2026 State of the City Address
Members of the City Council,
City Manager Moon,
City Staff,
Honored Guests,
My fellow Woodstockers,
It is a privilege to stand before you this morning for my fifth State of the City address. We gather here not just as residents, but as neighbors who share a story. A story written in the storefronts of Main Street and on the front porches of our neighborhoods. A story told in the quiet sacrifices of our first responders and the noisy ambition of our entrepreneurs.
It is the American story: The belief that if we work hard, if we look out for one another, and if we are bold enough to dream... tomorrow will be better than today.
We have a lot of work to do this morning. We have so many accomplishments to cover, and a bold path to chart forward together.
But, as I look around this room, I see faces I’ve known my whole life. I see the hundreds of partners, neighbors, and friends who have made this City’s mission possible. At the start of this second term, grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me, I think I should start by simply saying:
Thank you for inviting me back.
Four years ago, I stood at my first State of the City and promised that we would deliver you a City Unexpected. We promised to tackle hard things.
Our community is safer. Our Police Department is fully staffed for the first time in more than a decade, our officers have seen the largest pay increase in the department's history, and our crime rates are among the lowest in Georgia. We are actively constructing two new fire stations, training the new firefighters that will make up the largest expansion of our fire department in history, and the Woodstock Fire Department remains among the top 1.5% of all departments in the United States.
Our economy is stronger. We have grown into an economic powerhouse that generates 40% of Cherokee County’s GDP on just 3% of the land. Our local businesses are generating more than $5 billion in annual revenue, our credit ratings have been upgraded to the second highest level possible, and the private sector is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to expand and enhance our award-winning downtown.
Our taxpayers are respected. Because of that commercial growth, our homeowners are not left to foot the bill for our city’s prosperity. We have cut the city tax rate by 15% since 2022, we have doubled our rainy day fund, and today you are paying the lowest tax rate in Woodstock in more than thirty years.
Our infrastructure is built to last. We opened the largest parking deck in the county, and we kept it free. We are building the most trail connected city in Georgia, and with an 87% mandate from our voters, we are building the largest park investment in more than a century at Little River Park.
Innovation, opportunity, and a spirit of bold ambition have found a home here. We remain the sought-after home of go-getters and dreamers throughout the region.
There is no question: The State of our City is stronger, safer, and better off than it was four years ago.
But the question before us today is not "how did we do?" The question today, as it is every day in Woodstock, is "what next?"
To answer that, we have to remember why we are here. Two years ago, our leadership team sat down to define the soul of our city. We stripped away the government jargon and the strategic buzzwords, and we landed on a single, guiding mission for Woodstock:
We are building a city that feels like home.
That is our North Star. But "Home" is not just a feeling. It is not just a sentiment. Home is a physical place. It requires a strong foundation. It requires constant care. And sometimes, to build a home that can shelter a family for a century... you have to be willing to renovate.
In my first year as Mayor, I stood on this stage and I promised you orange cones. I told you that we could not fix our traffic, or build our trails, or secure our future without breaking some ground.
Well, look around you. We didn’t just write plans. We didn’t just file permits. We went to work.
Right now, at this very moment, there is more active capital investment happening in Woodstock than at any point in our 129-year history. In the last year, we have activated more than $50 million in public capital infrastructure projects to build the future of this city, and the private sector added another $210 million worth of new construction value to Woodstock. Investment is pouring into our city from across our state and the nation. We have received direct investment in our infrastructure from the County Commission to the Gold Dome, and all the way to the halls of Congress to make the largest investment in our city’s roads, bridges, sidewalks, trails, water, sewer ever.
Yes, there are a lot of orange cones. I can’t say I’m sorry. While cities across the state kick their infrastructure problems down the road and leave them for another generation to solve, we are making the investments not just to meet the needs of today, but also those to come. These orange cones are an investment in our children’s city, and in their children’s.
