State of the City: Vancouver mayor promotes arts and culture in her annual address

Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle gives the State of the City Address on Monday. Photo by Paul Valencia

Before discussing some of the highlights of the past year, Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle made it clear her disdain for ICE operations in the city before eventually pivoting to her love for the arts and the city’s support of the arts

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

It was fitting that Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle gave her State of the City Address at the Vancouver Arts Hub Building as she concluded her roughly 45-minute speech with a salute to the arts and an announcement that the city is launching a new cultural access program.

Inspire Vancouver is dedicated to increasing public access and removing barriers to arts, culture, heritage and science throughout the city.

The mayor also outlined what she described as the city’s successes in the past year, including efforts to improve water safety, climate change agendas, more accessible streets, plans for more affordable housing as well as addressing the homeless problem, and she is looking forward to moving toward construction of the new Interstate Bridge.

Before all the praise, and after the mayor thanked guests and other politicians, she opted to open the substantive part of her speech with an anti-law enforcement message.

“I want to acknowledge the fear, uncertainty, and frustration many in our community are feeling and experiencing around ICE activity,” the mayor said, noting that ICE has caused “real harm and destabilization.”

She praised the city’s anti-ICE declaration in January, and wanted residents to know that the city will pursue every avenue available “to limit ICE’s reach and protect our community.”

From there, the mayor transitioned to a pro local law enforcement stance, thanking residents for passing Proposition 5, funding 13 new police officers, new equipment, and more to serve the community’s public safety priorities.

Also regarding public safety, she noted that construction is expected to start on Station 8 in Cascade Park for Vancouver Fire, and the hope is to start the design phases on two more stations later in the year.

McEnerny-Ogle said 2025 was a year defined by meaningful progress across the city.

Safe, high-quality drinking water. The city expects to start construction on a treatment center for Water Station 14 and have upgrades for four other stations.
Climate Action Framework, adopted in 2022, is seeing benefits, the mayor said. In 2025, the city adopted the Green Building Program to increase energy efficiency while protecting local ecology.
A new Public Words Operations Campus is coming. The project broke ground in 2025, and it will become a hub for essential services and disaster response.
For the 36th consecutive year, the mayor announced, Vancouver has been named Tree City USA for adding 2,000 trees to the city’s tree canopy.
Community centers continue to thrive. Last year, the city celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Community center and recently recognized the 20th anniversary of the Firstenburg Center.
In downtown, the Salmon Run Bell Tower and Glockenspiel at Esther Short Park was refurbished. Also, the Main Street Promise has been 30 years in the making. It will make Main Street a “festival street.”
An Economic Development Strategy was adopted in 2025. In the months ahead, the mayor said the city will roll out three new programs: A revolving loan fund to help small businesses that cannot get traditional funding; a consumer product-to-market program to help entrepreneurs access larger markets; and a partnership with the National League of Cities to improve access to affordable childcare.
McEnerny-Ogle is also proud of the efforts of the city’s changes to its streets, with more access for bicycles, pedestrians, as well as ADA curb ramps and more crosswalks.
She thanked voters for approving the Affordable Housing Fund, which already has helped fund 184 new units and construction of more affordable housing units. “Affordable housing is the foundation of stability, and it goes hand in hand with our work to address homelessness,” the mayor said.
Regarding the homeless, the city broke ground on the new Bridge Shelter in 2025, which will include 120 beds. When complete, it will provide shelter, housing assessments, recovery support and a safe place to stay. The mayor also noted that almost half of the residents of current Safe Stay communities obtained housing, better than double the national average.
The new Interstate Bridge “will shape how our entire region moves and grows for generations,” the mayor said. She appreciated the Coast Guard accepting the plan for a fixed-span bridge. She also is thrilled that there are plans for a connector lid over Interstate 5 to connect downtown with the Fort Vancouver Historic Reserve.

The mayor then pivoted to the theme of the evening, using 20 minutes of her speech dedicated to arts and culture.

“We’ve taken on some of the biggest challenges facing our city, and we’re making real progress. But a thriving city isn’t defined only by the challenges it takes on or the problems it solves. It is defined by what it creates,” McEnerny-Ogle said.

“That’s why tonight I want to talk about arts, culture, and heritage, and the role they play in shaping” Vancouver, she said.

The city has supported more than 40 arts programs and events. The signature event is the Vancouver Arts and Music Festival, held every August. More than 50,000 people came to downtown Vancouver for the 2025 festival.

She was proud to be speaking at the Arts Hub. The building used to be a library, and when the building was returned to the city in 2023, “we saw an incredible opportunity,” the mayor said, to turn it into Vancouver’s first arts and cultural center.

The mayor is hopeful that city leaders and business owners can come up with a plan for a downtown performing arts center.

She then turned her attention to the next generation of artists, introducing a video produced by Evergreen Public Schools, with students explaining the importance of the arts.

The mayor said the students said it better than she could.

“That’s why today, the city council is proud to share that the city is launching ‘Inspire Vancouver,’ our new cultural access program dedicated to increasing public access and removing barriers to arts, culture, heritage and science throughout Vancouver.”

To ensure it is funded, the city council dedicated a 0.1 percent Cultural Access Sales Tax, which can only be used for arts, culture, heritage, and science.

“We know that strong cultural connections create stronger communities with deeper engagement, and positive economic results,” McEnerny-Ogle said.

She wrapped up her address noting that the state of the city is strong.

“Through our continued commitment to our arts, culture, and heritage, we’re building the resilience, creativity, inclusion, and sense of purpose that this moment demands and the future will require.”

The State of the City event also featured a performance from the Vietnamese Community of Clark County, the debut of a poem from Susan Dingle, Clark County Poet Laureate, and a performance from the Vancouver Ballet Folklorico.