Stockton Mayor Ready To Present Brighter Vision Of City
STOCKTON (CBS13)— It's the 19th year of Stockton's State of the City, but it will be the first one for Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs who has been in office a little more than 100 days.
"I am excited for tomorrow. I think that we have been working so hard since Jan. 10 and we get one chance a year to share everything we're doing," he said.
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It's been a busy couple of months as the mayor and his staff focus on several problems impacting Stockton from the economy to education and homelessness right down to crime.
"When we talk about public safety, the first thing that comes to mind is officers and we definitely need to have officers especially the officers that we have, we train them with highest community policing, but officers are just part of a wider solution," said Tubbs.
The Stockton Police Department now has 443 officers on duty, a record for the city – and it's still working to recruit about 40 more to the force. It's a move the mayor says is helping keep our streets safe and opening the doors for new residents and businesses.
"We are trending positively. We're not at the destination yet, but if you look at all the indicators, crime is down, we're just ranked the Top 100 places to live, we're one of the best places to start a tech company—which doesn't mean everything is solved and we don't have our issues, but we're also working on those issues," he said.
In prior years the State of the City event was a costly luncheon that not everyone could afford at the Port of Stockton, but for the first time, Mayor Tubbs is hosting a second State of the City event in the evening at the University of Pacific for free.
"It's very important to go out there and listen to the community, good or bad times, you always want to be out there and hear the feedback and really just open the door to accessing your public officials," said Tubbs spokesman Daniel Lopez.
Organizers say the evening event will almost be like a block party to celebrate the new mayor and the future of Stockton and in case you're wondering it will also be available on social media.
"This is really a first for Stockton, we haven't had this before and I think the citizens are really going to enjoy themselves," said Lopez.
The mayor is expected to make a big announcement in regards to youth during the State of the City.