There are dozens of infrastructure projects ongoing across our city in every major corridor, but to highlight a few:
At I-575 and Ridgewalk Parkway, the City has been leading a project to convert this major interchange into a diverging diamond for several years. We have received funding through a direct appropriation of Congress led by Congressman Barry Loudermilk’s office as well as funding from the Atlanta Regional Commission. As of a few months ago, the Georgia Department of Transportation officially took the project over as a GDOT Let project. This is an exciting step toward completion and shows that this City initiated endeavor has become a regionally significant priority for Woodstock and for the State of Georgia. The project is currently in engineering and design, and is expected to be put out for bid in the second half of next year. This project promises to improve safety and experience for the millions who visit and drive through this corridor and will have a positive impact on traffic flow regionally, with rippling effects throughout east Cherokee and north Fulton counties.
The complete overhaul of Neese Road continues to make major strides. As one of the three projects I am most asked about, I am proud to report that the southern segment stretching from Washington and Nocatee down to Highway 92 is nearing completion as we finalize the realignment, widening, addition of medians and sidewalks to this critically important corridor. The northern segment, including the new roundabout at Washington and the remaining stretch northward to Arnold Mill Road has begun, and the entire corridor is expected to be complete and delivered next year.
Last year, Cherokee County’s Commission asked the voters to authorize an historic investment in our transportation network countywide. The new T-SPLOST approved in November will deliver an additional $65 million in investment in Woodstock’s infrastructure. It will help fund both of these projects as well as the widening of Main Street from Ridgewalk Parkway north to East Cherokee Drive, Lincoln Street Extension, Reeves Street Extension, Paden Street extension, Oakbridge Road extension, Barnesdale Terrace intersection improvements, Dupree Intersection improvements, Dobbs Road Intersection improvements at both Arnold Mill and Main Street, the Haney Road extension, additional grid street connections and so much more.
This city has never had so many projects, or worked at such a pace, to improve our roads, our streets, and our traffic. We are on it.
You may have also noticed some changes happening on Towne Lake Parkway near downtown. Things look slightly different there between Woodstock Parkway and the roundabout lately. This private sector project, known as the Woodstock Mill District, brings with it some major infrastructure improvements: specifically a widening of this currently bottlenecked portion of Towne Lake Parkway and the extension of a new critical grid street connection in the form of Lyndee Lane from the roundabout north to Rusk Street.
In no uncertain terms, the number one request I’ve gotten from the moms and dads of downtown Woodstock for four years, is to please, please, please bring a grocery store downtown. This is where the Mill District gets exciting. You may have heard that Publix is coming to downtown Woodstock. Don’t fool yourself into picturing a typical suburban grocery store strip mall here at the gateway to one of Georgia’s most awarded downtowns though. This isn't a strip mall. It is a true extension of our downtown, built with the same brick, the same trees, and the same walkable streets that make Woodstock special. The project will be covered in the city’s trail system and public art installations, and there will be more than 180 trees planted throughout the parking areas. The developer also owns the strip mall on the east side of the roundabout as well and is including a massive renovation and facelift for that property as well. This will deliver a grocery store for the thousands of families who live downtown, and it will do so in a way that feels tailor made to downtown Woodstock’s architecture, walkability, and lifestyle.
This project represents another $65 million of private sector investment in the continued enhancement of our downtown.
Last year, we shared the most recent renderings of our City Center project’s retail, restaurant and office components. These have made significant progress this last year, and though I can’t spoil the private sector’s surprises for them, I think you’re going to be thrilled with many of the brands and businesses inbound for Chambers Street.
In 2025, the project’s developer also selected Southern Ventures to construct the landmark, six story, 130 room hotel placed across Arnold Mill Road from the amphitheater. This hotel will be truly one-of-a-kind in the region, with multiple restaurants and bars, a full service spa, ground floor retail fronting Arnold Mill Road, and a 5,000 square foot conference center and event space. The property will be managed by Valor Hospitality Partners. They operate 95 high end hotel properties across the globe. They’re a world class operator investing right here in downtown Woodstock.
The hotel has been designed to fit the feeling and architecture of our downtown, and is sure to be a key component of the next chapter of our city’s economic success.
