A Message From the Mayor

In late January, Michael Caldwell delivered his 2023 State of the City address, outlining his top three priorities for this year — focusing on parks and trails, diversifying the commercial base and building generational wealth for residents through home ownership. Here are some excerpts from the address. For the full transcript and a recording of the speech, visit www.woodstockga.gov/news_detail_T15_R87.php.

From crime rates to the unemployment rate, from transportation projects to relationships with governments and the private sector, our city’s metrics are rapidly improving and continue toward record success.

We’ve built one of the most visited, attractive downtown destinations in the southeastern United States. The lives and livelihoods of a Woodstock family are better in nearly every way than ever before. The state of our city is stronger than ever, and our best days are still ahead.

Despite our city’s growth from a population of 23,000 in 2010 to more than 35,000 in 2020, I reported to you last year that our crime rate actually declined by nearly 45%. Catch that: Our population exploded, and we saw our crime cut in half. In the time since 2020, we’ve continued to see this trend. From 2019 through 2022, our crime rate has reduced by 29%, and year over year from 2021 to 2022, we saw a 12.5% reduction.

We received final approval from (the Georgia Department of Transportation) on our right-of-way acquisition to complete the connection of our existing Noonday Creek Trail to the Cobb County system, which will connect our city’s trails into the Silver Comet Trail and beyond. And, we expect to have this connection to Noonday Creek Trail completed in 2024.

In addition, Council has voiced loudly their intention to complete Little River Park. We have allocated more than $8 million of the upcoming special-purpose local-option sales tax to completing Phase 1 of Little River Park, and Council is adamant that they wish to see groundbreaking. We have finally laid the groundwork to make the “soon” on those “Little River Park Coming Soon” signs on Trickum Road actually mean soon.

The success of our local economy yielded more than 350 new business licenses in 2022, and I lost count of the number of ribbon cuttings that I took part in last year. In just the last five years, our city’s business revenue grew from $2.2 billion in 2017 to more than $3.2 billion in 2021.

To every Woodstocker who owns a business outside of town, it’s time for you to work a little closer to home. We’re working hard to bring the physical footprints and infrastructure you need to headquarter here. For both new and existing Woodstock businesses alike, we are intent on making sure that our city, like our state, is No. 1 for business. We need to hear from you. We have launched a brand new business recruitment form on our website (http://bit.ly/3HvIWg8), and I am looking forward to welcoming each of you here to our city.

We will build a deeper sense of place and connection to our community by attracting employers and jobs to allow more Woodstockers to work near home. In doing so, we will be staking out a secure, diversified commercial future for our city and reigniting the sense of community and pride of place that built an American century.

We will engage and prioritize the largest economic, wealth-generating mechanism in human history: American home ownership. By making this appreciating asset more available to those who call Woodstock home, we will be creating a financially stable future for both our city and the families who live here, and we will be creating family tree-changing wealth for our citizens.

We have built a place that people want to be, and we must now set out to build a place that will last.

— Mayor Michael Caldwell

– Michael Caldwell is the 31st mayor of Woodstock, a retired state legislator, member of the Georgia Technology Authority, partner at Black Airplane, husband to Katie, and father to Oliver, Elizabeth and Charlotte.