London Mayor Joe Fontana gave his State of the City address to more than 1,000 people in attendance at the London Convention Centre on Tuesday morning.
Highlights of the annual speech included; plans to create 10,000 new jobs over five years, a renewed focus on job retention, a six per cent tax increase over five years and a Performing Arts Centre built by 2017
The speech was filled with Fontana's usual against-all-odds, can-do enthusiasm, with the mayor saying "I am an unapologetic optimist."
But he had no major announcements, only a stay the course, brighter days are ahead address that outlined some the programs that the current council has put in place.
Fontana also discussed the idea of a ring road for the city, a proposal that was met with both surprise and skepticism.
Gerry McCartney, general manager of the London Chamber of Commerce, says "To have that announcement this morning, it sort of came out of left field."
Fontana says the city "will work co-operatively with Middlesex Centre council and the county to plan for a northerly ring-road."
In fact, Fontana says he's already entered into discussions with both the township and the county, which suprised Middlesex Centre Mayor Al Edmondson.
"In the context of the speech today, yes it did suprise me," he says.
When a ring-road was first discussed in the 1970s the logical route across the top of the city was Fanshawe Park Road, in 2000 it was Sunningdale Road, but in both cases development kicked in and it no longer made sense.
Now, the next logical route would be Highway 7, and that comes with it's own set of issues.
The biggest problem is that the highway is 20 kilometres away from the northern edge of the city and even 10 years ago provincial officials told county council they had no stomach for the project.
In addition, the land hasn't gotten any cheaper, leaving Edmondson very skeptical.
"Once you've made that decision, you have to preserve that corridor and somebody has to pay for it if it has to be bought."
There are also concerns from within the city with some council members, like Joni Baechler, questioning why the mayor is entering into such discussions without any direction from council.
