 At this time, I think we are ready, if you all would please stand as we welcome the members of Columbia City Council. Of course, we have the Honorable Sam Davis, the Honorable Tamika Isaac Devine, the Honorable Movedora, the Honorable Howard E. DeVall Jr., the Honorable Edward H. McDowell Jr., and the Honorable Daniel J. Rickiman. Please remain standing for the presentation of the Colors by the City of Columbia's Color Guard and the singing of the National Anthem by Ms. Kristen Claiborne, choral director of Blythe Wood High School. Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early, what's so proud. Thank you, and you may be seated. At this time, I would like to welcome Reverend Dr. J. Eric Skidmore, the State Police Chapman, to deliver our invocation. Let us pray. Our gracious God, your servant, David, has written that when he looked to the hills asking where his help might come, he had to confess that his help came from you, the Lord who made heaven and earth. As the psalmist says, you are our chosen portion and our cup, you hold our lot. The boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. We have a goodly heritage, and for this we give you thanks. Father, as we now consider the state of this great city, we pray that you'll strengthen the cause of truth and justice in our city. In our state, in our nation, bless the work of Mayor Steve Benjamin and this council and all those who serve under their leadership. We ask this because we believe when we seek truth and we seek justice. We're seeking things which you desire above all else. Attend to us that, Lord, in these days, make our lives together a demonstration of what you intend for all cities. Productive partnerships, new visions for what you're calling us to be and to do. And be to us what you were to the women and men of the generations before us. Be the captain of the well-fought fight. Steady our hands, make stable and wise our minds. Direct our paths that we may honor you, Father, in all that we do. We pray in thy name. To the 2019 State of the City address, on behalf of Mayor Benjamin and Columbia City Council, thank you for joining us. This is always a very special occasion for Mayor Benjamin and his family. I know that they are very thankful for the presence of all of our citizens who are able to join us in person and hopefully are watching at home. At this time, I'd also like to acknowledge, as I historically do, several members of our community who are in attendance with us tonight. There are members of the clergy here I know. Please stand. Any other members of the clergy? I know Mayor Benjamin's pastor is here. Thank you and others. Also, many elected officials join us each year for the State of the City. I see our County Council Chair, Mr. Paul Livingston, members of County Council, any other local government, elected bodies. Please stand and be recognized. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Also, we often have other appointed administrators, any college presidents, agency heads, anyone in any of those leadership roles in our community. Please stand and be recognized. Thank you. And of course, our members of the judiciary are here with us, including our own municipal judges. Please stand and be recognized. And thank you for being here with us. All of you, thank you for being here. I'd like to personally thank the members of our City Council families, the Mayor's families here in attendance. Judge the Honorable DeAndre Benjamin, Bethany, Jordan Grace, the Benjamin's, the Giz, the family members of Mayor Benjamin. Please stand and all of our Council member families, if they are here, please stand and be recognized. I work so closely with every member of City Council and honestly, I watch their sacrifice, but it's also the sacrifice of their families on a daily basis. And it's certainly worth recognizing that hard work. So thank you. And speaking of sacrifices, I always like to take this time to share how I personally appreciate and witness the willingness of our City employees on a daily basis, giving their all for our community. I'm humbled and honored that I have the opportunity to work with this great group of people. A lot of them here tonight. I really do believe they're the most caring, dedicated, committed bunch of individuals that I know in local government, both women and men, they are truly professionals. And I think every single one of them, I'm very proud of every single one of them. I know, as you know, as a community, there are some days, even in recent days where it's tougher to be public servants, but we do it because we have the heart and passion for service. So thank all of you, please stand and be recognized. As I said, I'm proud of each and every one of them and want to thank them for everything they do on a daily basis, but I can't also forget their families. We want to thank our families, including my own, for understanding and supporting the work that we do as public servants. And every year I take this opportunity to do that because there's a lot of sacrifice that comes with doing these jobs. Next on our program, please join me in welcoming Dr. Ed Madden, our poet laureate for the City of Columbia. Hanging on my sister-in-law's wall is a print we've all seen. An angel hovering over two kids walking across a rickety bridge. Kids sure to fall if she weren't there. There's a board missing at their feet, the rail gone on one side. The poor kids are barefoot, the girl's got a basket, she's got her arm around the boy's shoulder. And neither sees the angel who floats above the bridge lightning in the distance. The angel reaches out as if she's blocking trouble on either side. As if she wants to gather them up in her arms and wrap them in her robes. She hovers over them, unable to do either. In 1861, Lincoln asked his Secretary of State for help with his first inaugural address. South Carolina had already done its part to start butchering up the map of who we were and it was about to get worse. What could he say, given the state of the Union? Sewell was glad to help, gave the President seven pages of suggestions, and wrote up something pretty for the end, calling on the guardian angel of the nation. Lincoln did not use that phrase. Instead, he said, mystic chords of memory would swell a course of unity, of union once again if touched, he said, as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature. No, for Lincoln the answer wasn't some agent or some angel outside us or beyond us, but here among us, within us. He wasn't thinking about angels and demons sitting on our shoulders. He was thinking about a message, something we can almost hear now a century and a half later. In the empty lot next door, daffodils are coming up, a message from the past drawing the lines of a house no longer there. That image of the guardian angel was first a German postcard. That print in my in-laws home hangs in homage to a Mississippi grandma who had hung it with a light shining on it. In ancient scripture, an angel was just a messenger, sometimes divine, sometimes human. The same word, malach, same task. Scripture tells us when we feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, whatever we do to the poorest among us, we do to the divine in all of us. Is that her brother? Is that his sister? Am I my brother's keeper? What's in her basket, loaves and fishes? What if the boy in the print wore a hoodie and carried a bag of skittles? What if they were just tired and tongue-tied kids wrapped in silver blankets? What if she were wearing a hijab? What if he were wearing a prayer cap? Or what if he already knows his difference, hers, and they will come back to that bridge years later to look down into the dark? The angel hovering over them is not the angel of history, winds of catastrophe caught in her wings blowing her back? No. She's looking at what's in front, not what's behind them. The angel wants to fix the bridge, the missing step, the broken rail, but she knows she can't. To do that takes something better. It takes human hands. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Madden. As we prepare to welcome our Mayor to the stage for his remarks, we want to share a brief video from the United States Conference of Mayors highlighting the work Mayor Benjamin has been involved in throughout his term as president of the conference. Since assuming the presidency in May of 2018, we've been excited to support the Mayor's role on this national level as well as his vision for our city and his vision for our nation's mayors. Please watch the video. The role of Mayor and the role that we play in American democracy is often understated. We've fought for 80 years for the people in America's cities always for the right thing. The nation's mayors are here to call attention to a shameful condition and certainly to call on the administration to reunite as quickly as possible the thousands of children who have been separated from their parents. The mayors you see before you are Democrats and Republicans. We're united in our fight for justice. We're united in our fight for what is right. We're a country that upholds the unwavering values of inclusion, compassion and respect. We know that the Mayor is involved every single day on creating jobs and creating safe communities. What we don't think about as much is our role in creating the proper tone of our citizens treat each other by. How we actively play a role in creating compassionate cities for all people. How the art of inclusion is not just led by head and heart but also by really intentional leadership. For those of you who may not know, the United States Conference of Mayors has taken a leadership role in the area of climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions since 2005. Building more resilient communities and creating a more sustainable future. These are wonderful, strong, healthy, inclusive incubators of what it means to be an American. It's an infrastructure, an innovation and an inclusion and seeing radical inclusion in action and to have people here from all across the world doing amazing things. It shows the power of the human spirit. We need more people who care about the cultural fabric, the spiritual fabric, the fact that we are all in this together serving in public office. You can make a dramatic change in the lives of the people who need you. So while there's so much more work to be done and the battle often sometimes feels uphill, there's still certainly hope for good governance all across America at all levels. Mayors will lead that charge. But mark my words, the mayors are not ever going to slow down. What you see here in the camaraderie and the humor, what you see are genuine friendships. They've extended the process of organization for over 80 years. As goes America, cities so goes America, the greatest democratic nation in the history of the world. Stephen K. Benjamin to the stage. The lights are bright in here. I'm especially welcome to my fellow members of Columbia City Council, Madam City Manager, all of our distinguished elected officials here, our neighborhood leaders, our business leaders, our dear friends and our incredible staff, the people who make the City of Columbia work every single day. I want to thank my mom and my dad, Sam and Maggie Benjamin, my wonderful in-laws. The guests and I see our pastor, my sister-in-law here too, Pastor Graham and Cynthia. Thank you for being here. Obviously, my beautiful wife who I think has had to go back to court, is that right? My wife, as you all know, is the Chief Judge of General Sessions and she is presiding over a murder trial as we speak. So her jury has apparently come back. So she has more important stuff to do right now. So please give her a pass. And obviously to our beautiful daughters, Bethany and Jordan Grace, who I threatened to put on the program and they protested. So we decided not to do so, but with each passing day they become the young women that we believe the God is predestined them to become and we're so, so proud of them. Thank you all for being here this evening. I'm also, of course, like to recognize our friend, Harris Pestides. Dr. Pestides is a dear friend who we're nearing the end of his 10-year tenure here at the University of South Carolina. We believe he's going to go down in history as arguably the most admired and decorated leader in the history of this university. And while I know it's certainly not Harris' well done that he's looking to come from me, there's a much higher well done. We hope that Harris and Patricia know that they have left an indelible mark on this university and they will certainly be missed. I want to thank, of course, our Dean Wilcox a little while ago. Thank him for hosting us here at the University of South Carolina in this new beautiful School of Law. I remember many years ago walking the halls of the School of Law, this incredibly first class building that we're able to be in today. But never imagining in a million years that I'd be back here two decades later delivering this address to the people of our great city. If you could ask 3L, a third year law student, Steve Benjamin, what he'd be doing at this point? What plans he had for his life and for his career? I wouldn't have come close to touching on incredible plans that God had for me. So to my current law students, some of whom I know who are here today, remain encouraged and remain expected. You'll be amazed at where the road from Carolina may indeed lead you. Commit yourself to upholding the standards and values of the practice of law, values of not only justice and fairness, but also equity and the promise of basic human rights. Look forward to the opportunity to play a role, whether small or large, in shaping the outcomes of people across our nation and indeed across the world. Remember that the vision for a more perfect union is still very much in sight. When in the position of power or authority, it's imperative that we exercise our ability to influence and advocate on behalf of those who may not be able to do so for themselves. Remember that leadership is not about titles. These titles that many of us enjoy are fleeting. And you can go from who's who to who's he very quickly. A thoughtful leader recognizes that