revitalization and even urged citizens for their input. “I will want to hear from you about how we can make our downtown thriving and interesting every day, year-round” says Henry. One hot topic that Henry, however, did not touch upon tonight was The City of Fort Wayne’s Light Lease. The city and Indiana-Michigan Power have been in mediation since the Fall. They have yet to come up with any sort of negotiation regarding a renewed lease. The current light lease will expire at the end of the month.
