23 Jan Mayor Touts Finances, Public Safety, ‘Destination Richmond’ in State of the City

Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez delivered his State of the City address in a video that was shown at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Richmond had a lot to celebrate when last year’s end came, but it’s not by accident. Mayor Eduardo Martinez says the growth is all part of an effort to put the city on the map.

Under the theme “Destination Richmond,” Mayor Eduardo Martinez highlighted the newly state-certified fiscal stability, a historic low in homicides, and gains in economic development.

“This is what destination Richmond looks like — a city that honors its past, invests in its people, and builds confidently towards its future,” said Martinez in a video presentation at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “The road ahead is ours to shape. Let’s keep building the Richmond we know is possible together.”

Doing just that has included recording the city’s lowest-ever number of homicides — five in the last year. That mirrors the city’s 17% downward trend in serious crimes like rapes and robberies between January and November.

The numbers are a stark contrast to the city’s long-standing reputation of being unsafe, partly due to gun violence, though gun violence did increase at the end of the year. Police Chief Tim Simmons said at a meeting this year that over 45% of all shootings happened in the last 90 days of 2025, even though shootings overall dropped since 2024.

The approach is “multi-pronged: prevention, intervention, community response, and law enforcement,” said Martinez in his address.

Through the Office of Neighborhood Safety’s Operation Peacemaker, Martinez said more than 22,000 hours were spent engaging with individuals. Intervention strategies will be complemented by the upcoming launch of the city’s community crisis response team, known as Reach Out with Compassion and Kindness, or ROCK, which will respond to low-level crisis calls.

Financially, the city is in a better place than several in the Bay Area — Oakland, San Francisco, and, in Contra Costa, Antioch and San Pablo — that faced budget deficits in the last year or will in the coming years. The city was removed from the state auditor’s high-risk list near the end of the year, and revenues have continued to surpass expenses.

For the 2025-26 fiscal year, the city is operating with a roughly $48 million surplus, said Martinez.

“We are no longer reacting to crisis. We are planning ahead, using data and making decisions that set us up for long-term success,” added Martinez.

Much of that change is being led by downtown, he said.

The city reopened downtown Richmond’s mobile vendor program site, now known as The Lot, to help mobile vendors continue to operate legally. The site also gives community members a gathering space, though the Macdonald Avenue Taskforce is also underway to “craft a clear community-driven plan” for the area, Martinez’s presentation said.

Looking forward, the mayor wants to make strides toward increased public safety, development and the arts. A downtown master plan. Zero homicides. Promoting the arts. Advancing the Hilltop Mall redevelopment.

“Richmond is no longer defined by what others think we can’t do. We’re defined by what we’re doing and who we’re becoming,” said Martinez.