TOLEDO, Ohio — If 2020's State of the City Address in Toledo had a theme, it would be "invest in Toledo."
Mayor Kapszukiewicz spent a large portion of his speech talking about Issue One, the increase in the income tax, and why he thinks Toledo needs it to pass.
From the day he gave his speech, there were 47 days until spring elections. That's 47 days for Mayor Kapszukiewicz to convince Toledoans to approve a half-percent increase in the temporary income tax, so he spent the majority of his almost 50-minute State of the City Address talking about why.
"Toledo is improving and on so many measures from public safety to economic growth, we're in a better position than we've been in a long time in this city and that's good; and we talked about that, but there are still so many challenges that remain," Kapszukiewicz said.
Many who attend the annual address are active in the community, so it serves as a sales pitch that people like Ray Wood with the NAACP can listen to and bring back to their organizations to discuss.
"We just want to see what the game plan was going to be," Wood said. "Then it give us an opportunity to evaluate and then make a decision on supporting."
Wood wouldn't say whether or not the local chapter of the NAACP will support Issue One yet, but he did say he's optimistic.
Potholes were the number one selling point for Issue One, with a dramatic moment . A scroll of paper was rolled out showing how many streets would be repaired if Issue 1 passes, and $40 million a year for the next decade would be spent on resurfacing.
"That was interesting to me after the speech was how many people were coming up and looking at it and studying it. There is such an emotional need to fix our roads in this community. I don't know that I've ever seen that much excitement," Kapszukiewicz said.
The Mayor says the Great Hall at the Toledo Zoo was chosen to show what big investments like road repairs and parks and recreation can do when Toledoans look back, whether it's 47 years or even a century into the future.
Some of the other highlights from the speech included a report that total crime was down last year, and that the police force is continuing to grow toward the goal of 700 officers by 2023.