we're the manifestation of loving families, neighborhoods, and communities. That we recognize that we are supposed to lift people up, not to beat them down. And while this world seems some days to become more troubling by the hour, I want everyone in this room to remain hopeful. A hopeful for tomorrow that does not look always look like the day, a tomorrow that brings less concern for future generations and more evidence of brighter days to come. My childhood was full of pain. And I say that very tongue in cheek, because if you know the Benjamins, you know I was raised in an incredibly warm and affectionate household. Early morning hugs and late night kisses from a dad who worked very hard to make sure that his family was provided for. A mom who worked full time and still cooked, cleaned, and did everything possible to take care of a house overrun by three men every single day. I mean it was actually full of physical pain, rock fights, and street football. Standing directly behind Lamont-Martiz as he played stickball, he always hit home runs. And sometimes I'd stand behind him, not a good idea. Chemical projects gone wrong. Acid burned through my favorite pair of converse. I was a curious and a clumsy child. Bethlehem and Jordan Grace loved to hear stories of the child named Bad Stevie. Falling off of fences and garages and UPS trucks. Shopping cart races in New York City was quite a unique experience. However, one of my most vivid childhood memories was a stinging pain of being struck in the face with roller skates. The year was 1981. I just started my new school, Robert H. Goddard Junior High School. 202, my life likes to laugh. In fact, in New York City schools, I have numbers. Named after Robert H. Goddard, the famed rocket scientist. I'd never been particularly good at roller skating, like some of you. I loved it. I enjoyed roller skating. Skating had enveloped American pop culture at that time. My teacher decided to take us to Laces Roller Rink on Cross Bay Boulevard in Queens. Flashing light, music blasting, Y-M-C-A, disco balls. We had an awesome time. So much fun that a group of us from our neighborhood decided to go back that very next weekend. Things were very different on our second visit there. The lights, the music, the disco balls were the same, but the environment had changed dramatically. Get out of here, niggers, was what we were told. Skates came flying. One struck me in the left side of my face. What I didn't fundamentally understand at that time was that we, we children, were part of New York City's experiment with school busing. I experienced with a few white teachers growing up and administrators, but this is my first exposure to Italian and Irish and German and Jewish and Russian peers. We were busting from our home on Sutter Avenue that boasted only one quiet, elderly white couple into a hotbed of racial strife later to be infamously known around the world as Howard Beach, where several of my classmates would later go on to lynch and murder a man named Michael Griffith. I still feel the pain of those roller skates striking my left cheek, but not the physical pain, but that blow wounded my soul. It was my first experience with vivid racism. It stole my naivete and my innocence. It made me a conscious race man for the very first time in my young life. I'm now in the American South in half of over 30 years with painful images and family stories are shared regularly. I've been thankful because of the support of these incredible men and women to be able to direct millions of dollars towards telling the story of race in America. And I've committed myself to capturing those stories and telling how the pain and ignorance of racism and anti-Semitism and xenophobia of sexism and homophobia how it steals innocence and destroys childhoods and how we can never allow that to happen again. I remember my matriculation at the University of South Carolina. My first day on campus was my very first day in Columbia, South Carolina. I'd worked all summer as a porter at the racetrack and saved up my money to buy some brand new Air Jordans and a bunch of sweatsuits for the daytime and some really snazzy silk shirts for nighttime parties at the Russell House. Some of you have been there as well, so it's not just me. My first few weeks were very difficult. All new acquaintances, no new friends. I had James Smith and everyone else by that time had gotten there. I was in the middle of the University's ecumenical year that some of you may remember. Religious leaders from all across the globe were converging on the University of South Carolina. Three weeks in, I was 17 years old and I'm standing on the historic horseshoe just a few blocks away waiting for one of the most powerful men in the world to address me and trying to understand how my journey I got to be there. I'd stumbled from high school into the University of South Carolina. I'd gotten into USC based on the prayers of my parents, some really good teachers and good SAT scores. That was it. Great parents, well read, hot headed. I'd been suspended from high school twice. Many of you didn't know that. I had to go to night school to finish high school on time. They may not have known that actually. Did you girls know that? Okay. Don't get any ideas, any ideas. And there I stand in this historic space being addressed by the person of a billion Christians, the world over believed to be the apostle Paul's true successor. Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I watched Pope John Paul, the second Pope Mobile turn to the horseshoe and zoomed past the Carolinian Library and the faculty house and the dormitories there, the Passman Kissing Museum and to land right in front of the president's house. Finally uttering in his clear Polish accent, it's good to be young. It's good to be young and a student. It's good to be young and a student at the University of South Carolina. And I decided that day, boy, how'd you get here? You've got an opportunity to do some things. You have to get your act together and I've never looked back since then. I found a community that loved me and empowered me. I found a compassionate community at my alma mater. And now I stand before you as the mayor of the city that I love a city that's given me a family, a career, a platform to make change. I know the reason that I thrived is that the environment that grew up in which I love and compassion in my home. The reason that I thrived at the University of South Carolina is because of a loving environment steeped in the soil of that campus that opened the doors to freed enslaved men and women in the 19th century and kicked it open again in 1963. The love and compassion embraced me and pushed me to be my very best self. The reason that I stand before you now is not because I'm a self-made man. I am not. I am a God-made man. Everything that I am, everything that I've done is because of the grace and unmerited mercy of God manifested through the acts of each one of you here in this room. We all are. It is our job, our charge, our mandate to build compassionate cities that allow every child of God the opportunity