Dissecting the State of the City Address

Mayor Jim Ellison focused on funding, parks, public safety, the library and human rights—among other things—during his State of the City address on Tuesday afternoon.  

Of the 6,896 words that made up his speech, which words were mentioned the most and least?

Here's a breakdown of the number of times the mayor used key words in his address:

City: 70

"So ladies and gentlemen, I am most proud to stand up here today and proclaim that the state of our city is the strongest it has been in more than five years."

Fund(ing): 34

"I’m happy to say we now have adequate funding for police, fire and emergency medical services; we have a plan in place for hiring police officers and improving the department; and we will be able to maintain fire and emergency medical services."

Service(s): 31

"Many of the services that we have had to cut are gone for good, and it will take a good long while and a great deal more recovery before we’re in a position to fully restore some of the others."    

Public Safety: 19

"The last two years, 12 of our firefighters were funded by a $2.5M federal SAFER grant; those funds were sufficient to tide over the department until the public safety millage was able to kick in."

Millage: 19

"You all know that the library is funded through a dedicated millage, but of course the value of this millage is based on assessed property values and limited by Headlee. Mary informs me that this past fiscal year, for the first time, the millage generated less than $2M towards library operating budget."  

Police/Officers: 17

"To date, eight new officers have been brought onboard and 4 more are on track to join the force by the fall. That increase however is somewhat offset by the retirement of some current officers, so Chief O’Donohue targets this force renewal to be complete by this time next year."         

Community: 16

"I’ve been told more than once by one or another of these young residents that they were pleasantly surprised by the engagement their neighbors and colleagues have with their community, the earnest regard they have even when describing, say, the Farmer’s Market."      

Library: 14

"Increasingly, funding to maintain essential library services is being forced to come from substantial monetary donations by private citizens.  In particular, in addition to funding library programs, the Friends of the Library are now paying for a variety of library resources as well.  And even still, the library is projected to have to tap into its fund balance this next year to pay its operating expenses.  I don’t need to tell you that that is unsustainable." 

Obligation(s): 14

"It may turn out to be the case that continuing to maintain the low tax rates and robust city services we’d enjoyed as long as I could remember through this region’s economic downturn at the end of the last century, affected the city’s ability to fulfill the terms of our contractual obligations to these municipal workers."

Road(way): 13

"There are a handful of feasible options open to pay for these much-needed road repairs, and the city commission will closely consider them all before the end of this year; but I am reasonably convinced that the decision will eventually be in the hands of the voters."

Parks: 11

"Now, one of the words I always use to describe Royal Oak is green – our playgrounds and open spaces are a real source of pride for residents and help contribute to the family-friendliness of our neighborhoods – that’s clear from both the results of the recent resident’s surveys and of these ardent responses to the realities of Parks and Rec funding limitations. So we are taking some preliminary steps to reprioritize our parks as much as is feasible."  

Tax: 10

"And so I’m proud to stand amongst you today knowing that we did what we could to simultaneously keep your tax rates low during the worst of the market recession while still keeping the city on the straight and narrow path of not merely solvency, but growth."      

Solidarity: 10

"And it is this sense of pride, ownership, and solidarity that has meant that our friends and neighbors, senior citizens, service organizations, and business leaders have willingly and proudly stepped forward to help address some of the city services we’ve had to cut, or cut back."

Revenue: 9

"Now, you all know about the financial situation in this part of the country, and the case of Detroit is illustrative only insofar as every city in the region is dealing with similar difficulties.  To wit: making hard and unpleasant choices about decreased revenue and manpower in order to manage substantial pension obligations; meet residents’ public safety needs; and replace infrastructure nearing the end of its useful life; while at the same time maintaining the cultural and economic vitality of the city and its residents."

Downtown: 6

"And for at least the fifth year running, both residential and commercial development has at least modestly outperformed that of our neighbors – contributing to keeping our downtown unique and vibrant and our neighborhoods stable, stimulating, and green."  

Value: 6 

"And this restructuring comes just in time, too: two years ago, only 29 permits were issued for new home construction and assessed home value on existing properties dropped by almost 5 percent.  By last year that number had risen to 90 with only a 1.5 percetn decrease in assessed value.  According to the Building Department, projections for this year are expected to exceed 110 new permits granted."   

Vibrant: 5

"We’ve become a buzzword because we stand behind our vibrant downtown and our awesome entertainment destinations; our residents have so much pride in what we have to offer that we can even say that un-ironically."

Human Rights: 4

"To wit: from a business perspective, municipalities with human rights ordinances attract business interest and investment, especially among the creative class and socially engaged entrepreneurs."