Mayor Todd Strange Reflects on 2015
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The year kicked off with the Selma to Montgomery March reenactment, a reelection bid, and 60th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott.
Those are just a few of the many events that took place under the leadership of Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange. We asked him how he felt 2015 went, as well as what’s to come for 2016.
Montgomery was apart of several parts of history with the 50th anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery, as well as the 60th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The city invested more than 10 million dollars to revitalize parts of the city.
But Mayor Strange says the festivities brought more than just infrastructure improvements.
“It brought a change of attitude about where we are today verses where we were 30, 40, 50 years ago, we’re a different Montgomery,” Said Strange.
Not only did mayor Strange witness the events, he also celebrated another election win, defeating challenger Artur Davis in a tough mayoral campaign.
“I think the headlines after the election really tells the whole story and it was positive prevails, because we did try to run a very positive campaign,” said Strange.
When it comes to the economic side of things for the city, Mayor Strange says things are looking good. For the first time the city collected over 100 million dollars in sales tax. That’s more than 45 percent of the city’s revenue. The focus for 20-16 will shift toward improving education.
“Unfortunately we’re not making the progress that we need to make, we’re frankly falling behind. Whether you look at the last test cycle or the last ten years test cycle we’re not making the progress that we need to make,” said Strange.
The city is also looking to continue to partner with Maxwell Air Force Base to build the cyber initiative. The hope for officials is the initiative will revolutionize central Alabama when it comes to technology.
