Mayor Bynum Highlights Tulsa's Resiliency In State Of The City Address

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said 2020 has clearly been one of the most challenging years for the city.

He took the time to reflect on the year in the city's first ever all-virtual 'State of the City' address.

Mayor Bynum would typically start off his speech by showcasing all of the accomplishments of the year, but he said he wanted to offer a different approach this year. Bynum focused instead on what he said were three crucial moments of 2020 that highlight the resiliency of Tulsans. It includes the citywide response to COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic.

The second moment Bynum said was the work researchers are doing to uncover more details about those who were killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The third was the community support around the Tulsa Police officers who were shot over the summer when Tulsans raised more than $600,000 in one day to help their families.

Bynum said all of this shows Tulsa is strong when its neighbors come together.

"A city of neighbors, helping one another through tornadoes and floods and ice storms. And these are the stories that inspire us in hard times and remind us of what Tulsans can accomplish when we work together, but now the inspiration does not come from history, it comes from the present," Bynum said.

Bynum still focused on the city's accomplishments during a Q&A segment after his address.

He also said they'd like to double down on strategies they put in place in the last four years to grow the economy and improve education.

You can watch the full State of the City address here.