Government > Mayor's Office > State Of The City

State of the City Address

Presented to the Albany Common Council on January 18, 2007

A Better Albany

Members of the Council, my beautiful wife Mary Ann, friends, honored guests and fellow citizens of Albany, thank you for joining me this evening and for allowing me the opportunity and the great privilege of sharing with you this report on the State of our City.

It is a report that outlines the significant progress we have made in our shared vision – to create the most livable, most dynamic and most desirable City in the nation – and the challenges that lie before us still in fully achieving that vision.

And so I will begin tonight by assuring you once again that the State of our City is strong and that our future is full of promise – promise for an even stronger and an even better Albany. I offer you this assessment based on the tangible evidence of just how far our City has come over the past 13 years of my administration.

In every section of our City – from our beautiful Downtown to our diverse and historic neighborhoods, new buildings have been built, new jobs created, new projects are being planned or are underway and new opportunities for a better life are being created for our citizens.

During 2006, our departments and agencies made continued progress in the areas of economic development, neighborhood revitalization, public safety and in the overall quality of life of our City – all aimed at ensuring that Albany is a desirable place to live, work, raise a family and do business.

This past November, the New York Times featured a story on our City written by a reporter who made a recent visit and was surprised by our City’s beauty and all the amenities and attractions that our City has to offer. Albany, he wrote, “far exceeds the usual expectations. It has impressive classical and modern architecture; attractive open spaces, a thriving music scene, a world-class collection of public abstract art and …. very good restaurants.”

I of course agree with all of his observations and would add – great institutions of higher learning; international centers of high technology and research; thriving and diverse neighborhoods; and more historic interest than just about any other City in the nation.

Albany has all this and more and each of you have contributed to the progress and success we have achieved as a City.

Much of that success has also resulted from the strong partnerships I have developed with local, state and national leaders. I am grateful to all of them and I am pleased tonight to tell you that I believe our new Governor, Eliot Spitzer, will be our strongest partner yet.

Even before taking office, he was anxious to discuss with me the challenges facing our City – particularly the economic and social challenges we share with other upstate urban areas and how his administration might work with us to meet those challenges.

In his State of the State address, he stated his intent to focus on ways to significantly reduce the real property tax burden our residents face. As we prepare for our own reassessment this March, this is an issue all of our real property taxpayers are keenly interested in and we applaud the Governor for making this a priority.

Likewise, the Governor is aware that the manner in which State AID to municipalities is distributed needs to be reformed – the distribution needs to be more equitable and it needs to be tied to good management practices. The Governor has also stated that he is committed to implementing other reforms including Wicks Law reform, and brownfield relief to assist our cities so that we can more effectively provide essential services to our citizens. We look forward to these reforms and to working in partnership with Governor Spitzer.

Already we are inspired by his vision, by his commitment to change and by the eloquence of his message. In his brilliant inaugural address, he stated that “We must embrace a progressive vision of government – a vision that upholds the value of individuality and community; of entrepreneurship and opportunity; of responsibility and fairness.” Government, he reminded us, must act as a “responsive force that can make possible the pursuit of prosperity and opportunity for all.”

This progressive vision of government is one I share.

On my first day as Mayor, I promised that I would “build a better Albany” by making City Hall a catalyst for change. On that day our City faced a significant budgetary deficit; stagnant if not non-existent economic development, a real property tax base that had not been reassessed in over 50 years and a population base that was rapidly diminishing.

To deal with these challenges, we put into place improved budgetary practices, we began the process of regular reassessments to protect the integrity of our tax base, we launched our first Capitalize Albany initiative, and we reformed the structure of our government so as to be able to more effectively deliver services to the residents of our City.

We’ve worked hard to fulfill the promise to build a better Albany, and I believe we have succeeded. We are a better Albany because we’ve stabilized our finances, we’ve maintained our strong bond rating (in fact in 2006 a major rating agency – Standard & Poor’s – gave the City an improved financial outlook) and we’ve increased our fund balance to over $10 million dollars.

