There can be no doubt of the vital importance of the development of our waterfront as a critical linchpin in Buffalo's future growth and prosperity. Just as Buffalo's founding and much of our past glory was traceable to the use of our waterfront, so too will Buffalo's future be built upon it.
Everyone in this community and this region is indebted to the diligence and dedication of the Horizons Waterfront Commission which has focused regional attention and brought keen minds to bear on the challenge of how best to develop one of our major assets. While my administration has disagreed with Tom Blanchard and his fine staff on some detail, we always respected and admired the fine work and professionalism of his team. Their collective contribution to our work will make success much more attainable.
But given the climate in Washington and Albany as we convene, it becomes increasingly apparent that we must proceed with doable plans today to leverage more private investment tomorrow. We can build infrastructure. We can create a context for growth. We can catalyze private investor confidence. It is not, however, productive to believe that public funds alone will create the dynamic new look on our waterfront that will make Buffalo a viable, vital destination for tourists and residents alike. For all the past planning, creativity, imagination, and innovation, we were never presented with a plan to fund those dreams. If this work is to proceed, it must focus on real time, attainable goals that can lead us to where we want to be in the future. It must lay the groundwork for private developers to make translate our dreams into reality. I know that will happen. The experience of other North American cities tell us that people will shop, live, recreate, and visit waterfront destinations. It will happen in Buffalo with the proper mix of public and private leadership.
It is for this purpose that I have reconstituted the DDI team and it is their primary mission to crystallize the elements that have provided so much promise but delivered so few results for the past three decades. We will not squander the work or the experience of Horizons in our progress, but rather pledge to build on it and learn from it as we go on. Your job will be to identify the proper mix of retail, commercial, residential, and recreational activities that will generate the confidence essential to the public-private partnerships we seek.
I recognize that our strategy must be long term ... that waterfront redevelopment will be a work-in-progress for sometime to come. However, we don't have much time to begin this important work. We know that the Crossroads Arena will be coming on line in just two years. We must be prepared by then to present a new, fresh, energetic face to each of the two plus million people we can expect to be drawn to the new facility in the first years of its operation. We squander an once-in-a- lifetime opportunity if we have not seized this important moment.
While your work will be challenging, your path toward our aims has already been charted by Horizons. Buffalo and the region are relying on you to give form to our ideas, substance to our hopes, and life to our dreams.
Good Luck and Godspeed.