Mayor Rosalynn Bliss delivered her fifth State of the City address in Grand Rapids Tuesday night.
Bliss spoke about successes of the last year including the city’s booming real estate market, investment in city parks and continued partnerships between city officials and neighborhood groups.
Bliss, who has already made good on her election night promise to set up the Grand Rapids Promise Zone Authority, said there is still a lot of work to do.
“My personal commitment is to work side by side with you to make this city an even better home for families and businesses and neighborhoods,” Bliss said.
Bliss, who was re-elected in a landslide last November, says affordable housing remains one of the city’s biggest challenges moving forward.
“For our neighborhoods to be truly strong, we need to make home ownership affordable,” she said.
She said the city will be partnering with Housing Next, an organization with what she called “a proven track record of advancing affordable housing efforts.”
The room was filled with city officials, neighborhood organizations, business owners and the Mayor Youth Council as Bliss delivered the address. All stood and cheered as she closed out her speech.
“I’m energized by the opportunities that lie before us and I’m eager to tackle the challenges and to work closely with people like every single one of you, who stand with us – to address those challenges – because you too care deeply about this community that we all call home,” she said.
