Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas delivers State of the City Address

State of the City Address 2022. // Screengrab from the official stream

“Today, Southeast High School is a key part of the resurgence of Kansas City Public Schools,” says Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, at his third State of the City Address. “I stand this evening in Southeast’s Restorative Justice Room: a space where students and their mentors every day gather to provide and receive support, particularly in times of real need.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas opened his speech yesterday by celebrating the return of full accreditation for Kansas City Public Schools, after being provisionally accredited for seven years. 

Mayor Lucas unraveled ongoing issues city workers are exposed to and described government employees as being the most depended, on while simultaneously the most under-appreciated, undervalued—and underpaid. Lucas contextualized the problem as long-standing, sharing that his mother and family attended Southeast High School and experienced the same obstacles city workers face today.

“My mom raised three kids by herself, working hard and rarely seeing the compensation she or her colleagues deserved—years without pay raises reductions in benefits and a government that too often took their labor for granted,” says Mayor Lucas. “The time for that status quo at City Hall has ended.”

Lucas continued to update on the resurfacing of 137 lane miles, the repair of 272 streets, and ensures the streets will no longer be temporary fixes.

“When I ran for mayor, I talked a lot about potholes and better delivery of the services you should expect,” says Lucas. “I’m proud of the strides we’ve made. In addition to enhanced snow removal, we launched Kansas City’s Summer of Street Resurfacing.”

The city rejuvenation will also include budgets for trash clean-up services, mitigation of dangerous buildings and empty lots, and repaving more than 300 miles of streets in the year 2022.

In response to the concern of rising houselessness rates within the metropolitan area, the Kansas City Council voted to create a Kansas City Housing and Community Development that will focus on tenant advocacy.

“Unfortunately, too many Kansas Citians know stories like those or worse, life on our streets without the support to improve their lives,” says Mayor Lucas. “Given our numerous challenges, heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the City has funded the Kansas City Housing Trust Fund, which will create more housing opportunities and preserve older homes and housing units throughout the City.”

With the budget expansion, Kansas City will have our first Houselessness Prevention Coordinator, a Housing Trust Fund, support for Tenants’ Right to Counsel program, and rental/utility assistance.  

Lucas acknowledged the work that must continue against our homicide epidemic—highlighting partnerships with violence intervention organizations such as Aim4Peace, Becoming a Man (BAM), and Working on Womanhood (WOW) to counsel and mentor youth from grades 6-12 for guidance and positive futures.

“In violence reduction, the Kansas City Police Department plays a key and central role. I do not now nor have I ever believed in abolishing the police or defunding the police,” Mayor Lucas says. “But, I do believe in accountability to ensure the civilian police commissioners appointed by Governor Mike Parson, invest in proven crime-fighting strategies, pay our officers and their families fair wages, and see the Department as responsive not to Jefferson City political interests, but to our residents and our taxpayers who know the crime on our streets all too well.”

Closing his speech, Lucas encouraged the support of working fathers, family building, citizen entrepreneurship, and education.