Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis delivers last State of the City

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Augusta’s mayor takes to the podium for his last State of the City address.

Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. used most of his speech to talk about his accomplishments while in office.

Davis says he is going to cast his ballot Friday, and with just one day of early voting left, Richmond County voters have already turned out more for this runoff election than the 2020 and 2018 runoffs combined.

“Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless Augusta,” said Davis.

Davis showed gratitude to the people of Augusta as he gave his final State of the City address.

He spoke on many things within the past eight years as mayor and feels his greatest impact was the $15 living wage increase.

“You care about the people, and the people will care about you. Where people want to live, learn and work to raise their families. We started with that $15 living wage,” he said. “We’re talking about almost a billion dollars that are being made into our city in the next decade,” said Davis.

Another big talker was the investment into Regency Mall, and the growth expected.

“Back in 2016, this commission said we were going to go first. I know there have been some conversations about plans that were submitted and that’s certainly good, but I want to remind folks that this is not a new conversation. Augusta will be her strongest when we make significant investments in this corridor, and quite frankly was the epicenter of all that activity in Augusta, Georgia,” he said.

“We also made investments across the community. We’re a safe city,” said Davis.

With the recent string of shootings this past week, Davis says it is time out for gun violence, particularly in the Black community.

“There has been perceivably an uptick in crime in Augusta, and that’s just not the case. What we want to do is take the guns out of the hands of bad actors,” he said.

Davis also gave his thoughts on his future successor, not naming who he is voting for but hoping they propel Augusta forward and not backward.

“If you are going to follow me, you better start talking about the use of the Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam and what needs to be done to secure Augusta’s future,” said Davis.

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