During last year’s address, we celebrated our brand new parking deck at the heart of the city center project. This 633 space, free parking deck has been heavily used throughout the year and has been a huge success in delivering the parking relief for our downtown that our visitors and businesses have been begging to see.
In addition to the new capacity added with the parking deck, we introduced the city’s first managed parking plan. For fewer than 19% of the spaces downtown, on Chambers Street, East Main, and behind Reformation, we instituted timed parking enforcement with the first hour free and a fee maxing out at $4. We solved a simple math problem. We discovered that a massive percentage of the spaces located directly in front of our stores were being utilized by employees for eight hours a day. By instituting time enforcement, we incentivized those all-day parkers to move to the free deck, freeing up the storefronts for your families. This broke the "death loop" of traffic circling for a spot on Chambers Street, with incredible positive effects for traffic on Main Street and Arnold Mill.
Nearly every business owner I have spoken to has reported double-digit percentage increases in revenue since the program began. Our city saw more than 35 million visits from more than 3 million unique visitors. Our six city pub crawls alone attracted 45,000 people. Our downtown is alive and well, and more people visited it this past year than at any other time in our history. The difference? You can always find a parking space.
The number one complaint I heard running for Mayor in 2022 was parking downtown. Today, you are never more than 300 feet from a free parking space, and for $2 you can nearly always find a space directly in front of the venue you’d like to visit. Paid or unpaid, parking in downtown Woodstock is now readily available to the millions who come to visit our city each and every year.
Home is a physical place, and ours is getting the extreme makeover we all dreamed we’d get to see. From a generational upgrade to our roads and streets to a thriving economic center and backbone, we are investing in the foundation of this home that will last for generations.
Home isn’t found in the finishes though. First and foremost, home is where you feel safe, and we have made record setting investments in the men and women of Woodstock’s public safety teams.
If our mission is to build a city that feels like home, and home is where you feel safe, Woodstock’s finest is well on their way to mission accomplished. The City of Woodstock is consistently named among the safest cities in the State of Georgia. After the City Council invested in the largest starting pay increase in department history, along with certification and training incentives, we have achieved full staffing for the first time in more than a decade. We followed through on our commitment to hire foot patrol officers for downtown Woodstock, and their added presence on Main Street and throughout our trails continues to maintain the safe, public safety forward environment we have cultivated in Georgia’s most vibrant city.
Crime in our city has continued its downward trend, and our community focused department is yielding the results that our home deserves, but let me be clear: If you come to Woodstock to harm our community, we will find you.
When vandals targeted our new parking deck, an asset paid for by the people of this city, our officers didn't just file a report. They identified and arrested the suspects within 48 hours. From aiding the GBI in cartel busts to eliminating outlet mall theft rings... in Woodstock, justice is swift, and it is certain, thanks to the men and women of our Police Department. I hope you’ll join me in thanking them for their service to our City.
As we celebrate the department’s successes, we look forward to an even brighter future with a new leader at the helm. With the retirement of Chief Jones last year, the department has welcomed our new Chief. Before I introduce him, I want to ask everyone to join me in thanking Assistant Chief Brian Aligood, who led this department with a steady hand as our Interim Chief during this transition. Thank you for your leadership, sir.
Chief Roland Castro joins us with a distinguished career spanning nearly three decades. He was an inaugural member of the Johns Creek Police Department, where he served in nearly every capacity, from SWAT Team Commander to DEA Task Force Officer, eventually rising to lead that department as Interim Chief.
He is a graduate of the prestigious FBI National Academy and a recipient of the FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award. This man has proven himself to be a visionary leader for our department, and I would ask that you all help me thank him for his service to our city. Chief Castro, welcome, sir!
The Woodstock Fire Department had one of the most defining years in its history. For decades, Woodstock Fire has operated out of two stations. As the city has continued to grow, and calls for service have risen to more than 7,000 calls annually, the need for service has put incredible strain on our first responders and continues to challenge our response times.
