Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe gave his state of the city address Wednesday, focusing on the progress the city has made over the past year. In addition, he addressed what needs to be done in the future.
With job creation being a main highlight of his speech, Lowe touched on the arrival of Silver Airlines at the Gainesville Regional Airport. This addition created 100 new jobs in east Gainesville that pay an average salary of more than $50,000 per year and do not require a college degree.
“This impressive level of growth is not an accident, thanks to our community’s dedication to the mission of Innovation Gainesville, and our focus on creating jobs with a high multiplier effect,” said Lowe.
Gainesville Regional has begun offering flights to three additional locations. Since October 2010, the airport has doubled the number of airlines serving the city and tripled the number of destinations served.
There is still progress to be made, Lowe said.
“The City of Gainesville stands willing and ready to work with anyone in this city to grow and retain jobs at all income levels,” said Lowe. “When we’re able to do that, it’s easy to come together and celebrate our success, but it’s equally important to come together in times of adversity. In good times and bad, collaboration is the key to moving Gainesville forward.”
Lowe also praised Gainesville’s local law enforcement and medical teams for their response during the tragic accident on I-75 last January.
Seeing the need that existed, RTS sent buses to the crash site to keep those who were stranded warm as temperatures outside dropped to around 40 degrees.
“Our local law enforcement and medical teams reacted swiftly and professionally as they always do, but the extraordinary circumstances of this accident required additional resources,” said Lowe. “I’m proud of the role that we were able to play working with other local and statewide agencies to respond to this tragedy.”