to live up to his or her God-given potential. Every child. There's no room, no space for bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia, any type of offensive behavior. In my faith, I believe we're all children made in the image of God. My childhood experience as much, I guess, like so many of yours has erected what I believe to be my life's work, bringing our communities together, pushing the goodness of human potential by building a compassionate city. But I say that to say to all of you that we should all be proud of this community in which we live, our city. And tonight my job is to talk about why. You see the essence of every state of the city. It's for us to address where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. We're going to do that this evening, but I hope that this address doesn't just bring you up to speed as what's happening in Columbia, but also excites you and re-instills in your sense of pride and a zeal for Columbia, a sense of action to make your city better. Because we frankly view a good deal of our collective efforts of the community that know about them if we don't engage people and talk about it and share it with our friends and our family members here and also with people in other cities. We're not that Greenville. We're not the holy city of Charleston. Charlotte's got a lot. We are Columbia. We are Columbia strong. We are the real Southern hotspot. And yes, to the chagrin of all my professional brand marketers, we're still famously hot, even on days like today. Someone please find me my bottle of water. Okay. All right. This past year we saw why Columbia was named the number two city where millennials are moving by smart asset. We saw why Columbia was noted as a top 10 destination city for moving people between 2012 and 2016, and also a destination for white, black, Hispanic, and Asian individuals. Our city makes a step forward because becoming the world class city we aspire to be every single day. We're a very first city in the country to issue a green bond for storm, the first city in the country, and Clint and Jeff, and I'll make sure we get credit for this. Teresa, the very first city in the country to issue a green bond for standalone storm water upgrades certified by the climate bond initiative. Our first ever green bond of nearly $38 million is a major step in our bold effort to attack the top 20 flooding areas in the city. We're not only funding storm water improvements, we're making real investment in sustainability. And if you're wondering how that affects the city's credit, the inaugural storm water revenue bond actually received high ratings from Moody's and Standard & P, AAA Plus and the AA2. And other exciting news, Columbia was named one of the best small cities in the U.S. by National Geographic Travel, a top destination to travel in the U.S. during the month of April by Expedia, one of the eight American cities making big improvements in 2008 in the Bull Street District by Thrillist. One of the five best and most affordable places to travel in April by Purewild, number 56, the 125 best places to live in the U.S. by U.S. News. The number seven best place to start a career by Wallet Hub and one of America's 25 cutest, the light being called Cutest Main Streets in smaller towns by Foders. One of the top, one of the 11th and the 13 best cities in the U.S. to find a job by Business Insider and one of the top 10 markets in neighborhoods to watch in 2019 by Trulia. If this doesn't make the books, the Congregate National Park in Hopkins was named the best place in North America to see synchronous fireflies. I was gonna give it a try. I'll let Vice Chair County Counsel Delia Myers tell me how to pronounce it properly in her district later on. All these items that we've been able to add to our already long, brag-less exhibits, things that our residents see about their own city. They also show that people across the country, with a hear-about column in the Midlands, and whilst these mentions in the media that we like to add to our metaphorical trophy case, we still have even more to brag about because of all the incredible things we're doing collectively here in Columbia and across the Midlands. I want to highlight the work of a few of our departments here at the city, and then I'm gonna move on to Public Safety Department. I've continued to just redefine public safety for this country. Our police department is one of the very best police forces in the nation leading the country in 21st century policing tactics. In 2018, CPD hired 67 new officers and 15 new civilian support staff. They made one of the biggest investments in police shot and police technology to date in acquiring the Shot Spider Gunshot Recognition Technology, which will cover six miles of each region. It will be deployed and officers will know immediately when a firearm is discharged so we can respond to help solve crimes. We're happy to have Shot Spider. In CPD in 2000, completed 202 handle with care forms, which alert rich and the one school officials when a child is exposed to police action in the home. They completed almost 1200 home visits for youthful and juvenile offenders, a hundred a month, which allows officers to make daily contact with young people and ensure that we're about and their conditions are being and understand that they're safe and they're also being held accountable. CPD held 216 front porch roll calls, which allow officers to build relationships with people in the community, literally on their front steps as they work to protect our communities. The department provided more than 5,000 hours of training to officers and non sworn personnel as part of the One Mind Pledge, which trains our officers to properly respond to people who are in mental crisis. The department hired a coordinator in its Project Safe Neighborhood Program, which provides a space for individuals convicted of filing crimes to be introduced to a variety of services in their region, from financial management to help with substance abuse. The goal is to ensure attendees recognize that there's help for them in their city. CPD knows that the statistics and the statistics indicate that these very same individuals are not only likely to recommit, but also very likely to be victims of crime. So it's important that we engage with them. We want to make sure that we keep the entire community safe. All of this under the leadership of Chief Skip Holbrook and Deputy Chief Marilyn Kelly, who each had noteworthy years. Chief Holbrook earned the 2018 Strom Thurman Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement, the highest award in the state. Chief Marilyn Kelly was named the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Brave Reports. A law enforcement stands on its own, but having a force led by such talented and experienced leaders it makes a huge difference. This December we'll also mark the fifth year of our Justice for All campaign, which outlined the strategy to strengthen the foundation of trust between law enforcement and the communities that we seek to protect over the past four years. The Chief and his team have