STODOLA GIVES State of the City address.

Mayor Mark Stodola billed Little Rock as a job-growing city that’s attracting new businesses in his State of the City address Wednesday.

Applause from the crowd interrupted him when he announced that the Little Rock metropolitan area’s unemployment rate of 3.6 percent is tied for the second lowest in the South. That is less than half the 2011 rate of 7.4 percent.

The mayor said Little Rock is faring better in that regard than Memphis; Atlanta; New Orleans; Nashville, Tenn.; and Tallahassee, Fla. Nationally, the city’s unemployment rate also is lower than Dallas; Fort Worth; San Antonio; Seattle; Tulsa; Kansas City, Kan., and Des Moines, Iowa.

“For too long cities have left innovation to the private sector, but I am proud to tell you that Little Rock is part of a group of cities changing that perception by implementing ‘Smart Cities’ strategies,” Stodola said. Those strategies, promoted by the Smart Cities Council, involve using technology and intelligent design to improve cities’ livability, workability and sustainability.

Stodola spoke at the newly opened West Central Community Center to a crowd of city officials, business leaders, community stakeholders and citizens.

He highlighted an effort last year by the Venture Center and Fidelity Information Services that drew 10 financial-technology startup companies from around the world to Little Rock for a 12-week program designed to accelerate their growth.

Each company received $50,000, and the top three shared an additional $500,000. Three of the companies — Pfiter, Mortgage Pier and Lumo Exchange — chose to permanently base their businesses in Little Rock. A second accelerator program is planned for this year.

In the past year, a number of companies have expanded their Little Rock operations or chosen to locate in the city, adding 750 jobs representing more than $25 million in new payroll in Little Rock in 2016, Stodola said.

Later Wednesday, Jay Chesshir, president and chief executive officer of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, touted the city’s job growth, which he attributed to public-private partnerships.

“The Little Rock Regional Chamber looks forward to a continued public/private partnership which has resulted in significant new job creation, new and expanded companies along with more than two billion in capital investment,” Chesshir said in an email.

Since the beginning of 2016, Federal Express opened a 303,000-square-foot distribution center that employees 175 people. TY Garments USA closed on a building at the Port of Little Rock to house the first Chinese company to manufacture clothing in the U.S. It’s estimated to create 400 jobs.

Sprint opened a regional headquarters in Little Rock that brought 100 jobs. A smaller company — HIA Velo — announced it would start making high-quality bicycles in the city and create 50 jobs. HIA stands for “Handmade in America.”

When talking about that company, Stodola joked that U.S. President Donald Trump — who has voiced support for products made in America — would like that acronym. But he criticized the president and federal lawmakers later in his speech, saying some of their proposals would hurt cities like Little Rock.

The Trump administration’s proposed federal budget would eliminate funding for the AmeriCorps program, which provides volunteers at minimal costs to cities. It also would cut other funding and grants for Community Oriented Policing programs, the Minority Business Development Agency and Low Income Energy Assistance.

“We cannot allow this to happen,” Stodola said. “We must urge Congress — Republicans and Democrats alike — to reject this approach and listen to cities who send billions of dollars to Washington each year.”

He said cities’ tax exemption on bonds also is threatened under the administration’s tax-overhaul plan. If that exemption is eliminated, multimillion-dollar renovation projects, like the one at the Robinson Center last year, wouldn’t happen or would cost taxpayers substantially more money, he said.

Aside from those threats at the national level, there are things Little Rock residents and leaders can focus on locally to better the city, Stodola said.

Little Rock must breed innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity if it wants to continue job growth, he said. Making the city a place where people want to live, work and raise a family plays into that.

Chesshir echoed that sentiment.

“Companies want to locate in communities and regions that are easily accessible in which people want to live, work, play and learn,” he said in an email Wednesday. “Access to talent is the primary driver for many company site location decisions. A healthy, educated and motivated workforce is a result of communities that value education, infrastructure, quality of place and are easily accessible. Little Rock has proven a willingness to invest in itself many times.”

Stodola boasted about the development of the arts in the city, the opening of the Little Rock Technology Park and the quality of public parks. Little Rock has the only nationally accredited Parks and Recreation Department in the state.

Revitalization of communities is taking place but more must be done to build a sense of pride in neighborhoods by investing in people, homes and rehabilitation of historic structures and doing away with weed lots, the mayor said.

Stodola also urged residents to vote in May to extend the Little Rock school millage. Some neighborhood activists who oppose the closure of three schools and the fact that the state makes decisions for the Little Rock School District, which lost its locally elected school board in 2015, are telling voters to reject the millage extension.

“The battles over turf, control and power need to be set aside concerning this election because it is not about the adults — it is about the children,” Stodola said. “This vote is simply to extend the current bond extension, which will raise $160 million without a tax increase for long-overdue upgrades to every school in the district including a new Southwest Little Rock High School. Our children deserve this, and we as adults need to deliver.”

“When schools do well, the community does well. It really, really matters,” he said.