We’ve succeeded in this regard largely because of the successful efforts to obtain and increase the State payment in lieu of taxes on the Empire State Plaza - our Section 19-a payments. For too long our Capital City suffered because so much otherwise taxable property in the City was exempt from taxation because of State and not-for-profit ownership. This of course placed an undue tax burden on the remaining property owners in the City – both business and residential. Section 19-a payments have helped to alleviate some of that burden.

During 2006 and again for 2007 through 2010 our 19-a payments will total $22,850,000. While Section 19-a payments have dramatically improved our financial outlook, expenses such as State pension payments and health insurance expenses for employees, utility expenses and the like continue to be a challenge.

In the year ahead I will lobby our new Governor and our State Legislature for a new more equitable State AID funding formula for all New York cities.

Albany, as I have argued for years, receives far less per capita State AID than other cities within the region and within the State because State AID to municipalities is distributed inequitably. Often AID to distressed cities has been awarded to municipalities as a form of bailout funding that then becomes institutionalized. Cities that have practiced sound financial management, like Albany, have not received a commensurate increase in AID.

This pattern of in effect rewarding cities that have not been financially prudent must end, and a more equitable formula must be put in place. Tonight I ask you to join me in lobbying State Government to reform the distribution of State AID to municipalities.

I ask you to join me as well in asking for a reform of the way road transportation projects are funded. Cities are at a significant disadvantage when compared to suburban and rural communities where far more road repair and maintenance is a responsibility of the State. Cities need more State assistance to deal with our aging roadways and infrastructure and to put us on a more equal footing with our suburban neighbors.

I also ask you to join me again in lobbying the State Legislature for permit parking authorization – we’ve waited too long for the ability to control parking in our neighborhoods surrounding the State Capitol – we need to make certain 2007 is the year!

We will make our case on all these issues and more, and working together we will make certain that the financial condition of our City continues to be strong. But tonight I am pleased to report that financially, there is no doubt – we are a far better Albany.

We’re a better Albany as well because of the commitment we’ve made and the resources we’ve dedicated to making our City safe. Safety has been and will always continue to be our number one priority.

During the past year our Police Department, under the leadership of a new Chief, Jim Tuffey, began the process of a major restructuring of the way police services are delivered to our community.

After extensive analysis, evaluations of past practices and broad based community input, a comprehensive plan was implemented to reorganize the Department that included a new organizational structure to provide more effective supervision, communication and accountability.

Additionally, a new proactive approach to community policing was phased in with the creation of the Strategic Deployment Unit. This approach will allow supervisors to move officers around the City on foot and on bike patrols to neighborhoods where crime has risen. The Department also continued its implementation of Operation IMPACT and further strengthened its partnerships with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

The results of the Department’s new initiatives are already evident. Tonight I am pleased to inform you that in almost every category of crime –the amount of crime in our City has dropped and in many circumstances, dropped dramatically.

Rapes are down by more than 27%; robberies down by over 11%; murders down by over 37%; burglaries down by more than 20%; motor vehicle thefts down by 32% and violent crimes down by over 5%. In fact, violent crimes involving use of a firearm decreased by 17% - the second largest decrease in that category among the 17 Operation IMPACT jurisdictions. And, later this month, on January 23^rd, I will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to attend the Mayors Against Illegal Guns National Summit which will focus on ways to improve inter-city coordination in the fight against illegal firearms. Clearly, we are headed in the right direction and the Department and I are committed to continuing this trend in crime reduction to make Albany one of the safety cities in the country.

Although we are in interest arbitration with members of the Department in reaching a union contract, and while I would have preferred a negotiated and ratified settlement, I applaud the members of the Department for their absolute professionalism and dedication to protecting our community, its citizens and visitors.

I have always stated that I believe that we have one of the finest police departments in the nation. With its new Chief, its reorganized management, its advances in information technology, communications, special operations and emergency management, there is no doubt it is today an even better Department. And because of the outstanding work of the men and women officers of the Department – there is absolutely no doubt we are today – a better Albany.