been making measurable improvements, data-driven improvements in additional training, increased accountability, improved pay, competitive pay, community engagement, and increased diversity in the force. Those efforts are amplified by the work done by so many in our community who care so deeply about the well-being of our neighborhoods across the city. We're so thankful for partners who are here at Serving Connect who despite incredible tragedy has used what was meant for evil for good to continue the work to help better this community. It's these intentional decisions to wield compassion like a weapon that allow us to change the landscape of our community, not only for crime but in other areas as well. The support rendered by partners throughout our city cannot be spoken more highly of resilient and reliable human infrastructure will always be among our city's most valued and treasured assets. Assets that like our city budget which has reduced our tax millage consistency, consistently of the last decade, Mr. Rick and men, and we're going to continue doing that working hard to address the systemic challenges that we face across this region working arm in arm with our friends, Chairman Livingston and all of you at Richland County Council, we can attack these challenges together with skilled administrators. I want to thank Teresa Wilson and her entire team, Jeff, Clint, Missy, the whole staff. We've been able to a great deal throughout our city while being innovative and knowing that raising taxes is not the first choice. We've not done it in a decade and we will continue on this path. We will continue to seek other sources of funding to try and make sure we do the very best we can for the people of Columbia. I ask our grants administrator Chris Seegers how many grant dollars are city funding received in 2018. She'll tell you it's more than 3.8 million. I ask our director of the Office of Business Opportunities, Melissa Lindler how much has gone into the facade improvement program to help improve Fower Road and West Belt Line Boulevard of the past year and she'll tell you we've committed 125,000 to five businesses there. I ask Councilman Sam Davis how much funding has gone to city parks in his district and he'll tell you it's not enough as he tells us every single day. Though he gets all of it I might add. Hi Park is funded and on the way thanks to Mr. Davis' leadership. I ask our assistant city manager Clint Shealy how much we've planned to invest in every residential water meter in our system with new digital meters and he'll tell you we're putting 40 million dollars into the ground. The means will provide real-time usage, water data to improve our accuracy, our efficiency and conservation, ensuring that water customers have the most precise readings for their water usage. A new meter system will be able to help us in detecting leaks and also help our citizens with budgeting. As one of our state's smarter cities with over 12 percent of our residents holding graduate or professional degree we've begun matching our municipal intelligence with that of our citizens. In 2018 we introduced the Columbia SC app allowing residents to access city services by your cell phone. Perhaps the most significant and convenient feature of the app is it allows residents to report issues to the city's customer care department with just a few taps on their phone. Residents can describe their concern, mark the location on the map, it's in the photograph without ever having to do any cumbersome paperwork. Please use it. The more you use it the less you email me and the rest of city council use it as a smart way to delivering services to the people of the city. As we invest in the infrastructure of our great city we see major capital improvements at our Metro wastewater treatment plant that will improve operational efficiency and allow for the beneficial reuse of biosolids and associated biogas. Columbia water is also evaluating the potential for a solar farm at the wastewater plant to provide for an alternative energy source there. Significant investments also continue in the collection system all geared at rehabilitating and replacing infrastructure and providing increased capacity to support economic growth. More importantly these infrastructure improvements provide needed wastewater system capacity to enable high growth areas of the system and be able to accommodate development in the future. The continued economic impact of enabling commercial residential growth dwarfs the implementation of creating 900 jobs per year. This proves that we are these are wise investments in both our infrastructure and our city's future economic vitality. Our sustainability efforts in the city will continue as Columbia is one of more than 100 cities pledged to be 100 powered by 100% clean energy by 2036. This past year Columbia completed a goal of giving away 1,000 rain barrels with dozens more being purchased by folks who wanted to play a more active role in helping their environment. A public works department sold 300 compost bins helping to divert organic material and green waste from the landfill to combine it to make a nutrient rich soil. The City of Columbia is working closely with USC in a partnership with the federal government and CSX Railroad and others to develop an app this year that monitors railroad crossings and communicates with trains. This technology will communicate with our first responders so they can predict when a train might delay an ambulance or a fire truck or police response. We can then reroute emergency vehicles and also work with the railroad companies to minimize and hopefully eliminate these problems in the future. Certainly work to protect our citizens and our property. We're excited to have the University and the railroads work with us on this incredible solution that we'll be developing over the course of this year. We're excited about what this can mean not just for public safety right now but what we can mean for the greater public good as this project expands. We're meeting the need for quiet zones in this year's budget as well. We're encouraging green modes of transportation and launching the bike share partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield this year. Blue Bikes launched this year with 135 bikes across 15 stations with more to come. We all have the option now of ditching our cars and riding to lunch. That's what each of these partnerships endeavor to do to help better more simple for the people of our great city. The good thing is that these programs don't exist in vacuums. Programmatically we've been able to accomplish so much more of the past year. In 2017 the Aspen Institute partnered with Pew Research Center and lent up the host of the finance forward city tour. Gaging each city's financial well-being helping us understand the challenges we face with income volatility for a $400 bill. Our efforts have been bolstered this year by a wonderful staff helping launch an initial pilot. The city's Office of Community Development has started a new workforce financial wellness effort to offer budgeting and credit building