Mayor's State of the City is a 'Vision' of the Future

"Make big plans. Dream big."

Without citing specific plans or projects, Trenton Mayor Kyle Stack gave a State of the City Address that had a strong focus on the city's future Monday at the .

Stack said the city can't just survive, but must get back to prosperity.

Stack said she deliberately stayed away from specific plans for bringing prosperity to Trenton due to the short amount of time she has been in office. Stack was elected mayor in November 2011.

"I didn't go into specifics here because I've only been on the job for three months," Stack said. "We're going to see a vision for the future for what we can start to do."

Stack nicknamed the address the "Vision of the City Address."

Stack said she plans to focus on several issues facing the city:

• Economic development.
• Culture and education.
• Health care.
• Quality of life.
• Retention of the city's youth.

The most popular topic of Stack's speech was economic development. She spoke about a business incubator where young businesses can "get a start, look professional and find the advice and mentoring that allows them to make fewer mistakes and get guidance from experienced business people found right here in our own community."

Stack touched on the creative economy, which includes writers, graphic artists, potters, photographers, designers, actors and musicians. Stack said she wants to help these people turn their passion into a business.

"We can nurture these people," Stack said. "We can let them, even help them, do the things that they do best and we can help them with mentoring, marketing advice, providing space for studio work, space for collaboration, space to perform and guidance on how to run a creative business."

A major issue facing the city is the lack of youth retention according to Stack. Young professionals are moving away from Trenton to begin their careers, and Stack said she wants to create ways to retain these people.

She added, for those young professionals who can't be retained, she hopes they will come back when they are ready to raise a family of their own.

"We need to send a message," Stack said. "We want you here."

The city's budget has been at the top of Stack's list lately and she said she hopes the city won't be forced to lay off any of its 132 employees.

She said City Administrator Jim Wagner is looking into ways to make cuts that don't include cutting jobs.

"We want to make sure that we keep them employed, so we're going to be looking at what we need to do and if we need to make cuts ... so that we can keep everybody's jobs," Stack said.

Stack said the city's department heads are currently working on their own respective budgets, and areas where cuts might be made were unknown to Stack at press time.

"It isn't enough just to survive from year to year," Stack said. "We need to get back to prosperity. The good future won't just happen by accident."