Home > Leadership > Mayor > State of the City Address 2010

State of the City Address 2010

Click to view video of 2010 State of the City Address

Click here to read a Message from Mayor Byron W. Brown

State of the City Address
Mayor Byron W. Brown
February 19, 2010

Thank you.

I am honored that so many people are here this afternoon for my 2010 State of the City address.

Please join me in thanking Danielle Green for her beautiful singing of our National Anthem, Reverend Cameron Miller for his inspiring Invocation and Reverend Sam Rivera for blessing our meal. I also want to acknowledge Reverend Matthew Brown who will conclude today’s State of the City with the Benediction.

And let’s also show our appreciation for the wonderful music provided today by the Hutch Tech Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Ben Boyar.

I would also like to recognize my wife Michelle and our family members who are here today. Thank you for your love and support.

Today I want to talk to you about the Buffalo we all know and love. Our city with a rich history, contemporary successes and a limitless future.

It’s the Buffalo that brings out thousands to celebrate Fourth of July on a newly revitalized waterfront; the Buffalo of thriving urban areas such as Elmwood Village and Hertel Avenue; the Buffalo of revitalized commercial districts on Seneca Street and Jefferson Avenue; and the Buffalo of remarkable architectural treasures, diverse cultural institutions, and a peerless urban parks system. Doesn’t sound too bad to me!

During my tenure as Mayor of Buffalo, my Administration has followed conservative fiscal policies, focused attention on stabilizing our city’s economy, worked to improve the quality of life for our residents and make city government more accountable to our taxpayers.

These core principles have continued to guide us, even during the most trying of times, and I come before you this afternoon to tell you that the state of our city is strong – Buffalo is making progress, moving forward, and poised for continued growth and investment.

Our city’s waterfront was once one of the most dynamic ports in the world, serving as a vital link between the nation’s agricultural markets and consumers here and abroad, but we all know how the economy shifted leaving behind a vacant waterfront.

But here’s Buffalo’s waterfront today – reborn and alive, with more development ready to energize one of our city’s greatest natural assets.

And many of you recall an era in our city’s history when our downtown’s sidewalks were filled with pedestrians and Main Street was shared by cars, buses and trolleys.

Over the past several years a variety of downtown development projects like the reopening The 700-Block of Main Street to two-way traffic, the Avant project, and the new federal courthouse have again brought new vitality and excitement to Downtown Buffalo. Future developments like the AM&A’s Warehouse Lofts, the Curtiss Building and the Genesee Gateway project will help maintain that momentum by bringing more people to live, work and play in the city’s core.

It wasn’t that long ago when a few related, but loosely connected health care facilities functioned independently between the city’s historic Fruit Belt and Allentown neighborhoods.

Now, after the commitment and dedication of several institutions and forward thinking leaders, the city’s Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has become a dynamic, united center of health care and medical research. This is the focal point of UB2020, the University at Buffalo’s long-term development effort that will bring 15,000 new students, faculty and staff to the heart of the city.

This year my Administration committed $440,000 to the Ellicott Park Project on the Medical Campus in addition to our investment of $1.1 million in Fruit Belt neighborhood infrastructure improvements and anti-crime upgrades. The funding for this came from the city’s sale of Goodrich Street to Kaleida Health, which helped pave the way for the construction of the future global vascular institute and research building.

Thanks to the support of our federal and state partners, our efforts at locations like the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park have brought in several companies such as Sonwil Distribution, which invested $15 million and opened its 300,000 square foot facility this past May, returning its operations from the suburbs into the City of Buffalo, where the company was founded 65 years ago.

Other key investments such as the opening of Kohl’s Department store in North Buffalo and the relocation of First Niagara Bank’s corporate headquarters, along with 300 employees, to the Larkin Building, signify that we have created a positive environment for investment and job creation in the city.

First Niagara Bank’s President and Chief Executive Officer John Koelmel is out-of-town, but Howard Zemsky, who led the redevelopment of the Larkin Building, is with us today and I want to recognize their efforts and shared commitment to the City of Buffalo.

As Mayor, I have strived to rework the way we do business and to make city government more accountable. I have always been willing to make necessary changes and today I am announcing a complete overhaul of the city’s zoning and economic development functions.

Buffalo’s zoning reflects the city as it existed in the 1950’s and must be modernized. Attempts have been made over the past 60 years to address issues with the Zoning Code, but these efforts have led to a patchwork system filled with internal conflict.

As promised last year, my Administration has begun the process that will lead to a comprehensive rewrite of our zoning code.

We conducted an extensive national search and we found the consultant that will bring Buffalo’s zoning code into the 21st Century.

In the coming weeks, I will ask the Buffalo Common Council to approve the nationally-recognized planning consultant from Chicago, Camiros, to redo the City Zoning Code.

This company has implemented the most current zoning techniques, such as form-based codes, in cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Baltimore. The zoning reform effort will act as the foundation for the development of a new place-based economic development strategy for Buffalo’s neighborhoods in every section of the city.

City services and investments will be integrated and focused in well defined places, whether a newly renovated school, a business corridor or similar neighborhood assets. Investments will be strategic and comprehensive. For example, housing initiatives will be paired with business development around commercial corridors. Walkable, vibrant neighborhoods will be promoted and created.