In 2025, the City Council funded the construction of two new fire stations, and Woodstock FD has hired twelve new firefighters to staff them. This marks an historic expansion of our fire service. As the Council evaluated the placement of our third station, Chief Dobson had recently reorganized the department and was able to establish a shift structure that would enable the staffing of a fourth station using the same twelve firefighters that would be hired for the third. You heard that right: the city could open four stations for the operational cost of three. The Council, I believe wisely, chose to greenlight both and as a result Woodstock Fire will be better positioned to serve our City than ever before.
Even before the impact of these two stations, the efforts of Chief Dobson and his team yielded a 21% reduction in response times this year through efforts like traffic pre-emption, automated vehicle location, and better data utilization. Our Chief and his command staff continue to search for ways to deliver more and better for Woodstock’s citizens with the resources they are given, and in doing so, have sustained their ranking among the top 1.5% of fire departments nationwide. Will you join me in thanking Chief Dobson and his team for what they do for our city?
For home to feel safe, it needs to feel financially secure as well. In 2025, the Council was able to deliver yet another tax cut. While neighboring cities have been forced to raise their rates by nearly 25%, in the last four years alone Woodstock’s rates are 15% lower and at their lowest rate in more than thirty years.
While we accomplished this, we also managed to store up a rainy day fund approaching 50% of our general operating budget and see an increase in our credit rating to AA+, the second highest rating available. We’re coming for that AAA.
Our city continues to leverage our growth and success to reinvest in our future, to save for unexpected trouble ahead, and to ultimately lower the tax burden of everyone who calls this place home.
Home is our place, and home is where we feel safe. But it’s also where we play and where we find the space to dream.
Our massive expansion of this city’s parks and trails continues forward, and the future of space to breathe and play in our city looks brighter than ever. In 2023, you voted to pass our parks bond with an historic 87% at the ballot box. In addition to this investment, a portion of the TSPLOST will be dedicated to further expanding our trails and sidewalks. This level of investment in the pedestrian connectivity and green spaces of our city is truly unprecedented.
The construction of Little River Park, stretching from Trickum Road to Highway 92, remains the largest expansion of parks and greenspace in the history of Woodstock. The scale of this park is truly massive, so large that you could fit all of Woodstock’s current city parks into it and still have room left over. I shared with you last year that this park would begin construction, and that we would be moving forward with all three phases concurrently so that we could deliver the entirety of the park before the end of 2026. I am proud to report that construction continues on target and we expect to deliver this park to you before the end of the year.
Our mission to become the spaghetti junction of trails in Georgia continues forward. Despite difficult weather conditions and delays, we still expect to finally deliver our Noonday Creek extension this year which ties our network into Cobb County to our south. Long awaited connectivity is being delivered with ten foot sidewalks extended down Dobbs Road, Neese Road, and Towne Lake Parkway. We are continuing to partner with Cherokee County to connect to our north and our west, and through grant support from the Atlanta Regional Commission we continue our planning for trail connection to our east toward Roswell and Alpharetta. As we do the work to leave our children a pedestrian friendly, walkable city, we are ensuring that all trails lead to Woodstock.
But no conversation about our Parks and Recreation team, or if we’re honest the State of the City itself, would be complete without mentioning the Woodstock Summer Concert Series. What started as a modest show under the stars by the gazebo 27 years ago has grown into the largest free concert series in the south, and this year’s shows broke all of our records. Our largest show this year delivered more than 16,400, roughly half of the population of our city, to an ampitheatre covering roughly two and a half acres. This is a city that knows how to play.
Now, the top question by far that our staff receives during the ticket sales process for this speech each year is whether or not I’ll be announcing the concert lineup again… As if I would let anyone else do it. So for the moment that so many of you have been waiting for:
Kicking off our season on May 9th, we welcome back to the series Black Jacket Symphony to perform Bon Jovi's iconic Slippery When Wet album in its entirety, followed by a set of greatest hits. We are going to be "Livin' on a Prayer" right here in downtown Woodstock.
On June 13, we are bringing true country royalty to the stage. She is a Grammy winner, a CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, and a sitting member of the Grand Ole Opry. She is the gold standard of modern country music, and she is coming to our stage. Give it up for Carly Pearce.
