 Welcome to City View, where we bring you an inside view of the city of Columbia. I'm your host, Alicia Utsi. In our top story, the city of Columbia, each year partners with the Columbia Council of Neighborhoods and our public safety departments, police and fire to host National Night Out and also the National Night Out kickoff. The kickoff event this year was held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. We're all across the nation. It means and means that people participate in National Night Out. And it's an event back where neighbors saying they're going to take over their neighborhood or let any criminal element know that they cannot come in their neighborhood because this is their neighborhood and they're taking their neighborhood back. Bridging the gap between the neighbors and the police officers. The police officers are going to be all out through all the neighborhoods, throughout the city of Columbia and just engaging with the communities and just bridging that gap and letting us know that we care about your neighborhood. Well, we go from neighborhood development for National Night Out and the kickoff to commercial development. And recently, city of Columbia officials joined with Richland County officials to host a press conference to announce a new commercial development initiative. This new program is going to stimulate the type of commercial development that we want to see and lead to new investments in public infrastructure here in Columbia and Richland County. The program's going to focus on projects that exceed $30 million in investment. Taxable investment incorporate a component of public infrastructure as part of the project. The program's going to reward investors who build public infrastructure. So it's a big deal and we believe a significant step forward. Columbia was recently the host city for the African American Mairs Association roundtable discussion. And Mayor Steve Benjamin was there to host the event as well as participate. We've had the wonderful opportunity to work with Google, Google Funded Grant, based or some researchers based at Harvard, to look at exactly how the automation, artificial intelligence, advanced machine learning and just efficient iteration and technology, how it's changing the way that we work. So how, in fact, do we adjust to make sure that we're preparing more of our citizens to not just be cooks or to be chefs, to be able to adjust accordingly, recognizing that 85% of the jobs that people we've worked on in 20 years are jobs that haven't been invented yet. That's how vast things are changing. Mayor Steve Benjamin recently hosted a press conference for his annual Mayor's Drills and Skills Initiative. This initiative benefits youth in our community who receive free instructions from athletic trainers and have a chance to build their skills in various athletic areas. We've had a chance to really tap into some incredibly gifted young people and being able to see these gifts manifest and not just through athletics, we've been able to see that leadership skills develop and their understanding of the importance of teamwork. We come across other talents that we didn't know that they had, whether that be in the arts or some are gifted public speakers and don't know it, but we subscribe wholly to the idea that genius and talent and gifts are distributed evenly across our population, all across the city and across the world, but opportunity is not always. The City of Columbia would like to congratulate our newest recruits to the Columbia Fire Department. Recently, the Columbia Fire Department hosted a graduation ceremony for its newest firefighters. To me, this is truly a great moment. I thank all the fire chief, the sheriff, who can contend that when you hire the people and you get to the point where you can pin their badge on them or when you're promoting people, you get to that point. It really does wonders for you because you're so proud of, first of all, becoming any department, then you're proud of them as they move up through the ranks. That makes a fire chief, a sheriff, a chief real happy to do so. City officials recently joined NCBA officials from the North Columbia Business Association, along with community leaders from North Columbia, to open a time capsule. Helping revitalize an existing commercial corridor is very different than Greenfield Development out in the country somewhere. You have beautiful neighborhoods, silver neighborhoods surrounding this area. We're talking about Greenfield Development, but also Brownfield Development. We're talking about preservation, while at the same time talking about building anew. It is a complex challenge, but one I know that this entire community is up to. Well, that wraps up this episode of City View, where we bring you an inside view of the city of Columbia. We thank you for watching and encourage you to stay tuned to City TV for the latest news, events and information. You can also visit us on our website at columnsc.gov and make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Make sure you stay connected and remember we are Columbia. Hey there, Mayor Steve Benjamin here. Thanks for watching this video. Make sure you give it a like right below the video and don't forget to subscribe. Also, while you're here, be sure to check out one of our other videos or follow on our social media platforms. Thanks again and remember, we are Columbia.