and home ownership workshops during work hours for selected employees to help them deal with financial stress help employees practice good financial behaviors and understand the process of home ownership with an emphasis on banking and budgeting and savings and credit building and repair. In 2019 this program is going to be held for all of our employees quarterly. And not to be left out we're incredibly excited to launch the Child Savings Account Program Mrs. Devine has actively lobbied us for year after year working with Watkins Nance elementary providing bank accounts with initial deposit of $50 from the city to students between kindergarten and the fifth grade. Statistics tell us that students who have as little as a dollar saved are three times as likely to attend college or four times as likely to graduate college than those who have no savings or whatsoever. How encouraging is it to be able to help these young people set them up for success and build these habits very early on something as simple as providing them with a bank account. We must realize that access is everything the students have will have capital achieve their goals big or small. We have to make sure that that happens and depending on where they attend schools many of our students have had the opportunity to have additional access through our books to boys and books to girls programming partnered with our friends and city council and also with councilwoman Myers on this over the last few years. Launched in 2016 Books to Boys has created partnership with the Richland County Library and City of Columbia Parks and Recreation and over the span of the last two years we've hosted 12 book fairs giving nearly 8,000 books to 2,000 boys and girls across our community. This program is not just about giving books away to kids in the neighborhood in the fancy drawstring bag it's about commitment to changing the ratio of age appropriate culturally relevant books across our community. In some of our communities that ratio is one book for every 300 children. We know that when children can read well when they have access to literature then they will succeed in life with increasing importance and significance as public-private partnerships like the one that we have here with partners initially with SIGNA and now AT&T is making it possible for us to provide for these young people it does truly take a village to raise a child it takes collaboration among public, private and philanthropic partners and we want to make sure that the next generation has all the resources they need and that they deserve. In the spirit of building a village for our youth we're also incredibly excited to spend quality time working with Mr. McDowell and 15 children in public housing in the very first ever mayor's summer camp our staff took the kids to places that may just be five minutes away from where they live but in the eternity away for so many of them children have been underserved and underexposed they made kale smoothies at city roots they climbed Eddie the biggest child in the south at adventure they were able to see the canine units in action at CPD headquarters they got to be kids in Columbia learning about a city that loves them a city that's putting policies and programming in place so that they'll have the opportunity in their futures to do all the great things that the unique gifts and talents has in store for them each of our city's apartments you forgot for our babies each of our city's apartments and even our boards and commissions are consistent with our strategic plan in some way working with this food policy committee ended 2018 with several hours of feedback from the community on how food and security affects their neighborhoods this year we'll host a series of town halls we will publish the data we've collected and how we fight food deserts and how we strategize with neighborhoods and our city leaders the best route and moving forward to make sure that people have access to fresh food speaking of routes we want to thank the comment for its leadership and introducing the nation's first ever partnership with a local transit provider and Uber and Lyft providing credits to riders to help them go and get fresh foods and bring them home it's an incredible asset being launched right here in Columbia, South Carolina coming to the market we'll make sure that no one is excluded from the option to go to a grocery store and purchase fresh food regardless of where you live in Columbia, South Carolina we work with our partners at AARP the host of city's first ever mayor's livability summit providing a space for residents to talk with city leaders and community partners about what it means to create a livable city for our aging population our perennials as I like to call them we talk about millennials all the time perennials are 50 and over and actually have assets unlike millennials have incredible experience of funneling most of the money into our economy economic driver conversations on livability don't just affect how well the city is preparing for an aging problem but it also helps us focus on how we can attract the experience class to Columbia and leverage that to the benefit of the entire community it's innovative ideas and opportunities like this that make our city stand out not only in our state but also across our nation innovation that exists not because of some incidental consequence it's intentionality as we celebrate the grand opening of the Busby street resource and training complex if you haven't been there yet you need to go see a facility that only features a community engagement center but also one that serves as a public safety recruitment hiring office or recreational complex for the young and old for neighborhoods in this area with the focus on job training youth services educational program and neighborhood activities the complex will serve as a cornerstone for community growth and also community engagement investments like these are made possible because of our partnerships with leaders like our congressman Jim Clover and regional collaboration like the ones we have with Rich and Lexington, Kershaw and the Fairfield counties entities that know the power of pursuing partnerships for the betterment of the region and the state we'll bring that same focus and excitement to revitalizing and to an exciting public-private partnership as we welcome new innovation economy jobs the corporations like Wrightdose and Jushi and Capgemini to the region we've seen what happens from municipalities and different levels of government work together people may not be able to work together in Washington DC but I know we can do it better and we will do it better here in South Carolina the fantastic work being done by the Columbia Empowerment Zone and the North Main to the Busby Street Empowerment Center the Empowerment Zone recently celebrated 10 years 10 years of incredible accomplishment one of the last Empowerment Zones standing in the country and they're doing great work integral to advancing our community we're so thankful for their leadership and while 2018 was an excellent year we still have