Hammond Mayor Thomas M. McDermott, Jr. delivered his annual State of the City Address to members of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce on Thursday at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond. Instead of delivering a prepared speech, McDermott spoke on a broad range of topics presented to him by Chamber Executive Director Dave Ryan.
“This is a wonderful event. This is our largest crowd ever. He has surpassed Governor Daniels and Governor Pence as far as crowds at our events. There are almost 400 people here today. We’ll talk discuss economic development projects, the board of works, and public safety today,” Dave Ryan, Executive Director of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce Chamber explained. “We go through a lot of topics and start at the top and go all the way down and see what’s going on. It’s always a fun time.”
Mayor McDermott thanked and welcomed councilmen individually for coming, and went on to thank all of the department heads in Hammond. The mayor, who presides over the 5th largest city in Indiana, has been in office since 2004. He is the longest serving mayor in Hammond’s history. The mayor began by speaking about Hammond’s plan to fight crime using license plate reader cameras. The cameras will help protect Hammond by constantly sending information to the police department.
“They gobble up information, it’ll say that you left Hammond, and keeps tabs on you. Under the proposal, we’ll get 33 cameras for our Hammond border. This package includes two cars that drive around and gobble up information. It would literally alert the officer if that car is stolen, or that one is part of a crime, or otherwise needs attention.”
Mayor McDermott also spoke about upcoming projects, safety, and quality of life in City of Hammond, along with how he has high hopes for America.
“If you take away the traffic in a neighborhood, and take away the bad guys, crimes go down,” he said, about his decision to build higher curbs in some neighborhoods.
Mayor McDermott even spoke a little about his life after doing wonderful things in Hammond.
“I’d love to run for higher office one day. The thing that is great about being mayor, is that if you have a great city council like I do, can work together to see great things happen,” he stated.
At the end of the event, The Venue presented Mayor McDermott with his own performer plaque, just like all of the great artist’s who have performed on the same stage.
On behalf of the City of Hammond, we’d like to thank Ray Escamilla, on live stream video, Jake Jacobs on stills, and John Vesmar, multimedia coordinator for recording and photographing the event.
For more information on the City of Hammond, click here.
