Looks like the third time's the charm.

After admitting her first two State of the City addresses dwelt almost exclusively on Houston's depressing financial situation — "I even quoted Calvin Coolidge," she sheepishly said — Mayor Annise Parker took a different tack Thursday, telling a packed audience in the Hilton-Americas ballroom to have faith in the city's ability to solve problems.

"I'm here today to tell you that we have rounded the corner on the tough times and we are on the move upward," Parker said in her annual State of the City address before the Greater Houston Partnership. "You can see it in the new starts, in the growth of the city and in the unemployment rolls. You can see it everywhere in this city."

Parker indicated that revenues have increased to the point that the budget she will submit next month will not call for any furloughs or layoffs of city employees or cuts in health services and the hours libraries and city swimming pools will be open.

"It's not a flush budget. I call it an austere budget. But it is a budget that will get things done for the city of Houston," she said.

In the 27-minute speech, Parker highlighted five areas her administration has prioritized — jobs, infrastructure, public safety, fiscal responsibility and quality of life.

She noted that Houston is the "job producing capital of the United States" and the No. 1 destination for relocation, having gained back every job lost during the recession. "No other city can claim more," she said.

She said infrastructure plans are now projected for 10 years in the future instead of five and that 30 major street repair and drainage improvement projects are underway, due to revenues from the controversial ReBuild Houston assessment on water bills.

In 2011, the murder rate was the lowest per capital in the city's history, she bragged. She also cited the "sobering center," a new facility where police will take drunk individuals to instead of jail, that will "save dollars and save lives." It will open before the end of the year, she said.

She added that the city is taking "concrete steps" to get out of the jail business — an ongoing discussion she has been having with Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia — and said she is committed to a "regional approach" to a new forensics lab.

"Despite ideas to the contrary, there is on one entity that can do this today," she said in an apparent reference to a new regional crime center approved by Harris County Commissioners Court that broke ground in the Texas Medical Center earlier this week.

She praised city employees as the "best and the hardest working in the United States," with a new attitude of customer service and professionalism. But she also promised to tackle the area of "pension security," which some city workers see as a threat to their financial well being upon retirement.

"It's at one level about math, simple math, but it is ultimately about the security of our city," Parker said.

In the area of quality of life, she touted a bond issue in the fall to support a comprehensive plan that will link the greenways and bayous of Houston.

Parker also spent a bulk of the speech talking about the city's problem-solving ability and urging a return to the faith that any obstacle can be surmounted.

"I get frustrated when I start a speech and I say, 'Houston,' and someone in the audience says, 'We have a problem' because I know that you know where that quote came from. It was 'Houston, we have a problem. Help us!' You remember that. It was 'Houston, we need you.'

"The problem wasn't in Houston. The solution was in Houston," she said to big applause. ". . . We need to catch fire again in what it means to be a Houstonian."

She said the city government is "working ever day to earn your confidence. Your job, all of you, is to have faith in Houston. The essence of Houston has always included an immense faith in the power of human ingenuity and efforts to change the natural world."