To mark the midpoint of his first term at the helm of the city of Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh spoke with confidence about his administration's achievements and plans for two issues that bedevil urban mechanics nationwide: city schools and safe streets.

Walsh said homicides have fallen to a 16-year low and other categories of crime are down, all while avoiding many of the racial tensions other cities have faced. The rate that Boston Police Department homicide detectives clear investigations is at 72 percent, 15 percentage points higher than similarly sized cities.

"We'll keep building trust in the community every day and we'll face up to the impact of history as well," Walsh said. "In community conversations on race and class, we're working through divisions that run deep in our city's social fabric, and we're turning this healing into real measurable change toward a more equitable city."

Walsh said at "a time of great national tension, we continue to build trust," when it comes to policing. Walsh said Boston Police have invited the community to help shape the city's antiviolence strategy.

"It’s making a difference," Walsh said, noting that Boston police took almost 800 guns off the street in 2015. "Violent crime is down 3 percent over last year, with property crime down ten percent. Major crime is down nine percent."

"All the while, arrests dropped by 15 percent as well," Walsh said. "What that means is we are becoming a safer city not by locking people up, but by lifting people up."

Walsh is prepared to take a new tack to combat some of the economic pressures that can add to that conflict between a city's races and classes. To that end, Walsh said he will create a task force to study whether Boston should adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage.

A study released last week by the Brookings Institution said Boston has the highest levels of income inequality in the country—something Walsh intends take on.

But with nonfatal shootings up slightly higher than last year, Walsh said the city can't let up on its vigilance.

"It’s not just a city problem," he said. "It’s America’s problem. Two weeks ago I went to Washington and stood with the president, as he unveiled new steps to keep guns out of criminal hands."

Protesters greeted the city and state bigwigs who descended into Symphony Hall to hear Walsh. Activists against the expansion of charter schools have begun to target Walsh's openness to charters, creating the first sustained opposition to one of the mayor's major policies. Protesters picketed the hall, shouting slogans accusing Walsh of being too open to for-profit schools.

In his address, Walsh suggested what he called "fair and sustainable funding for both public and charter schools in Boston," and said the conversation around charters in the city concerns him.

"Instead of unity, too often we’ve seen schools pitted against one another, by adults," he said. "Tonight, I’m calling on everyone to come together to back all our children, all our teachers, and all our schools."

Walsh proposed "a unified enrollment system that could help families and level the playing field among schools."

The question of whether to increase the number of charter schools authorized to operate in the state will appear before voters on this November's ballot.

Walsh also plans to partner with a nonprofit that encourages better parenting skills to prepare children for kindergarten and will join other city leaders to push for more funding for early childhood education.

Walsh is entering the second half of his term, but many of his goals—like building up affordable housing and launching a massive planning effort—will take years to accomplish. Many of his administration's long-term goals are a part of the Boston 2030 initiative , the city's first major planning effort in 50 years.

And the mayor didn't pass up the opportunity to remind Bostonians that General Electric will soon relocate to the Seaport , saying that the move solidifies Boston's place in the modern economy.

"What we offered GE was less an incentive package than a cultural advantage," he said. "Innovation, education and a community that works and grows together."

Walsh made his speech at the historic Symphony Hall for the second time, a marked departure from the venue favored for decades by his predecessor Tom Menino. Compared to the 274-year-old Faneuil Hall, Boston's 115-year-old Symphony Hall is downright modern, a distinction Walsh may be trying to emphasize as Boston moves toward its own future.