Many Seattleites may have been blissfully unaware that Mayor Bruce Harrell delivered his annual State of the City address today. Hopefully, most were enjoying the moody, blustery weather in a park somewhere rather than sitting through the event at Benaroya Hall alongside city hall staffers, carefully vetted community leaders, random high schoolers, and other elected officials forced to partake in the proceedings.

For those who were otherwise occupied with jobs, lives, and more important matters, was there anything from the speech worth knowing? Sort of. And some things left out might be just as notable.

First on the list: the Mayor is testing out a new slogan. Once a staple of every speech, the ever-present #OneSeattle made only two appearances, both referencing pre-existing programs. Now, the message is all about rising. Seattle is on the rise. “We will rise” is in; #OneSeattle is out, get with it.

Another notable bit of branding: the Downtown Activation Plan (DAP) is, in fact, pronounced as a word, which the Mayor did during his speech. Harrell appears eager to “dap up” downtown, an effort that lands somewhere between enthusiastic and “How do you do, fellow kids?”

Then, there’s the matter of sports references. In his 60-minute speech, Harrell squeezed in at least five. One included prop comedy—teasing an NBA announcement when he pulled a basketball out from behind his back before laughing: “Just kidding” (Supersonics forever.) In another, he tried to compare Seattle’s challenges to the Kansas City Chiefs, who were blown out in this year’s Super Bowl. “I don’t see defeat when a champion is on the field,” he declared, raising questions about his eyesight. The team was down 24 to zip at halftime, before losing 40 to 22 ( Go Birds ).

As for policy matters—housing, public safety, homelessness— well, this is an election year for him, so naturally, everything is going great. According to Harrell, 2024 was a banner year for Seattle: crime rates down, parks restored, downtown bustling. He offered some numbers to support the narrative: a 35 percent reduction in tents counted by city staff from 2023 to 2024, 1,800 shelter referrals made to homeless individuals, and 33,000 new units of housing coming online.

However, the real questions remain unanswered. Has homelessness actually decreased overall? How many of those new housing units are market rate versus affordable? Are they fully occupied, or are they sitting half-empty like so many of Seattle’s recent developments? And what about rent prices? Go fish, I guess. No answers were provided.

One glaring omission from the speech: the $50 million per year in tax revenue voters just allocated to the Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD) via Proposition 1A. Given that Harrell’s face was plastered all over mailers for the business-backed alternative, Prop 1B, designed to water down SSHD’s original funding ask, his silence is predictable. The resounding 63-37 percent victory for 1A was, in many ways, a referendum on his administration. Avoiding the topic altogether might be a wise choice.

Instead, he mostly stuck to the center-right, establishment Democrat playbook: ignore challenges from the left, wield the right as a boogyman, and confuse listeners with a bunch of empty platitudes and big words about progress, diversity, and vision. His speech opened with a broad warning about the Trump administration’s all-out assault on federal funding, local autonomy, the rule of law, and whatever else remains of small-d democracy in this country.

We’re glad to hear that plans to defend our LGBTQ+ community from discrimination, is suing the Trump administration over their bullying of sanctuary cities, and has instructed the Seattle Police Department not to participate in any immigration enforcement. Especially as institutions are caving to Trump's intimidation left and right. But since November is coming, we should also remember that anyone to the left of him is going to do all of that and perhaps more.

Beyond politics, Harrell also took time to hype up Seattle’s waterfront—or, as he tested live on stage, the "Emerald City Coast." The new branding attempt landed with all the grace of his suggestion that everyone would need a drink after his “long ass speech.” Which is to say, crickets.

Anyway, as Dan Savage once told me I had to do when writing restaurant reviews, I should find one nice thing to say. So here’s my favorite thing about our current Mayor: I appreciate that, as a comedian, he’s not afraid to fail. He will just get up there and try out new material with no fear.

You’ve also got to hand it to him that he’s getting pretty rabid about permits. He wants to cut red tape for everyone: developers, small business owners, even Sound Transit. Indeed, he pledged that a new city office would focus on streamlining light rail expansion to West Seattle and Ballard, moving the timelines up by as much as a year. Would certainly be nice.

Also in the big promises department, he publicly committed to closing Pike Place Market to cars—a move long overdue. Sad that it took a tragic vehicle attack in New Orleans to push it across the finish line, but I’m not looking a pedestrianized street gift horse in the mouth. Achieving this goal, according to the Mayor, will require “ingenuity and frankly common sense,” though probably a handful of retractable bollards and some political courage would do.

But enough, already. The speech is over, the city remains in flux, and for those who missed it, the highlights—or lack thereof—can now be absorbed without sacrificing an afternoon (you’re welcome). Meanwhile, for those still awaiting genuine progress on affordability, homelessness, and public safety, the message remains clear: keep waiting.