This afternoon, Mayor Mike McGinn will give his annual State of the City speech in council chambers.

This will be McGinn's second state of the city speech. Here's what I had to say about McGinn's (shockingly disorganized and lackluster) inaugural speech last year:

Today’s talk didn’t just fail to rouse its audience, it didn’t accomplish its basic goal—laying out the current state of Seattle as a city and setting up a framework for moving forward.

McGinn’s speech, punctuated by numerous long pauses while he rifled through a large stack of papers, seemingly searching for his next point, focused mostly on the problems facing the city, including high unemployment; youth violence; an increase in students on free or reduced-price school lunch plans; and empty downtown office buildings and storefronts. “A lot of this can look pretty grim for our city and our future,” he said.[...]

Mostly, he hewed to his campaign stump-speech standards and promises: Ensuring that Seattle residents aren’t responsible for cost overruns on the downtown tunnel; seeking input from “the people of Seattle” about how to reduce youth violence and improve the city’s public-education system; replacing the crumbling waterfront seawall; putting light-rail expansion on the ballot within two years; building a citywide broadband system; and including high-capacity transit on any 520 bridge replacement.

Those aren’t bad goals. But they aren’t new. And the purpose of the annual State of the City speech, historically, has been to let citizens know where the city is at, where it’s going, and how the mayor plans to get there. It’s an opportunity for the mayor to outline specific policy goals for the year ahead, and to invite (or challenge) the city council to get on board. He didn’t do any of that.

In the words of one longtime city hall insider, it “seemed almost like he didn’t know the State of the City was happening today.”

I also noted that McGinn "didn't seem to have much of a posse." Traditionally, the mayor rallies the troops to fill council chambers during major speeches; but last year, the chambers were nearly empty.

McGinn has learned a bit about polish---and the need to put on a good show---in the year since that first disastrous outing. I expect to see a packed chambers---and an actual, prepared speech, focusing on issues like police accountability, the tunnel, the seawall, and the ongoing budget shortfall---this time around. One thing I'd like to hear, but probably won't, is how McGinn did in his first year on the goals he laid out in his initial speech---cost overruns (the city is moving ahead without the guarantees McGinn demanded); youth violence (an issue that's been pushed off the radar in recent months by the debate over police accountability); improving the education system (McGinn has proposed a new Families and Education levy but seems to have dropped the idea of taking over the schools); replacing the seawall (McGinn wants a vote in November, but the seawall will have to compete with a number of other costly measures); expanding light rail to Ballard and West Seattle (stalled); citywide broadband (nowhere); and light rail on the 520 bridge (the state says it's possible already, but McGinn disagrees).

If you can't make it to council chambers, tune in on the Seattle Channel at 2.