Turner at final State of the City Address: 'We rose and met the challenges of the day'

In his eighth and final State of the City Address he delivered on September 27th, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner expressed pride in the place he has led since 2016. The address was given on what was also the Houston born and raised Turner’s 69th birthday.

"“Together, we have faced many storms – seven federally declared disasters in eight years,” Turner said, per a press release issued by his office. “From floods or a freeze, from a Super Bowl or the pandemic, we rose and met the challenges of the day. From inequities in neighborhoods investments to billions of dollars in pension unfunded liabilities, from One Safe Houston to One Clean Houston, we confronted each issue head on and set the city on firmer footing.”"

The release said that the mayor touted how he inherited a $160 million deficit when he first succeeded took over for predecessor Annise Parker and will be leaving the Bayou City’s highest office with a $420 million surplus. He additionally said that the city’s pension liability decreased from $8.2 billion to $2.2 billion under his watch, and the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had just entered into an agreement to construct a new municipal courts building to replaced the one damaged during Hurricane Harvey in late August 2017.

The address also marked the release of Turner’s new book, “A Winning Legacy,” which talks about his administration’s accomplishments and legacy of resilience and change. The title was also the theme of the speech, which was attended by a sold-out audience of over 1,500 people.

On November 7th, registered Houston voters will elect Turner’s successor, with early voting slated to begin on October 23rd. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) and State Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) are presently the frontrunners is what’s considered a fairly crowded field.