As part of this effort, we are implementing a Better Schools, Better Neighborhoods initiative that has been strongly supported by Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples, which will focus development around East High School and Martin Luther King Park.

The city cannot pursue the revitalization of a commercial corridor with façade improvements and commercial loans without considering efforts to revitalize the residential community abutting that commercial corridor. The health and sustainability of a small business depends on the health of the surrounding residential neighborhood.

That’s why today I am calling for the elimination of the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation - BERC and will unite all neighborhood revitalization efforts within the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency. There will no longer be separate agencies for commercial and residential development.

This consolidation will create one development entity empowered with the full complement of tools necessary to realize the objectives established in partnership with neighborhood residents and businesses.

BURA’s new mission will be to support neighborhood economic development that builds around our commercial cores, with a concentrated effort of housing revitalization, demolitions, infrastructure improvements and providing loans and grants to businesses to create strong neighborhoods.

This action also creates a much more visible entity with stronger oversight. In addition to my own seat on the board of the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, there are three Common Council members and two Department heads confirmed by the Common Council.

I want to thank Andrew Rudnick and Jonathan Dandes of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, along with Dennis Penman, who contributed considerable time and effort, and other community stakeholders who worked closely with my Administration to redesign and refocus how our economic development functions work.

I also want to thank the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, particularly HUD’s Regional Director Joanna Ainello and Director of Community Planning & Development Nancy Peacock, who works closely with my Administration.

HUD had identified 19 areas of concern related to the city’s Community Development Block Grant Program. I’m very pleased to announce TODAY that HUD has cleared all nineteen of these findings. This action brings to closure the findings that related to systemic issues dating back decades.

As important as these changes are to our economic development efforts so too is our continuing commitment to support and improve our residents’ quality of life.

Overall crime continues to decline in Buffalo, dropping 4% this past year and 11.1% since January 2006.

To help combat violent crime, we have added 126 new police officers and by the end of the year, 125 surveillance cameras will be in place. We will also activate this year a new Buffalo Police Department public housing police unit.

This past year:

• We removed 1,684 illegal guns
• Made109 arson arrests
• Hired 52 new firefighters, the first new class since 2002 , plus there currently are another 24 recruits are in training.

To further strengthen our successful anti-crime strategy, we will soon implement the new Neighborhood Crime Reporting Network , a new email system for block clubs to report crime. Four years ago when I entered office I said that stabilizing our city’s finances would be a top priority.

This past June, Standard & Poor’s posted its third consecutive bond upgrade for Buffalo, which is the city’s highest bond rating in over 30 years.

I want to thank City Comptroller Andy SanFilippo and his staff for working so closely and cooperatively with my Administration to help achieve this important outcome. I also thank the members of the Buffalo Common Council for their help in attaining a stronger financial footing in the city.

My Administration will continue to follow the conservative fiscal policies that have helped contribute to our current surplus. I believe, however, that a portion of this surplus must be returned to the taxpayers.

To that end, I have proposed using $15 million of this surplus to provide $5 million for residential property tax relief, $5 million for economic development, and $5 million for quality of life programs.

While I have cut residential property taxes every year for a total of 12.5%, this will provide our residents with additional property tax relief, I believe they need.

This gives us flexible funding for regionally significant projects like the Statler Towers, the Darwin Martin House, the Colored Musicians’ Club and the Broadway Market.

Also, use of the surplus will enable us to continue our efforts in improving our residents’ quality of life with funds to strengthen the city’s park system.

Since 2006, my Administration has invested over $14 million in our city parks. With parks management and operation now back in the hands of the city, it is imperative that we continue to invest in their upkeep and overall maintenance.

I also look forward to the successful completion of our negotiations with the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy on a new contract for management and operation of these historic city parks.

As important as it is to maintain our parks and provide our residents with decent, well-maintained recreational opportunities, it’s also important to support and maintain the livability of our residential neighborhoods.

Since 2006, we have demolished over 3,000 vacant structures and rehabilitated over 500 vacant housing units and I am committed to maintaining our effort to remove blight, support or residents’ investment in their homes and keep our neighborhoods strong.

This past fall, a Buffalo family was selected by ABC television to be featured on its broadcast, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Dolores Powell, a single mother of four, was chosen to receive a new home, which would be built in one week by various craftsmen and volunteers.

This episode from Buffalo proved to the nation and the world that our city and region can rally and support each other like no other community.

What started with over 5,000 volunteers coming together to build one house, ended with the improvement of over 60 additional structures.

We’re joined today by Dolores Powell and David Stapleton of David Homes, the local builder who coordinated the project and as some of you may already know, I declared that 2010 would be the year of Extreme Makeover for the City of Buffalo.

Many challenges remain before us--- but our spirit in Buffalo is strong and determined. That’s why my Administration will continue to work with organizations like the Jeremiah Partnership and PUSH Buffalo to rebuild and strengthen our neighborhoods.

We have the tools to do it.

And we have created the solid financial foundation upon which we can build a better future for our children, grandchildren and generations to come!

Let’s work together to keep building Buffalo!

God Bless you and God Bless the City of Buffalo!

Thank You!