Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams returns to Carolina Theatre on February 18 for his second State of the City address since taking office in 2023.
Last April, Williams addressed Durham residents just four months into his tenure as mayor, laying out a vision for taking on the city’s most pressing issues while also highlighting the positive gains the community has made on things like housing, economic development and supporting the city’s youth.
But now, Williams has a clear record for Durham residents to scrutinize. The SOTC address won’t just be about defining his administration’s core tenets. Williams will have to sell the public on those goals and that he is the right person to take them across the finish line. Only one challenger for the mayor’s office has gone public to this point—Anjanée Bell, daughter of former mayor Bill Bell—but Williams will undoubtedly have more competition come this summer as the filing deadline nears.
There is no shortage of talking points for Williams to expound on during his speech, but based on recent actions taken by city council, and the mayor’s own public remarks, here are some topics we expect him to address.
Williams says public safety is his number one priority. For weeks, he has amplified his call for more investment in tools to curb gun violence. At a joint meeting last week between the city council, board of county commissioners and school board, Williams said that while he supports bond referendums for safe streets and parks, the Durham community should be making similar investments in programs that support youth and public safety.
“Our priorities are out of line in this city and in this county right now,” Wiliams said at the meeting. “We just put $200 million into streets, sidewalks and parks. We have to do those things. Those are important. What I’m saying now is we have to put the same energy into the lives of these kids that we’re losing.”
Capital improvements have been a major focus area for the city and county during Williams’ tenure. He has championed what he calls an “innovation center,” a proposed reimaging of the city’s 40-year-old convention center. City and county leadership also broke ground on a new downtown transit station, and are actively pushing community feedback surveys for the Durham Athletic Park, Durham Rail Trail and Durham-to-Roxboro Rail Trail. The city is also preparing to reopen Wheels Roller Rink, which it purchased in 2022, as part of a larger investment in the parks and recreation system.
The current political climate could affect the tenor of this year’s address. State and federal Democratic candidates are no longer on the campaign trail. In progressive cities like Durham, optimism about the future is now foreboding about the here and now. ICE raids have already begun in the Triangle, and cuts at the Department of Education could bring additional pressure to the already cash-strapped county school system—which mayor Williams has said the city council can do more to support. As someone who spent a lot of political capital cheerleading for the Democrats last year, the mayor will need to convince Durham residents that his focus is on Durham, especially with the chaos in Washington.
The mayor’s State of the City address starts at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 18 and will be streamed on YouTube. Before the speech, the city is hosting a “social hour” in the Durham Convention Center featuring the Durham Symphony, City of Durham Poet Laureate Chris Vitiello, a gallery of work by local artists, and information tables for City of Durham departments.
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Follow Reporter Justin Laidlaw on X or send an email to jlaidlaw@indyweek.com. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.