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South Bend: Mayor James Mueller State of the City 2026 Remarks

EntSun News/11087913
March 26, 2026

2026 State of the City

Members of the Common Council, city employees, neighbors, and all who call South Bend home—thank you for being here tonight.

Several months ago, I was walking through a neighborhood on the southeast side when a neighbor stopped me—not to complain, not to ask for something new—but to point across the street and say:

"You know, that block finally feels like it belongs to us again."

The lights were on. The street and sidewalk had been fixed. Kids were outside playing.

And for the first time in a long time, it felt normal—in the best possible way. That's what government serving the people feels like. Not a ribbon cutting. Not a headline. Just a block that works, and a family that knows their city showed up for them.

That sense of normal doesn't come from one project. It comes from city services showing up, day after day—parks that feel cared for, sidewalks that are passable, and neighborhoods that don't feel forgotten.

That moment captures where South Bend is today.

Tonight I want to talk about how we got here, what we've built, and what it's going to take to hold onto it.

What We Built and Why It Matters Now

Just over a decade ago, South Bend's story was still being written by what we had lost. Population. Jobs. Confidence. And for too long, belief in our own future.

The first chapter of our comeback was about changing direction: fixing broken systems, modernizing City Hall, and proving that a post‑industrial city could compete again. That foundation made everything that followed possible.

When I took office, our city had momentum—but momentum alone doesn't fix streets, keep families safe, or make neighborhoods whole again. This chapter of our story has been about making the comeback real: turning plans into results, delivering on our promises to the people who live here.

And together, we did just that.

Today, South Bend is stronger than it has been in generations—and that strength brings new responsibility to protect what we've built. Because we are entering a new chapter of South Bend's story—and it may be the hardest one yet.

Our next chapter is defined not by proving change is possible, but by making sure the progress we've made lasts.

In a time of noise and uncertainty, our work here has stayed steady—focused on the basics, grounded in neighborhoods, and guided by the same values that have carried our city forward.

Stewardship means being honest about the fiscal turn we are navigating. Due to state property and income tax changes, our revenues have shifted. We've had to make hard, disciplined choices—including significant cuts to popular programs, difficult reductions in staff— to protect our core promises of safety and infrastructure. To be clear, fiscal responsibility is not an end in itself. Rather, it's how we protect our ability to serve you—year after year.

The federal government has cut programs that families in our city depend on. Global economic forces—tariffs, supply chain shifts, and tech disruption—are creating uncertainty for working people everywhere.

South Bend is not immune to any of that. No city is.

But here is what I know: we built something real. And what we built was designed, deliberately, for moments like this.

The question for 2026 isn't whether we have progress to celebrate. We do. The question is whether that progress lasts—for everyone, in every neighborhood, for the next generation.

That is the work ahead. And this is the year that question gets serious.

What We Delivered Last Year

So let me be clear what stewardship looks like in practice. Over the past year, our city didn't just stay busy—we delivered—from the Common Council and City Clerk to every team in the City administration.

Public Safety

Public safety is the promise that comes first. Everything else depends on it.

In 2025, the South Bend Police Department responded to more than 104,000 calls for service, while only 43 community complaints were filed. Not even five‑hundredths of one percent. Professionalism at scale doesn't happen by accident. It comes from consistent training, clear expectations, and accountability that is taken seriously.

Over the past two years, fewer families in South Bend have lost loved ones to violence compared to any comparable period in decades. That is the result of sustained work—prevention, outreach, youth intervention, and enforcement that is focused and fair.

And safety isn't only about response. Through the Police Athletic League, our officers served 2,230 young people—investing in trust, mentorship, and opportunity long before a crisis call ever happens.

Our fire service remains in the top one percent nationally, and our EMS team continues to beat performance targets, saving lives every day. Last year, the South Bend Fire Department answered nearly 26,000 calls for service, with first‑due engine response averaging three and a half minutes, and EMS response under five minutes—well ahead of national benchmarks.

And beyond response, our firefighters conducted thousands of inspections and installed hundreds of smoke and carbon‑monoxide alarms in homes across the city. Prevention saves lives too—quietly, before the emergency ever happens.

Infrastructure and Basic Services

In 2025, Public Works paved more than 48 lane miles, maintained another 65 miles, replaced over 16,000 feet of sidewalks and 12,000 feet of curbs, graded nearly 1,500 alleys, and patched more than 35,000 potholes. That's what progress actually looks like on the ground.

We also changed how City Hall shows up in neighborhoods. Through our Vibrant Neighborhoods initiative, we're bringing multiple departments together in one place at one time—cleaning up streets, addressing long‑standing issues, and working directly with residents to fix problems before they grow. It's a simple idea, but it's changing how people experience their city.

We opened a new City Hall—bringing city services together under one roof and making it easier for residents to get answers in one place.

For most people, City Hall isn't an abstract idea—it's the moment you call 311 to report a pothole or ask for help and someone picks up.

We maintained our AA bond rating, proof that South Bend is financially strong, responsibly managed and prepared for the future. That stability is built quietly, through daily discipline, led by our Administration and Finance team.

That same long‑term approach is guiding how we care for shared civic assets—Four Winds Field, the Morris, State Theater, and Potawatomi Zoo— so they continue to serve residents, families, and the region for generations.

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We're also reducing long-term costs and risk by investing in energy efficiency, clean infrastructure, and sustainability—not as a slogan, but as a practical way to protect residents and future budgets.

Once again, South Bend earned What Works Cities Gold, remaining the only city in Indiana to achieve that distinction. And we were recognized as the number one digital city of our size—proof that modern, data‑driven government is not a buzzword here, but a core competency. That recognition reflects the work of our Innovation and Technology team, making city services easier to access and easier to trust.

Our innovation work was also recognized when South Bend was selected as one of just 24 cities worldwide to receive a $1 million Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayor's Challenge award—supporting our partnership with Notre Dame to turn 311 into a more proactive, human‑centered way of delivering city services.

More residents than ever help shape our choices. Through Build the Budget, more than 2,200 residents shared their priorities and ideas—nearly double participation from the program's early years. That engagement strengthens every decision we make.

Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization

The same focus on basics shows up in housing. Over a thousand new housing units are under construction—across income levels, housing types, and neighborhoods.

Last year alone, our Department of Community Investment issued 187 permits for new single‑family homes, the most in decades, with more than 90 percent built as infill on existing streets—and 65 new homes using the city's preapproved plans.

National observers are also noticing what's happening here. The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com ranked South Bend the No. 3 housing market in the country in 2025. Zillow ranked us No. 7 most popular with home shoppers. We earned those rankings because of the quality of life in our city and the value we offer. Our placemaking efforts and all-of-the-above housing approach will help us maintain this competitive edge.

But statistics like units built and rankings only matter if long‑time residents can thrive and neighborhoods remain whole. That's why the City conducted 910 rental safety inspections, secured a $7 million federal award for our Lead Hazard Reduction Program to remove toxic lead from older homes, and are building a regional land bank to return vacant properties to productive use and give longtime residents and neighborhoods a stronger hand in shaping what comes next.

It's why investments like the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Center matter—creating a neighborhood anchor that supports families, youth, and opportunity beyond housing alone.

It's why we're completing catalytic projects like the Western Avenue Transformation District and Drewrys—turning a long-vacant industrial site into a safe, livable neighborhood. And it's why the LaSalle Park Neighborhood Plan—shaped in community rooms with neighbors—sets a roadmap for infill housing, safer streets, and public spaces people feel proud of.

I thank our Humans Rights Commission team for their work to ensure fair housing and employment for all.

Housing stability also means responding with compassion when people fall into crisis—working with community partners to connect people to care and move more residents from the street into stable housing. This year, we broke ground on the New Day Intake Center—a permanent facility that will open in 2027, replacing the stopgap approach we've relied on for too long and giving people in crisis a true front door to stability.

Growth and Opportunity

Our goal isn't growth for growth's sake. It's growth that strengthens neighborhoods, expands opportunity, and leaves the city in a better place ten, twenty years from now.

South Bend's economic future is diverse—healthcare, education, advanced manufacturing, entrepreneurship, arts, and emerging technologies.

Cities don't come back one building at a time. They come back when momentum feeds itself. That work in the heart of our city is guided by a long‑term downtown vision shaped with residents and partners, focused on growth that strengthens—not separates—our neighborhoods.

