Mayors Economic Year in Review 2015

Hi everyone, I'm Mayor Henry Parrish of the great city of Cocoa. 2015 was a year full of building on a foundation for a bright future. As we embark on 2016, I would like to take a few minutes to reflect on what I love about the great city that so many of us call home.

a commitment this year to ensure long-term safety to our residents, business owners, and visitors by investing in public safety. Equipping our first responders with additional tools they need to better protect our community was a top priority. This included four new fire vehicles and a new high-efficiency command post. We also replaced an aging fleet of police vehicles with newer cars that should take us into the next five years. We have also improved how we communicate with the public. You will notice the new entry signs throughout the city welcoming our residents and visitors. There are also two new digital message boards to keep residents and visitors informed, as well as new street signs and a new gateway sign for the Grissom Industrial Business Area. Riverfront Park received much-needed upgrades to keep up ‸ the demands of the special events that take place throughout the year, including electrical upgrades and a new roof around the rotunda. Thanks to a grant assistance from the state, we begun restoring two historic buildings.

Collins Museum of African American History, and the historic Porsche House, which will be ‸ celebrating her centennial in October of this year.

Project in partnership with Space Coast Transportation, Planning Organization, and FDOT. It is continuing the enhancements to US-1 as well as planning for the

we were one of the first communities in the area to launch a ‸ mobile app designed to make accessing city services easier and more convenient for our citizens and visitors. Over the past year we made significant investments in our regional water utility system to include a number of improvements to the water system, treatment, transmission, and distribution.

named 2015 Water Tank of the Year.

the best tank among 200 tanks throughout the country.

proudly displays three 25-foot-high American flags which supports why we are the most patriotic city in America.

also saw a rise in population to 18,313, the largest population ever for the city of Cocoa.

We nearly doubled our employee donations this year to United Way with over $15,000 in contributions. We collected approximately 8,500 pounds of food along with Rockledge to donate to the Central Florida Sharing Center. Our police department collected toys for more than 300 families in need. Cocoa firefighters collected turkeys for more than 100

In 2015,

existing businesses expanded including Tractor Supply, Project Taylor, Sugar Shack Donuts, Rocket City Retro, Pub Americana, Caribbean Breeze, and Brevard Avenue Brownstones, to name a few.

of several long-term projects including all aboard Florida, the ‸ commuter train that will link up Miami or Orlando through Cocoa.

to a property just off 95 and State Road 524. Enhancing our fire services by rehabbing and replacing our three fire stations. And fundraising is underway to replace the current Jolie Smith Center which is offering expanded services to the Diamond Square community. We will also be investing in our waterfront establishing a future mooring field, day slips, pedestrian connector under the 520 bridge and retrofitting and reopening the fishing pier. We will be updating and investing several streets in our community including

And a first in the state of Florida. Endeavor Elementary School later today will host its grand opening as a community school. This is a unique partnership between the school and other community resources with an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement. This leads to improved student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities. As you can see there are so many reasons to love the city of Cocoa and that's why we need you. My goal this year is to get the people engaged in the community and discover the