MAYOR ANTHONY M. MASIELLO
STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
BOMA LUNCHEON
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1999
Thank you tom Harmon, i am pleased to join the BOMA members to deliver my annual state of the city address.
I especially appreciate the opportunity to speak before you following the almost two weeks of continuous snowfall that has gripped our city. Notice i said gripped not paralyzed. Some of our nation's largest urban centers shut down with the prospect of impending bad weather, not here. I think the city personnel that have worked night and day to keep our city open deserve our accolades for keeping buffalo open and operating.
Now that we are entering the sixth year of my administration, i am confident our city is positioned ideally to take advantage of opportunities that will strengthen and enhance the future of buffalo.
What is central to everything we will strive for in 1999 is reconnecting our city.
Constructing our children's future
It was clear very early in our administration that a variety of actions were required to get us back on a path that would lead buffalo to a renewed position of stature among our nation's cities.
Over the past five years, my administration, in collaboration with the common council and the city comptroller, has increased funding for school books, school librarians, pre-k programs, community schools, newly constructed schools and rehabilitated school facilities.
But there is more to do.
Why not have your mayor and common council have input in negotiating labor contracts worth hundreds of millions?
Why not have your mayor select representatives to sit on the board of education helping to develop educational policy for our children?
Why not have a joint schools construction board and announce the building of at least three new schools this year?
Why can't we mandate more collaboration between our schools and social service, health care and counseling providers in our buildings?
Why not have multi-year budgeting so that parents and children can have peace of mind as to the availability of programs year to year?
Why not look at offering neighborhood schools as an option, not at the expense of, but in addition to magnet schools? Neighborhood choice where neighborhood schools have equality of resources with other schools.
My desire to pay a role in the educational welfare of our families is because we must reconnect our city with its neighborhoods, and our schools need to be the focal point of our neighborhoods once again.
Invest and grow with buffalo
With an educated workforce, a firm commitment from my administration and continued collaboration from federal and state governmental agencies and the private sector, buffalo can and will prosper well into the new millennium.
Since 1994, my administration has planned carefully to improve our city's competitive advantage, image and desirability.
In 1999, we are primed to deliver:
- This summer our inner harbors will begin construction.
- This spring we will select a development team to create the critical mass of entertainment, commerce, recreation and retail we need to maximize investment and jobs.
- The summer the Shea's buffalo expansion will be completed - opening its new life with the renowned Broadway musical phantom of the opera and it will serve along with the recently opened Irish classical theatre and new tenants of the downtown brewery and cinema complex to create an exciting nightlife in the core of downtown.
- 1999 will finalize a funding package with the county, state and city to begin construction of a world class convention center that will be the magnet for investment downtown.
- During the summer of 1999 we will complete and publish our city's masterplan - a blueprint for the future, which will outline not only our problems, but provide solutions and opportunities as we proceed into the next century.
- Also this summer we will initiate our international waterfront gateway strategy, investing in LaSalle park, Olmsted Front Park, porter avenue and Niagara street, creating a world class entrance and departure point into and out of our city. All the while stimulating the revitalization of the surrounding West Side neighborhoods.
- In 1998 we opened our unique hydroponics tomato farm and this year we will oversee greater clean-up, more investment and jobs in our brownfield reclamation initiative in the south buffalo redevelopment project.
- We are excited with our expanding biomedical research corridor and will build upon the opening of the medical inn, the expansion of Roswell park and witness the value of our investment in Biosight's creation of 75 new jobs as governor Pataki commits $5 million for the biomedical incubator project between Roswell park and the university of buffalo.
- 1999 will be the year when the University of Buffalo expands its presence and impact downtown, bringing educational, job training and skills enhancement programs to the working people of our downtown community.
- And finally, in 1999, as part of our master plan process, the greater buffalo-Niagara regional transportation council will report on how we can better use main street for vehicle traffic.
Recently, i was honored to participate in a CNN documentary that will highlight the personal achievements, both artistically and commercially, of Ani Difranco. While you may not be familiar with her music, I'm certain you've heard of her success in creating an independent recording company and keeping the business in her hometown.
It is citizens such as Ani Difranco and Jordan levy of the rights exchange inc., And the rich family of rich products, and the Jacobs family of Delaware north and Howard Zeremsky of Russer foods that have come to embody the community-wide belief and confidence in buffalo and, who could very well locate their businesses anywhere, have chosen to remain in buffalo for all of the right reasons.
A clean and green city
Since becoming mayor, my administration's goal has been to improve and enhance the quality of our city's environment. This year will witness another year in which the cleaning and greening of buffalo takes precedence in our overall environmental agenda. We should all take pride in a city that is aesthetically and environmentally pleasing.
I have directed my staff to identify resources that can be allocated to continue the reforestation of our city. Who among know that buffalo was once enviably known as the "city of elms." We will plant more trees, dig more gardens, expand more green belts and collectively restore our city's legacy of natural beauty. With the collaboration of established and dedicated "green" organizations, my administration will explore all avenues to clean and green our city. Imagine driving into buffalo on route 33 and seeing corporate sponsored gardens along the roadway. Does it seem silly? Apparently they don't think so in Toronto where the gardener expressway features just such gardens. Why not here?
