I want to thank our sponsor and host the Coca-Cola Company and CEO and President, Neville Isdell and Ingrid Saunders Jones for their continued support of this breakfast and of Atlanta. They are a great corporate citizen and we appreciate their partnership.
I would also like to acknowledge our City Council Members who are present this morning, if they would please stand.
The Cabinet members who are present, would you please stand.
There are also more than 8,000 City employees who help provide services day-to-day to our growing number of residents and I want to thank them for their tireless efforts.
One of our greatest assets is the many corporate partners who lend their technical expertise, experience and resources in helping the City of Atlanta fulfill its mission and the City of Atlanta couldn’t possibly implement all the programs and initiatives we have so we depend on hundreds of committed and dedicated volunteers who serve on over two dozen boards and task forces.
I would like thank some of the key organizations. The Atlanta Committee for Progress and its Chair Phil Human, that support and counsel the Mayor on economic development, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and its chairman, Dick Anderson from AT&T, and finally Central Atlanta Progress, chaired by Phil Kent of Turner Broadcasting. I ask the board members and staff from each organization to stand for acknowledgement.
I would like to acknowledgement the tremendous pro-bono support the city of Atlanta receives from the Boston Consulting Company and Bain & Company.
Thank you to all of you.
Today, I’d also like to recognize the generous people who gave their time and resources to help keep the personal papers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. here in Atlanta. Many of you are here with us this morning. Let’s all show our appreciation for you.
And the 11 days of round-the-clock work to secure the King Papers remind us of the spirit and “willful intent” of what Atlantans can accomplish when we work together …there is absolutely nothing we can’t do.
Having the Collection here, in Dr. King’s hometown is a big step toward our embracing the history of our city and state.
All of us should be very proud of what we’ve accomplished – together – not just for the acquisition of the King Collection but what we have done in the past five years:
We passed and live by tough ethics legislation, balanced the budget – with five consecutive surplus years – and streamlined operations to make our government work, effectively and efficiently and upgraded and improved daily services.
We secured the first phase of the $3 billion in funding needed to upgrade our aging sewer and water system. This was a challenge no one thought could be met. But we did meet it, and today we are cleaning up our water.
We built and opened the fifth runway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport – on time, and on budget. It’s the largest public works project in the history of our state and funded parks and greenspace.
We launched major initiatives in public safety, homelessness, education – all of which are showing measurable results. On the table you will find the first Economic Development Report.
Crime is down, so much that our city is dropping off the list of the 20 most dangerous cities, thanks to Police Chief Richard Pennington, Assistant Chief Dreher and the City of Atlanta Police. I’d like Chief Pennington and all police officers in attendance to please stand, so we can express our appreciation to them.
Crime is down, so much that in five years our city has dropped from number one and number two on the 20 most dangerous cities list to number 17.
Atlanta’s public schools are on track to reach best in class status by 2014 due in large part to the leadership of Dr. Beverly Hall and the board of education. Dr. Hall, would you please stand, along with all members of the Board of Education who are here this morning, so we might celebrate your accomplishment – and pledge our continued partnership.
We have made tremendous progress these last five years but now we’re dreaming big in Atlanta …
Thanks to you, we’re generating widespread support for major initiatives like the BeltLine project … Brand Atlanta … and the Peachtree Corridor Initiative, and arts and cultural funding.
We’re growing 50 percent faster than population projections. Remember, we lost 80,000 people between 1970 and 2000. In the last five years, we’ve gained 67,000 residents; people who have chosen to live and work in Atlanta have reversed a negative trend.
Today’s headline is the state of our city is strong and stable.
The question is:
Do we relax and enjoy the scenery – or do we pedal faster to accelerate our momentum?
Do we take it easy… or do we take full advantage of the historic partnerships and work to make Atlanta a true “Best in Class” city?
Thirty years ago, in 1977, Atlanta looked much different than it does today.
So, what will our city look like 30 years from now?
I imagine the Atlanta of 2040 to be unparalleled among U.S. cities with superior police and fire protection, excellent schools, clean water, and better transportation solutions.
I imagine a city that has more parks and green space, encouraging people to be outdoors, enjoying active and healthy lifestyles.
I imagine Atlanta as a community where no one is homeless, and where the people who work in the city – can afford to live in the city.
I imagine an Atlanta that is a global destination for people who seek to better understand – and advance – human ideals and human rights.
How do you imagine Atlanta in 30 years?
What does it look like? Do you see what I see?
Together we can build a foundation for the Atlanta beyond our imagination.
Last week, during the state of the city address to the City Council, I said we needed to look seriously at increasing our annual budget by as much as $250 million.
