News Release - Mayor Richards Presents 2012 State of the City Address

City of Rochester

News Release

(Monday, April 30, 2012) – Mayor Thomas S. Richards delivered his first State of the City Address at the National Museum of Play at The Strong on Monday, saying that Rochester is stable, strong and moving forward despite expected and unexpected challenges. The Mayor’s speech—entitled “Moving Forward: Focus and Finish”—kept to the priorities the City has been focused on for the past seven years: economic development, public safety and education. The Mayor also discussed the City’s finances.

“There is much to be proud of and optimistic about our future,” the Mayor said. Significant public and private investment is occurring Downtown and in the neighborhoods. Real estate developments, infrastructure and public facility improvements, housing and business programs throughout the city totaled more than $1.7 billion over the last three years. These types of investments have led to increased city property values and the creation of a significant number of jobs, Mayor Richards said.

Many of those jobs will be available to city residents, thanks to a training program launched this year and a project labor agreement (PLA) arranged by the City, City Council, organized labor and contractors for the Midtown Rising site. Similar agreements are in place for the City School District Facilities Modernization Program and the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority’s new bus terminal.

“City residents deserve the opportunity to rebuild the city they call home,” the Mayor said. “When all that work is finally finished, those workers will have the skills and the union card to help them keep working and this is a plan worth celebrating.”

On public safety, the Mayor said that violent crime in the city is at its lowest level in 25 years, noting that the City goes beyond the core services of police, fire and 9-1-1. “Public safety is not only the cop on the street or the firefighter on the truck,” Mayor Richards said. “Recreation centers and libraries are places where children find safe and productive ways to spend time after school.”

While fires are at an all-time low, the Mayor said that the city averages about 700 structure fires per year. He said that the Department’s average response time is 4 minutes, and that for accident or EMS calls the Fire Department usually responds before an ambulance.

The Department also recently released its firefighter exam results and the City achieved its goal of increasing minority representation among the eligible pool of candidates, increasing from six percent from the exam prior to 43 percent in this exam, the Mayor said.

The Rochester Police Department’s “Policing in the Spirit of Service” initiative was highlighted for its efforts to improve community outreach, youth intervention, transparency and communications, including a new mobile app. The Mayor said that an early retirement program is helping the City avoid layoffs and increase diversity in both departments.

Mayor Richards called public safety “one of the most significant challenges we face,” and said the area comprises the City’s largest expenditure; which places it in conflict with efforts to address financial challenges. “We need to balance the need for public safety with our financial stability or we will wind up losing both,” he said.

Another significant challenge facing the city is education, Mayor Richards said, calling it “the most difficult and bedeviling.” While acknowledging the difficulties addressing the problems and the complexity of its causes, the Mayor said he cannot help but remember that fewer than half of city students make it to graduation and called for an end to adult misbehavior and the constant barrage of new ideas and programs.

“We must be dependable and stable—like adults are supposed to be,” Mayor Richards said. “Our children must be able to depend on us. At its most fundamental level, this need for dependability—for stability—should not be overcome by some debate over educational philosophy. Or by which group of adults gets to decide which philosophy is correct. It means that we pick some fundamental programs and approaches and that we stick to them.”

Mayor Richards talked about truancy, saying that the School District, the County and the City each have responsibilities and devote resources to it, but efforts are not well-coordinated. The Mayor also called for aligning common programs, facilities and expenditures among the City and the School District.

As for the City’s finances, the Mayor said that the City will not be able to meet its other challenges if it does not secure its financial future. “Our escalating governmental expense base has collided with our capacity and willingness to pay for it,” he said. The Mayor noted that the City is the provider of basic services that very few people are willing to do without. “We have fewer citizens but their needs have grown,” Mayor Richards said, noting that 43 percent of city residents under the age of 18 live in poverty.

The only source of revenue the City controls is the real estate property tax and the Mayor called it regressive and outmoded as a way to finance municipal government. School District and pension funding mandates will soon consume the City’s entire property tax revenue. The Mayor said this structural problem is worsened by the state’s provision of Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM), which he called a “largely political judgment that doesn’t reflect the needs of upstate cities.” “Simple fairness here would address our current problem,” Mayor Richards said.

“Cities will first face cultural and social bankruptcy before they encounter financial bankruptcy,” the Mayor continued. “We will be forced to cut services that make city living attractive…libraries, recreation centers, festivals and fireworks…are the sorts of things that get cut on the way to bankruptcy.” The Mayor will submit his budget proposal to City Council on May 18.

“I intend for this city to thrive,” the Mayor said. “We have challenges, but we also have resources…We have resourceful, capable people. We have educational, cultural and non-profit institutions that are the envy of any city our size. The situation and principles that I have described point to balance and change, but they do not point to pulling back. Not for our city. Not for Rochester. We need to keep on investing by focusing and finishing.”

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News Media: For more information, contact Gary Walker at 428-7405.