As we approach the centennial celebration of the pan American exposition, it becomes increasingly apparent that we need to develop an effective strategy to preserve and protect our architectural heritage. The renewed interest in revitalizing the h. H. Richardson complex, the Delaware Asbury church, the dun building and various other architectural treasures throughout buffalo requires us to find effective and economic methods to insure their preservation and sensible reuse.
I have asked the National Trust for historic preservation, the preservation coalition and members of the real estate and development communities to join me in this endeavor. We cannot simply stop with the Darwin martin house. Rather, we must energize our entire community to protect the largest buildings and the smallest houses that remind us of who we are and what we are.
Our ties to our historic past are important, but in our effort to maintain our links to the past we cannot overlook the existing quality of life issues that make buffalo a desirable city in which to live, work and raise a family.
Our commitment to our city neighborhoods has never been stronger. In 1998 with the demolition of 600 hundred structures, we have eradicated neighborhood eyesores and literally paved the way for better, affordable housing.
We completed the first year of the home zone with the opening of the model center on sycamore and Jefferson, as well as ad. Price courts, Willert park and presidential heights.
Hundreds of new homes will be built the next two years resulting in a new East Side residential community adjacent to our downtown.
In 1999, we will continue our comprehensive housing strategy by revitalizing the Frederick Douglas towers
, The demolition of the Delevan street armory for student housing at Canisius college, the construction of 34 market-rate houses in a new development on main street and LaSalle avenue, and the conversion of the Berger's building to first class downtown housing.
We will increase our demolitions of vacant and abandoned buildings with 800 to 1,000 slated for wrecking ball, thereby insuring more development opportunities that hopefully will help in stopping suburban sprawl.
I will ask the common council for more first-time homebuyer monies to continue the stabilization of neighborhoods on the east and west sides of buffalo.
And perhaps most importantly, i will continue to lobby the governor and the state legislature for state building code modifications that will stimulate the conversion of vacant downtown buildings for urban developers.
But let's face it ladies and gentlemen, all of this accomplishments and initiatives sound good on paper, but if our citizenry do not feel safe in their respective neighborhoods; if they don't feel that the city's criminal justice system is helping them, all efforts to improve our overall quality of life will fail.
Fortunately, we have enjoyed great success not only in increased arrests, but successful prosecutions. Since 1993, violent crime in the city has decreased 40%. This accomplishment could never have been achieved without a coordinated effort including government agencies, social service providers and, most importantly, the residents of our city's neighborhoods.
I am proud of the superb effort of the men and women of our police department who, in 1998, distinguished the entire police department by:
Ü reducing criminal activity via the flex unit's diligence in the grant/ferry community. By employing strict enforcement, increased visibility and communication with a given neighborhood, this unit has done much to reconnect the police department with the citizens it serves and protects.
Ü modernizing policing efforts through the installation of mobile computer terminals in squad vehicles, instituting a computer aided dispatch and records management system, which provides more effective service to city residents.
Ü other initiatives that have reconnected neighborhoods to the police department include gang suppression units; curfew enforcement; major case squad; and the weed & seed gun abatement program.
In 1999, we will continue to realize results from the long awaited department reorganization. The planning and consensus required to finalize the reorganization project will continue to produce benefits for our residents and the police department will have in place the physical structure needed to meet the challenges faced well into the next century.
During 1999, the police department will initiate a citywide narcotics interdiction program, which will focus on street-level drug dealing throughout the city. The program will utilize narcotics detectives, district detectives, community police officers, governmental agencies and the community. In addition, two new flex units will be deployed to build upon the excellent results of the first unit's operations during 1998.
Finally, i have directed police commissioner Diina to explore the feasibility of the county assuming countywide responsibility for booking procedures and overseeing pre-arraigned prisoners.
Future prosperity for a reconnected city
All of our efforts will lead to a more livable, a more prosperous and a more attractive city. My administration has committed itself to the continuing reengineering of city government that will strengthen our goal to reconnect every facet of life in buffalo.
From our citywide reassessment, to the vitally important work of the charter revision committee to our own city department consolidation efforts, buffalo can and will be a model for revival. We have examined how other cities have succeeded or failed at similar initiatives, and i am confident we have put into place the necessary building blocks to propel our efforts toward success.
By closing the 1997-98 fiscal year with a $5.5 million surplus, we have placed $4.1 million in a reserve fund to help reduce tax rates following the reassessment. This surplus was generated from a budget that actually cut the property tax levy by $2 million!
I hope you're aware of the brokered purchasing plan the city instituted for buying natural gas that has reduced the unit price of the city's gas by approximately 20%.
1n 1999 we will continue our effort to complete the reassessment of city property values, the result of which will be bring all assessments back to market value, lowering taxes in most cases. We are also planning to address the current disparity between the shares of the total levies that are paid by residential and commercial properties.
But a reconnected and reengineered city would not be responsible if it did not continue to examine ways to consolidate services between the city and the county. I will continue to discuss the possibility of service consolidation with county executive Dennis Gorski, who shares my interest in increasing the quality of services to our citizens, but in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
Reconnecting our city is my administration's goal, but mere rhetoric won't carry us across the finish line. This is an effort that requires every citizen of our great city to pull together, to transcend economic boundaries, ethnic distinctions, racial differences and religious convictions to achieve what is essential for our common good. Great people build, inhabit and develop great cities. Buffalo is a great city! And our reconnected city will be even greater in the 21st century.
Thank you.