For our mid-summer show on July 11, we are bringing the funk back. This group last played Woodstock way back in 2011, and we decided 15 years was too long to wait to have them back. They’ll be playing a massive set of R&B hits. Get ready for Midnight Star.
On August 8, we are taking our first-ever foray into the world of Boy Bands. If you spent the turn of the millennium debating the merits of *NSYNC versus the Backstreet Boys, or if you just want to party like it’s 1999, you cannot miss the Pop 2000 Tour. It is going to be a nostalgia overload.
And finally, on September 12, we will close out the season with a battle of the piano men. Face 2 Face brings the legendary energy of Billy Joel and Elton John together on one stage. Whether you’re a "Rocket Man" or a "Piano Man," this high-energy duel is the perfect way to wrap up the summer.
From classic rock anthems to country royalty and the best party music of the last three decades, this is going to be the biggest season yet.
If home is for play, then Woodstock is home. We’re a city that loves beer, art, and balanced budgets. Where the playground and the brewery are next door to one another, because we’re building a place for everyone.
Connection, foundation, safety, security, play. All of these remind us of home. Our city that feels like home. Because home is what our public policy is all about. As I have stated in every State of the City I have given: All American Public Policy is American Housing Policy.
For three generations, the United States of America engaged in the largest public private partnership in human history: American housing. We returned from the war, and at a federal level we adopted the GI bill and subsidized mortgage interest rates. At a state level, we adopted tax law that incentivized ownership. At a local level, we adopted zoning ordinances to ensure property would be available to own. Then the private sector unleashed the might of American capitalism and built more homes in a shorter period of time than ever before. And the policy worked.
By getting the average American into a home that they owned, we provided a universally appreciating asset to everyone and created the largest middle class the world had ever seen. Then 2008 happened, and for eighteen years housing has become less and less accessible to Americans. It has resulted in a generation that is objectively making more money than their parents, even adjusted for inflation, who are objectively poorer than their parents were at their age. Now, in a city like Woodstock, a white picket fence and two acres is very unlikely to come at an affordable price for a new family. And government policies that mandate or subsidize pricing don’t solve these problems either. Instead, in Woodstock, we are focused on ensuring that the ownership-rentership ratio is protected, and that the free market can deliver the American dream once again.
And we are seeing success. Last year, a developer downtown who had a zoning approval to build 180 apartments from years ago elected to convert those units to owned-conodominiums instead. That’s 180 units that would have been shipping the wealth of Woodstock families out of our city that will now build generational wealth instead.
And the market is noticing. Despite the national narrative, Woodstock was ranked the #13 most affordable city to buy a home in Georgia. But because we have built a place people actually want to live, we were also ranked the #7 most competitive housing market in the state.
That’s exactly where we want to be. We are highly desirable, yet still attainable. That is the sweet spot. That is where the American Dream thrives.
Our work to build wealth for Woodstock families, and to turn neighbors into stakeholders, continues to place Woodstock in the lead.
We are building a city that feels like home.
I told you we had a lot of work to do this morning. Over the last four years, and the 124 years that preceded them there has been so much work done. But our story is just starting.
We are hitting above our weight class in housing, in economic impact, and in culture. Whether it’s commissioning new public art or selling out an amphitheater that rivals venues in major metros, we’re building the place that everyone dreams of building. We do more with less, and we’re having more fun doing it. We are the challenger brand. We prove that you don't have to choose between a safe neighborhood and a vibrant culture. We will have both.
We are writing the next chapter of the American story.
This fourth of July our Great American Experiment turns 250 years old. Its a year for all of us to look back at the improbable story of America: a story of grit, of reinvention, and of the relentless pursuit of a better tomorrow.
Katie and I are raising four children here in Woodstock. Many of you are raising your children and grandchildren here as well. The city that we build for them will in so many ways define them. And that definition will determine the next generation for America.
This story is ours to craft, but it will be theirs sooner than we know.
We will not rest in the good that came before us, or the wins that we have delivered. We will dream boldly, build intentionally, and play well. We will meet our calling, and we will build a home.
