“I am very proud of what we are presenting here. I think this is a great representation of what is a fiscally responsible budget while also making historic investments in our public safety, our infrastructure and the people who work here, and making sure we look out for the taxpayer of Woodstock,” Caldwell said. “This is an excellent investment in Woodstock’s future.”

“In the last three and a half years together now we’ve made the largest investment in parks and trails in our city’s history, the largest investment in infrastructure in our city’s history, the largest investment in police and fire in our city’s history... I am proud of this, and you should be too.”

“This represents a continuation of what is a generational investment in this city in infrastructure and parks and trails, and represents a second round of massive, unprecedented investment in our public safety — both fire and police,” Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell said. “This budget, like every good budget, shows what’s important to the people of this city. We are making an investment in tomorrow.”

Mayor Caldwell began the address by sharing that the Metro Atlanta Chamber is underway on a ‘Downtown Reimagined’ campaign saying, “At the Chamber’s annual meeting, they highlighted the importance of transforming the City of Atlanta back into a livable community.” Caldwell continued, “During their presentation, they used Woodstock as an example of the kind of downtown that Atlanta should be emulating. Our capital city is looking to us.”

Atlanta is looking to Woodstock as a model for how to build a thriving, walkable downtown. That was one of the big takeaways from Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell’s State of the City address on January 31.

“With three Grammy-nominated artists and two top-tier tributes, this is set to be one of the best seasons our city has ever put on,” Caldwell said.

In the past three years together, we have made the largest investment in police and fire department pay in our City’s history. We have made the largest investment in our parks and trails in our City’s history. We have made the largest investment in our City’s infrastructure - streets, water, sewer, parking - in our City’s history.

Ladies and gentlemen, the State of our City is brighter than ever before, and we are just getting started.

“The state of our city is brighter than ever before, and we are just getting started,” Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell told those in attendance at his annual State of the City address Friday.

Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell is delivering his annual State of the City address Jan. 31.

“The City is building tomorrow’s Woodstock by making the largest infrastructure investment in city history, funded by local, state and federal funds.” -Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell

A Woodstock native, this entrepreneur and business owner is focused on building the city’s commercial base while expanding parks, enhancing recreation, and improving infrastrucutre.

On Dec. 16, Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell presented trophies to the parade float winners from the 28th Annual Christmas Jubilee and Parade of Lights.

“Caldwell said he was more in favor of a local option sales tax. Caldwell also voiced his support for the Technology Ridge Parkway project and expressed his gratitude for how well the county and cities and legislators are working together.”

Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell said his city was among the first to receive an LCI grant in the early 2000s, which helped establish a mixed-use city center within the bedroom community. ‘I remember when a trip to downtown Woodstock meant a trip to the hardware store,’ he said. ‘… But now, we are the example in the nation of what a thriving, revitalized, vibrant downtown can look like.’”

“Both Woodstock Downtown and Woodstock City Center represent a generational opportunity to add retail, office, hotel, and critically-important parking and infrastructure to one of the most popular downtown destinations in Georgia," said Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell. "The addition of Fire & Stone Italian Pizza in the historic Train Depot is a perfect fit for our city’s continued redevelopment.”

He adds, “In good Woodstock fashion we set out cookies, a glass of milk, and a glass of whiskey for Santa.”

In my first State of the City Address, just twenty-one days into the job, I promised you orange cones. The top two issues you brought to me during my time on the campaign trail were traffic and parking in Woodstock, and we were positioning to make the largest infrastructure investments in our City’s history to address them. In the last two and half years, the City of Woodstock has reinvested in our infrastructure in truly historic ways, both in quantity of projects as well as scale of projects.

“The goal is to make it easier for residents and visitors to travel back and forth without having to drive all the way into downtown, thus easing traffic congestion and providing a much-needed alternative route,” Caldwell said in an update posted on the city’s website and social media Sept. 30.

“We’re thrilled to be enhancing this critical infrastructure for the people of Woodstock and can’t wait to share more as we make progress,” the mayor wrote. “Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for your patience as we work to build a better Woodstock!”

“Thank you for voting to make this incredible investment in our city. This is an asset we’re not just going to get to hand down to our kids, we get to hand it down to our grandkids and our great-grandkids,” Caldwell said in the video.