HAMPTON, Va. — On Tuesday, Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck told 13News Now his final State of the City address came with "mixed emotions."
Mayor Tuck has been in office for two terms, over eight years. Back in April, he told 13News Now he would not be running for re-election. Residents elected current Vice Mayor Jimmy Gray for the position in November.
The event took place at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton. Mayor Tuck addressed the crowd of roughly 700 for nearly an hour, highlighting the city's reduction in crime, economic developments, public school improvements, and more.
On crime, Mayor Tuck touted a significant decrease in crime compared to last year, with a 60% drop in homicides and a 42% drop in non-deadly shootings.
"I think almost every inner city is working on trying to reduce [crime]," Tuck said. "We have been at it quite some time, and I think we’re really making progress."
He also highlighted economic growth throughout Hampton, saying the city has seen a $6.5 million increase in sales tax revenue since 2016. "I cut a lot of ribbons in the last 8.5 years, including a number during COVID," Tuck told the crowd. "One thing Hampton is not seeing is a slowdown in retail spending."
In that vein, Mayor Tuck announced the opening of a new specialty grocery and garden market, coming soon downtown. He said Normand's Market will "fill a much-needed gap."
Tuck also announced the opening of a second Amazon facility in Hampton, which will employ about 125 part-time and full-time workers.
State of the City attendees also celebrated the progress of Hampton City Schools. When Tuck took office back in 2016, roughly half of the city's public schools were accredited, and the graduation rate was 90.7%. Mayor Tuck said on Tuesday: "All 29 K-12 schools are fully accredited without conditions, and our on-time graduation rate is the highest in the region and the fifth highest in the state."
Tuck said that the on-time graduation rate is now up to 97.9%.
13News Now also heard from Mayor-elect and current Vice Mayor Jimmy Gray Tuesday. He said, "We have to tell our story and there’s a lot of good things happening here. People are moving to our community."
Gray also said there's still work to be done, stating he's interested in "focusing on housing, continuing to focus on the violence reduction efforts we have in place that are really paying off. I want to continue working on those."
Watch Mayor Tuck's full State of the City address below:
