Mayor Matt Brown cites the growing tech sector, medical innovations and a commitment to honest politics as the beginnings of a better London.
The mayor delivered his first ever State of the City address this morning to 1,300 Londoners at the Convention Centre downtown.
Throughout his speech Brown made a few key announcements, the first being a commitment to push the over $300-million Rapid Transit Initiative forward by launching the "Shift" program. Through Shift the city will survey residents, asking whether they would rather see buses or light rail transit used to ease congestion.
"The expectation is to see shovels in the ground within the next 4 years on priority areas, but we're not going to wait 4 years. We are going to introduce something called RT Light and we're seeing improvement on our major travel nodes already," says Brown. "We're redesigning the way we travel across our city with our rapid transit program, but at the same time the province is looking at their high speed rail initiative. What's critically important is that we plan together, that we align the environmental assessments, so those two systems connect."
Brown noted that Downtown London and The London Economic Development Corporation are partnering to install fibre optic connectivity in the downtown in an effort to grown small businesses and promote connectivity. A London start-up called StarTech is adding 75 jobs this year.
In the speech, the mayor announced that London would be moving to a multi-year budget process following the approval of the 2015 numbers.
Brown made it clear that this council, comprised of mainly new faces and only three returning members, is focusing on honesty and integrity.
"It's so different. There's a real spirit of collaboration, there's a real commitment to staying focused on the work, there's a commitment to transparency and accountability," says long-time councillor and Deputy Mayor Paul Hubert. "I think across the whole city there's a buoyancy, a spirit of optimism and a confidence in not only local government, but the local economy."
Council will hire an integrity commissioner this year.
Brown also hinted at growth in the medical community, with London's hospitals and education centres announcing the first in a series of medical innovation centres in the coming months.