State of the City addresses in Boston and beyond

Mayor Menino's State of the City address is now online (press release, complete speech). There isn't much specific relevant to Allston/Brighton other than his recognition of Brighton High's championship football team. Most of the speech concentrates on achievements from last year. The forward-looking items include:

• His insistence that a new contract for Boston firefighters must include random drug and alcohol testing (for more on this subject see this week's edition of Radio Boston and this letter in today's Globe from the Mass ACLU)
• New recycling bins and single stream recycling so we can put all of our recyclables (glass, plastic, paper, etc) together without any sorting.
• New bike lanes on Comm Ave between Kenmore Square and the BU Bridge
• New arts programming and extended hours at community centers
• Doubling the number of Advanced Placement classes in Boston high schools over the next five years
• International Baccalaureate programs at two of Boston's non-exam schools
• A review of the Boston Public Schools zone-assignment and transportation plan

Mayors all over the country are giving State of the City and Inaugural Addresses at this time of year. Below are links to what a few other big-city mayors are saying:

• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg - press release, speech
• San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom - speech
• Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter - speech
• Portland, OR Mayor Tom Potter - speech