For too long, the story of downtown South Bend was survival. Today, the goal is thriving—through bold, focused investment and partnerships that close gaps the market alone can't yet close.

More people are choosing South Bend—to live, to work, and to invest—and that momentum will continue to strengthen neighborhoods and expand opportunity across the city. The broader picture bears that out: in 2025, our region added roughly 3,000 jobs—at a growth rate outpacing the national average.

With a billion dollars of investment into the heart of South Bend on the way, we launched the first phase of our Innovation Development District—Colfax Corner—in partnership with Notre Dame, the State, and private partners. With vertical construction beginning later this year, it's already functioning as a hub, not just a future construction site.

We're also investing in how South Bend shows up for visitors—partnering with Visit South Bend-Mishawaka on Century Center to bring more people downtown. Tourism isn't just about conventions. It's about filling local restaurants, supporting small businesses, and creating jobs that can't be outsourced.

This past year, we completed the Link Trail—connecting downtown to Notre Dame with a safe, welcoming route for pedestrians and cyclists—a project now recognized statewide for placemaking excellence.

And we opened the Raclin Murphy Encore Center—adding a new, welcoming front door to the Morris and strengthening South Bend's role as a regional arts destination. We also celebrated the reopening of Seitz Park.

Our shared spaces are not just destinations but also anchors of neighborhood life. I thank our Venues Parks and Arts team for stewarding the places where people gather.

As we grow, our expectations are growing too. Our approach to new opportunities—including data center proposals—is straightforward: projects must meet South Bend's standards. They must fit within or enhance our neighborhoods, responsibly steward our natural resources, be transparent about their costs, and deliver real community benefit. New investments cannot incur hidden costs, financial or environmental, on our people.

Economic growth only works if opportunity is shared. In 2025, $26 million of eligible City spending went to minority‑ and women‑owned businesses—turning access into participation through the work of our Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

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As our city grows, it's important to be clear that growth is only worthwhile if it makes life better for the people who call South Bend home—and for the next generation that will inherit this city.

For decades, too many neighborhoods carried the weight of disinvestment. Reversing that takes bold, sustained commitment—block by block, not headline by headline.

What We Value and Stand For

In moments like this, it's important to remember what we value and what we stand for.

We believe that public safety is essential. Public safety is improving not by chance, but through consistent staffing, accountability, and a focus on prevention—so residents can feel the difference where it matters most.

We believe that strong neighborhoods and basic services—safe streets, clean water, reliable infrastructure—are promises, not perks.

Keeping our water safe and our sewer system reliable is not optional—it's a basic promise.  That means providing the funds necessary to address aging infrastructure and ensure safe, clean drinking water, but it also means making disciplined choices to pace long‑term projects, so affordability comes first. We're sequencing this work deliberately—investing where safety demands it, and slowing wherever possible because we know families need relief.

We will ask the federal government to help us find additional savings beyond the $437 million already saved in our revised long-term control plan—allowing us to prioritize new federally mandated investments that ensure safe, drinking water. For many families, a utility bill or a tax assessment isn't just a line item—it's the difference between staying current and falling behind. We know many families are balancing rising costs everywhere—from groceries to utilities—and every decision we make has to account for this reality.

We believe facts and results matter more than ideology and empty rhetoric. Too often partisan politics hands us false choices and tells us that's all there is. We refuse to let false choice divide us.

We believe that we are stronger together—and that includes our immigrant neighbors, who contribute roughly a tenth of South Bend's GDP and have accounted for more than 80 percent of our recent population growth. That is why we will always protect the constitutional rights of every person in this city, regardless of where they were born. That's also why we will work with partners at every level of government—always doing so in a way that honors the Constitution and the rule of law. I thank our legal team for their wise counsel and work to keep the entire city team on track.

We believe in fiscal responsibility—not because it sounds good, but because it protects our ability to serve residents year after year. Saying yes to everything today can mean failing people tomorrow.

Here is what I can promise: we will always be straight with you about tradeoffs. We will not hide difficult decisions behind rosy language.

And when systems beyond our control fail, our responsibility doesn't disappear. Last year, when a disruption in federal nutrition assistance put families at risk of going hungry, the City stepped in—pausing utility shutoffs, supporting emergency food providers, and making sure families were not left alone in that moment. We can fill gaps. But we can't fill every gap, indefinitely.

As we grow, we will not trade affordability for flash. We will not chase headlines at the expense of trust. And we will not confuse momentum with progress.

Progress is when a family thrives in the neighborhood they love.
When a resident feels safe walking home at night.

When an entrepreneur turns an idea into a business and hires a neighbor.
When a child grows up believing their city works for them.
When people trust that City Hall will tell them the truth—even when the truth is hard.

That is the standard we hold ourselves to as we face new choices and opportunities.

The Work Ahead

We are no longer a city trying to prove that change is possible. We proved that already.

The work ahead is about whether the change we made lasts—and who benefits from the change.

Durability doesn't mean we stop taking risks—it means taking the right risks, fixing what's broken before it becomes a crisis, and investing where families feel the impact first. Behind every number is a moment when someone needed help, and the City showed up.

Stewardship is not a retreat from ambition. It is ambition with integrity.

As we look to the work ahead:

First, we're building a city that shows up earlier.

Too often, government everywhere waits until problems grow before stepping in. Here, we're changing that—designing city services to anticipate needs, coordinate across departments, and respond with dignity before a challenge becomes a crisis. That approach is already reshaping how neighborhoods experience City Hall, and it will guide how we deliver services going forward.

Second, we're advancing vibrant neighborhoods.

Growth is real—and it's welcome. But the next phase of our work is making sure longtime residents can thrive, families can build roots, and neighborhoods remain whole. In the year ahead, we'll be modernizing our code enforcement tools, updating how we manage short-term rentals, and strengthening nuisance property standards—not to punish responsible owners, but to protect neighbors and make expectations clear and fair for everyone. Clear, enforceable rules make it easier to do the right thing, and harder for the few bad actors to undermine entire blocks.

Housing, affordability, and safety aren't side issues. They're central to whether progress is shared. That is the standard we'll keep applying as South Bend becomes more desirable.

Third, we're focusing on connecting people to opportunity.

Economic development doesn't succeed if it only shows up in reports and rankings. It succeeds when residents can see a clear path—from education to work, from training to a career, from an idea to a business. Our work ahead will continue to focus on building those pathways so that opportunity in South Bend is not abstract, but accessible for everyone. This year we opened the Financial Empowerment Center—the first in Indiana—offering free financial counseling to residents who need it most, because opportunity means nothing if people can't build stability with it. We also supported 62 small businesses and entrepreneurs with our Opportunity Fund, revolving loan and vibrant places programs—work that we will build upon in the coming year.

We will also look to form new partnerships in the coming year to support our youth. Some of the systems that shape daily life—from schools to housing markets—don't sit entirely under City Hall's control. But they absolutely shape whether families stay, whether talent grows here, and whether opportunity truly reaches every neighborhood.

We will continue to support bold reform where outcomes demand it, transparency where trust is strained, and collaboration where systems intersect—because no city can claim long‑term success if its children are left behind.

And finally, we're building for the long run.

Every major decision we make is now measured by a simple question: does this make South Bend stronger ten, twenty years from now? That means investing wisely, maintaining our infrastructure, planning responsibly, and earning trust—not just momentum.

In uncertain times such as these, local government matters more—because it's where services are delivered, problems are solved, and trust is built face to face.

Closing

South Bend's story has always been about resilience—about a city that took a hard hit, refused to disappear, and is rebuilding itself block by block, year by year.

We built the foundation of this comeback deliberately—with diverse investments, stronger neighborhoods, and systems designed not to depend on any single employer, any single industry, or any single moment of luck. We built it knowing that the moment of testing would eventually come.

That moment is now. And we are ready for it.

Not because everything is finished. Not because we won't face hard choices. But because the people of this city have proven, time and again, that when things get hard, they show up for each other. And we know how to do the work.

What makes our city work isn't loud or dramatic—it's neighbors who care, workers who show up, and a community that keeps choosing to do things the right way.

The future of South Bend isn't something we're waiting for—it's something we're building, together, one neighborhood at a time.

Thank you.
God bless you.
And God bless the City of South Bend.

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