At first glance, such a figure may seem out of reach, just as balancing the budget and fixing the sewers once seemed out of reach. But like those projects, our city budget must reflect the reality of our true needs in public safety, waste management, public works, technology, parks maintenance, arts and other city services. We must improve our credit rating and pension standing. And our budget must provide investment for growth and jobs; by strengthening economic development, community engagement and planning.
Serious consideration of Atlanta’s future requires serious and thoughtful financial thinking today. City government can’t do it alone….it will take all of us working together to achieve the Atlanta we imagine, the Atlanta of our dreams.
Let’s get started:
Atlanta needs your support of the Gateway Center. The Center serves hundreds of men, women and children each day, connecting them with services that provide each person in need a hand up, not a handout …so that they might realize their dreams of prosperous and productive lives contributing to the success of our city. Dozens of community-based organizations stretch their resources to serve those who are homeless or who are living in poverty.
While the Gateway Center and other service providers have received tremendous support from private and institutional donors … and while the partnership with United Way and The Atlanta Union Mission have advanced our cause,
more funding and new partnerships with local and state government are needed to accelerate the elimination of chronic homelessness in our city.
We can’t be shy about asking for you help. Please allocate some of your charitable dollars to the Gateway Center and programs, to address homelessness.
Atlanta needs your support to make affordable workforce housing a reality. If you work in the city, it shouldn’t be financially impossible to live in the city. Soon, I will propose a $75 million bond as a first infusion of capital for an Affordable Workforce Housing trust fund. [ Ron Terwilliger and Renee Glover estimate this fund must ultimately be in the $1-2 billion range ]. I encourage all of you to lend your vocal support to this bond issue.
Atlanta needs your support to continue our progress on the BeltLine. Our city has passed a $100 million bond for greenspace, half of which will be used to purchase land for the BeltLine … and by passing the Tax Allocation Districts.
On Thursday, we will kick off a $60 million philanthropic BeltLine Capital campaign to continue this project. Every dollar will count.
For the BeltLine to succeed, this philanthropic campaign must succeed. Our city is fortunate to have four visionary and hard-working individuals driving this effort, and I’d like to acknowledge them now – Terri Montague, Ray Weeks, Jim Kennedy, Cal Darden, Phil Kent and Herman Russell. Would you please stand? Fully developed, the Beltline will transform Atlanta for the future.
Finally, Atlanta needs your support to build the Civil & Human Rights Center. This center along with the King Center will tell the story of Atlanta and the many men and women who dedicated their lives that we might live in a fairer and just world.
Just as we collected dimes for the March of Dimes in the 1950’s … Just as we collected dimes for the March of Dimes in the 1950’s or contributed our quarters to saving the Fox in the 1970’s or bought bricks in Centennial Park in the 1990’s.
I am asking Atlanta to help us build this Center, to complete the acquisition campaign for the King collection and to make the center an authentic experience.
We can build this center with your help just as Atlantans in the 1944 funded the USS Atlanta. During World War II, the USS Atlanta was sunk in the Pacific Ocean after the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, one of the most brutal and chaotic naval battles of the war. For more than 12 hours, the Atlanta sustained 49 shells and a torpedo. Many of the 172 who died on that ship were from our city.
Almost right away, the people of Atlanta initiated a war bond campaign to help fund a new USS Atlanta. They bought $165 million in war bonds, a staggering figure in 1943.
But they did it – and in February 1944, a new USS Atlanta set sail for Okinawa, Japan to support the U.S. Navy’s campaign there.
They used their “willful intent” to make a mark on history.
There is nothing we can’t accomplish when we work together. Atlanta has had moments of opportunity… the people of Atlanta have pulled together to achieve the impossible.
Atlanta as a an aviation center and now in 2007 our airport is a catalyst fro nearly $20 billion in economic activity and is the world’s busiest and one of the most efficient and safest.
In the early 1960’s the desegregation of public accommodations of Atlanta and Georgia led by Spelman College sisters joined by students from the Atlanta University Center changed the face of Atlanta and established the role of young people in making history in the city…..
The Olympics ushered in the new century…. Bringing the city to the world stage for 21 days. When it was just an idea in the mid-1980s, few very people took Atlanta seriously. But think about where we would be if the Olympics never happened.
Imagine Atlanta without the Olympics,……or the Civil Rights movement….or Turner Field … or Georgia Aquarium … or Hartsfield-Jackson airport…….. or universities or colleges…..For what will we -- you and I – be remembered 30 years from now?
As we continue our journey, Atlanta is making history again.
President Lincoln challenged the nation in his second inaugural address with words that challenge us today. “Let us strive to finish the work we are in”.
Are you ready to make history?
Thank you.