The future of Mount Vernon was the focus of Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard's State of the City address.

"We're moving from a decade from fixing what's broken to a decade of building what's next," said Patterson-Howard.

The mayor used the address to tout what she says are gains in infrastructure, public safety, economic development and public health.

She says violent crime is down 8% and the city went without a gun- or knife-related homicide from Oct. 2024 to Nov. 2025.

News 12 spoke with Mount Vernon residents to get their take on the current state of the city. Some said that the city hasn't reached its full potential. One concern among residents is the increasing of taxes.

"I think that our city leadership has missed so many opportunities over the years to bring some good businesses into the city, to bring sensible development here," said lifelong resident David Reich.

"Bring more stores into the City of Mount Vernon, that way we will have a big sales tax increase and so that we're not depending on the residents to fill the void, because every year the taxes are going up," said longtime resident Atif Coleman.

Patterson-Howard says a priority of hers is to expand the tax base through development, rather than raising taxes.

For development, she says the city is working to grow both development and ownership opportunities, like condos and co-ops.