On Tuesday, January 13, Mayor Marty Walsh will deliver his first State of the City Address. The mayor will deliver his remarks at Boston Symphony Hall.
According to the mayor’s press office, the topic of discussion “will include his plan to create a thriving, healthy and innovative Boston.”
It’s unclear what specifics he’ll touch upon but it’s likely he’ll give an overview of the first year of his first term and also lay out the blueprints for those to come.
BostInno reached out to City Hall to find out why the State of the City will be held at Boston Symphony Hall. It would seem more fitting that Mayor Walsh host it at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester, the revitalization of which has become a pet project of the mayor’s. UMass Boston honors students came up with plans on how to achieve this sought after revamping.
The Strand was also the venue for mayoral campaign announcements and celebrations in 2013, and where Mayor Walsh officially endorsed Martha Coakley during her bid for governor.
But due to the huge amount of attendees at the mayor’s inauguration ceremony earlier this year at Boston College’s Conte Forum, Mayor Walsh’s office just didn’t think the Strand would cut it.
“Following the massive attendance to Mayor Walsh’s inaugural ceremony (over 9,000 people), the Mayor wanted to hold his first State of the City address in a location with a larger capacity,” said Kate Norton, press secretary for Mayor Walsh. “We explored a number of options, and Symphony Hall was the best option to meet the needs of the event.”
Since 1994 the State of the City has been given by Mayor Tom Menino, who served for 20 years and sadly passed away in October. You can watch his very first here.
In his final State of the City in Faneuil Hall, Mayor Menino touted the fact that corporations like Pay-Pal and Converse flocked to Boston, neighborhood innovations were sprouting in areas other than the South Boston waterfront and that there was “a crane over Dudley Square.”
Dudley Square has been in Mayor Walsh’s sights since he was blazing the campaign trail, hoping to breathe new life into the community. For the Walsh administration, that begins with the Roxbury Innovation Center.
