Following a tumultuous 2016, Mayor Matt Brown will look to make a fresh start for the new year as he delivers his third State of the City address.
Around 1,200 people are expected to pack the London Convention Centre for the event Tuesday morning, which is hosted by the London Chamber of Commerce.
In years past, the event has been used as an opportunity to announce a new employer setting up shop in the Forest City. That didn’t happen last year, but Mayor Brown did reveal the return of the London Airshow after a 12-year hiatus.
CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce Gerry Macartney believes Londoners will leave the address with a better sense of where the city has been, and where it’s headed.
“Whether or not there’s announcements about new jobs or new industry is coming to town is always in doubt, we never know those things until the last minute and we certainly have no inside track on what the Mayor is going to talk about but typically he will run us through the previous year and some of the highlights of that, and then what some of the challenges and opportunities are going forward,” said Macartney.
He expects the Mayor to provide updates on the SHIFT rapid transit proposal and the Community Economic Road Map, both of which attracted some controversy over the past year.
Macartney also predicts we’ll get a better sense of how City Hall is working to help residents who are most in need.
Doors open at the London Convention Centre at 7:30a.m. Tuesday and the speech is expected to get underway at around 8:10a.m.
The address will also be broadcast live at http://london.streaminginc.com.
You can follow along and join the conversation on Twitter by using #SOTC2017.