so much more to look forward to in 2019 as the next generation of business owners non-profit leaders and researchers and activists and social workers and everything in between prepares for adulthood it's an imperative that we as current leaders pave the way for them to assume their roles, their leadership roles in society seamlessly as we've seen with movements for our lives and local efforts like every black girl our nation's youth are no longer satisfied with learning about government processes they want their voices heard, they want to see the table regardless of the disqualification of vote before the age of 18s, our responsibility not only to remind them that their opinions matter but also to include them in our priorities and our planning the Columbia Youth Commission will convene nine high school students this year teens from Richland and Lexington counties and to make things even more excited the program will return this year with a peer based election for students, God bless you students to become part of this cohort of young minds that's right, your 15 year old neighbor might be an elected official we're excited to engage with Richland School District 1 Richland School District 2 Lexington and Richland 5 and private schools around this region as we teach youth the importance of participating in civic engagement at a very young age we've been national leaders in establishing the proper grounding of opportunity zones we're going to release our Columbia Opportunity Zone prospectus very soon and we anticipate these efforts will bring several millions of dollars in desired investment not just to downtown but also all across North Columbia, Richland and Lexington counties Opportunity Zones aren't just great incentives for outside investments, they are economic engines for revitalizing refreshing areas of our city that may just have forgotten exactly how special they are after introducing and passing with a nearly unanimous of a resolution 2018 incentivizing more affordable housing in our city last year it's also an opportunity for us to see more of exactly what we need in our city and across this country housing that everyone can afford, people who work in the city, all people who live in the city we look forward to work with Richland County Council as they reconvene next month on affordable housing incentive package as a city we've been historically pretty creative incentivizing investment this year will be no different working with partners like Habitat for Humanity wouldn't be as seen as leaders not just here but across the nation the tragic deaths of Mr. Calvin Wetherspoon Jr. and Mr. Derek Caldwell Roper only underscore the urgency and the creativity with which we should all aggressively pursue more public sector and private sector affordable housing in our city we cannot slow down in planning to be the city that we aspire to be actually having a plan and executing that plan is of utmost importance and I want to encourage you if you have not participated in Columbia Compass the city's process for updating a comprehensive plan as well as an amplified cultural planning process then we need to get you engaged not long from now Columbia will celebrate its 250th year our semi quintennial I think is what it's supposed to be called the basics so in preparation for that major holiday our city planners are aggressively working across this community trying to make sure every voice is heard and considered as big decisions around natural resources and land use housing, community facilities cultural resources and economic development are made we can't properly plan without knowing exactly what's most important to each and every one of you we can take a few guesses but that won't work we need to know exactly what issues are most important to each and every one of you here our law students in the room are not the only ones who recognize the importance of fairness in society whether in law or in life itself as we consider what's fair in 2019 we see such a discrepancy in opinions as we determine what isn't fair but if that's where you might stand and what you believe or where you come from many of us can agree that getting a second chance is something of significant value but what if you never even got a first chance what if you were excluded from the American economic mainstream for decisions bad decisions that you made before you even finished puberty that's why I will support this year ban the box ordinance a ban the box ordinance that requires city contractors that requires city contractors to remove the question regarding past criminal offenses from job applications citywide the city of columbia already implements ban the box tactics in its hiring but we also want to make sure that people who work for businesses small or large who do business with the city of columbia that we're doing everything we can to make sure that people have opportunities outside of city employment as well data tells us that about the same amount of individuals who have criminal offenses on the record also have college degrees 70 million people in each category so it's imperative for us to make sure that those who have paid their debts to society have an opportunity to make a life for themselves and a life for their families upon returning we've recently partnered with Goodwill Industries in the job placement of more and more returning citizens and we're looking forward to not only working but strongly encouraging everyone in this community to also do the same we're also working a partnership with the South Carolina Department of Corrections as well helping reconnect returning citizens with jobs all across this community the most recent statistics I saw said that 60,000 jobs go bake it across our state and we need to work to fill those jobs we're going to launch an innovative effort this year called Compassionate Columbia in which we'll work to enhance our gateways from jobs to homeless citizens paired with volunteers and beautified gateways into Columbia to bait litter to plant flowers to do everything to earn a living but also working with us to make sure we increase community pride as people enter our city I know it's a priority it's an easy lift because it's a priority for every member of the city council and our staff that it's something we must do we have to make sure that we provide opportunities for the least of our citizens our homeless citizens at the very same time recognizing the benefit that we can have for the entire community Compassionate city realize that the past is well organized but the future doesn't always have a constituency that we have to fight for the future we're struggling as a nation to handle so many issues that we thought we'd put to bed decades ago flags and swastikas that brave young men stormed the battlefield at Gettysburg and normally beached the feet are being flown again actual debates about the morality of human chattel slavery and the tragedy of the holocaust are being waged by Americans in halls just like this divisive ethnic racial and religious rhetoric every day bouncing around on social media baby separated from the