Source: PHOTO: WISH-TV
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The state of South Bend “has never been stronger”, according to Mayor James Mueller.
In his State of the City address Thursday at South Bend Riley High School, Mueller covered a variety of topics that impact Hoosiers who live in South Bend. He spoke on infrastructure improvements, declines in violent crime, better opportunities for affordable housing, and even took some shots at the state of Congress.
On crime, Mueller praised the efforts of the community and police for better accountability while also helping push an overall decline in violent crime in the last year.
“Last year Part I crimes were down by 9% compared to 2022, and down roughly 19% from the most recent pre-pandemic peak in 2019,” Mueller said. “Despite more progress, these numbers are still too high. And we must work together as a community to reduce crime, while also continuing to address its root causes.”
Mueller believes part of what is hindering these efforts is the insistence of state lawmakers to pass permitless carry back in 2023.
“I may sound like a broken record, but we need to move forward, not backward, on commonsense gun measures to keep guns out of the wrong hands and our community safe,” he said.
Mueller touted the city’s efforts to decrease homelessness by investing in programs to have more affordable housing within the city. Part of this has also been a citywide effort to deal with blight.
He also pushed for more of the same efforts in the last year to increase the city’s involvement with minority-owned businesses through its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. Mueller spoke on the city’s efforts to become more sustainable by working within pubic-private partnerships to use alternative energy sources like solar energy.
Near the end of this speech, Mueller gave stern warnings to voters ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
“Elections have consequences,” said Mueller. “Look no further than just the past two years to see how elections impact partnerships and our progress. At the federal level, the previous Congress was the most productive in decades. After the midterm elections, this current Congress is one of the least productive in our entire nation’s history, struggling to settle on a Speaker of the House or pass annual appropriations.”
Mueller gave Gov. Eric Holcomb props for being “good to us” during his tenure and urged whoever succeeds him to not engage in a “burn it all” approach when they take office.
