Category Archives: Speeches

2017 State of the City Address: The Spirit of Austin

2017SOCAnight

Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members, City Manager, Distinguished Guests, my fellow Austinites.

There is something magical about this place, our people, our culture and our spirit.

We know that diversity makes us stronger, that taking care of our environment is to our credit and not to our detriment.  We’re laid back and focused.  We’re willing to fail so long as we learn quickly and keep trying. The character of Austin is important to us for a reason. It’s about a quality of life where we don’t thrive despite our weird, diverse, and inclusive values – we thrive because of them!

The State of our City is as wonderfully unique and special as it has ever been.

But that’s not quite the story we always tell ourselves about Austin, is it? There is something else we often tell ourselves about this city, and we say it as if it were a knowing, painful joke:

The best time to be in Austin, we say, was five years before you got here.

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Inauguration Ceremony Remarks

I will now call to order the Special-Called Meeting of the Austin City Council. To everyone who is joining us tonight for this special occasion, I would like to welcome you.

In the last two years, about every time we did something it was a new experience for the 10-1 Council. Well, this is the first time we have gone through an election as a sitting 10-1 Council. And this is the first time we have welcomed new Members to the dais.  This is the only time the brand new 10-1 Council will transition to the next one. I think this is pretty special, and it’s another successful milestone for the 10-1 Council.

Some things have changed. Some things have not.

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