mother's breast hate speech being normalized not only is hate speech but deadly violence often been cosigned from the highest levels of our republic this endless barrage of bitterness that we watch on the news every night the hate and vitriol flowing from what should be the world's first and greatest temple of democracy this is not the America that I know in love not the America that we know in love I refuse to believe that this is a dark reflection of who we are this is a time when America needs leaders and America needs love and I submit to you that we have it in abundance in this room and in this community we will we will establish a 25 member commission on compassion and inclusion that will be appointed by city council to hold its first meeting in March one of the first acts will be working with some of our leaders in the Jewish community in establishing a community leader satyr the energy, passion and compassion that we saw at the Beth Shalom synagogue after the Pittsburgh Tree of Life anti-Semitic massacre must inspire us to change in Colombia and change the dialogue all across America we must celebrate diversity, promote inclusivity and challenge bias on all fronts we must denounce all acts of hate wherever they occur we must ensure public safety by protecting free speech and other constitutional rights and we must ensure that our residents feel comfortable reporting incidents and crimes we have to bring people together together to build trust amongst each other I remind you to feel compassion for those whose stories tug at your heart sympathy for those who are going through difficult times with all the love and support that they can get feel righteous anger for those who have been mistreated or disenfranchised and even feel sympathy for those who regardless of how grossly obvious an issue is never feel anything for others you see it's not more information more innovation or more ideology that's going to change our city our state, our nation our hats off to the state to the power of compassion compassion'll be the fuel to the fire that burns with the fervor to save this great democracy a fire allows those of us who've rarely taken into consideration how a law may impact someone's life in a tremendous way to do so and do so thoughtfully compassionate cities will provide a platform for human potential to flourish where compassionate speak compassion infusing that every conversation with another individual. Allow compassion to not be a simple gesture each day, but to be a lifestyle for you and also share that impute that to your children. This focus will allow us to become the city that we aspire to be, to become those talented, educated entrepreneurial city in America. We have seen the power of compassion in action. For men and women who've inspired the students who sit in this classroom every single day and Ernest Finney and Jay Whitty is wearing, Matthew Perry and Jean told the Compassion in Action, they removed our flag from the state Capitol and now will host March Madness with the NCAA and the regional conference of the NAACP. The Compassion in Action that fed federal workers during the government shutdown. The Compassion in Action that we saw every single day as we lost 19 of our citizens during the flood of 2015. The Compassion in Action we see in serving the displaced residents of Allen, Ben and the Court. As they deal with some of those difficult times in their lives, thank you Rev McDowell for your incredible leadership over these last several weeks. The Compassion in Action we saw that night right by Marlowe at the synagogue. We have to use that to help change this community. The Compassion in Action that passed the very first bump stock law ban in the country and now it's a law of the land for the United States of America because of our action here in this city. As I close, this great city of Columbia was born March 17th, 1786 by act of the General Assembly to be the very first planned capital city in America where the mighty broad and sleuther rivers met the form of the Congrury birth indeed in the original sense of American slavery, savoring the Native American genocide and John Taylor plantation. State Senator John Gervais quote his most prescient proclamation on inclusion. Several considerations were made for what the name of Columbia might be during the planning of the new capital. Senator Gervais said it would be a place where the press of every land might find refuge under the wings of Columbia and from the fertile silt and sediment washed upon these banks our fair city was born named for liberty's personification. So that victims of tyranny and oppression the world over might know here you will be welcome here you will be free here you will find refuge under the wings of Columbia. Compassion and inclusion are in our city's deed in a compassion extends itself to others without the necessity of reciprocity. Let it be our response. Let it be our choice. Let it be what makes us undefeatable and indivisible body makes us one Columbia indeed. It is this city that I want children to be able to be children in. I want to be able to fall from fences and UPS trucks. I want them to be able to have failed science experiments. I want them to feel the warm hug and quiet whisper of a caring compassionate adult saying I love you. I want them to know that when they have their experience at the roller rink that their encounter with the Pope is just around the corner. Together I want us to build a compassionate city where even bad Stevie will be allowed to be a child again. God bless you, God bless Columbia and God bless United States of America, thank you. The judge is back by the way guys. Mayor Benjamin, thank you. Know every year I take my notes. I made my checklist, some things we've done very well. I know we've got a lot of work still to do. Thank you sir, excellent speech. At this time we would like to welcome Rabbi Eric Molo of the Tree of Life Congregation to deliver the benediction to be followed by the retiring of the callers. Let us pray. Guardian of life and liberty. May our community always merit your protection. Teach us to give thanks for what we have by sharing it with those who are in need. Keep our eyes open to the wonders of creation and alert to the care of the earth. May we never be lazy in the work of peace. May we honor those who have died in defense of our ideals. May we love our neighbors as ourselves. May we make concerted efforts to embrace our neighbors and fully realize our responsibility to safeguard the most vulnerable among us. May our leaders be granted wisdom and forbearance that they may govern with justice and compassion. Heavenly parent help us all to appreciate one another and to respect the many ways that we may serve you. May our homes be safe from affliction and strife and may our community be sound in body and spirit. Amen. Please tonight's program, thank you for joining us and please be safe as you leave. There's a reception out in the lobby. Please join us for that as well. Thank you, Mayor Benjamin. Apologies, we also need to give the respect for the retiring of the colors. Thank you.