Good Afternoon
"History will never accept difficulties as an excuse........after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit."
These words by John F Kennedy capture the spirit of the times.
When you begin your eighth year in your second term as Mayor, there is a tendency to be reflective. I can recall the end of Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young's terms as Mayor and others in the audience will recall the end of Hartsfield, Allen, Massell and Campbell terms in office or the end of another era.
At this point in time we are reminded of the recent and distant past. We remember how far we have come. All the while knowing how far we have to go. Mayor Allen said in the 1960's that, “Atlanta is on the threshold of greatness, but has a long way to go.” That's how I feel today. AS much as we have accomplished we have many more mountains to climb.
As important as any one person's contributions may be to the success of the City at any point in history; I believe it is the team effort that has mattered most.
I thank the Council for supporting most of the bold initiatives of my administration. I thank the Cabinet, city employees, the residents and investors who have brought their Best Game to the table each and every day.
We have faced challenges of one kind or another since day one of my term. I have made every effort to tackle these challenges and to seize the opportunities -openly and directly. At the same time I have tried not to get distracted from my long –term goal for this city: which is to leave future mayors, a City that is honest, efficient, safe and financially secure.
While I firmly believe it is critical that we keep our focus on the challenges that lie ahead, we can only be successful in meeting those challenges if we understand where we came from and how we stayed the course in difficult times.
There is no question that our City is better today than it has been in years. We have made progress in improving the delivery of municipal services, upgrading and enhancing infrastructure, promoting transparent and fair business practices, advocating high ethical standards and upgrading employee compensation, training and investment. While it may seem that the light is a little dimmer today due to the recession and financial challenges we face as a nation and as a city---Atlanta’s future is a bright one.
“Atlanta is on the threshold of greatness, but has a long way to go.”
Maynard used to say Atlanta's story was a tale of two cities and Andy espoused Atlanta's unique social capitalism model as its gift to America and to the world.........
Today Atlanta and metropolitan Atlanta have the chance to advance the successful social and business models of the past, to build on our inherited advantages and to build on the investment made by the people who live here, who work here, who study here, who own and operate businesses here... those who deliver the services, who care for the elderly, the needy, who teach and care for our children and who lead in our neighborhoods and in the boardrooms.
Until everyone is engaged or everyone has a fair chance to prosper in our city our work is not done.
To paraphrase Allen.... Atlanta is on the threshold of greatness.... but it has a long way to go and many "riches" to offer a new generation.
Every month 1,000 new Atlantans join our City. An expanded Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport is here to greet them and to keep them connected to a world beyond our borders.
They encounter a City that is safer than it has been for decades. Beneath their feet lies miles of new pipes that keep their water clean. They can enjoy the nearly 1,200 acres of new parks and greenspace recently added to our parks system.
A diverse array of historical neighborhoods – many just minutes from downtown – offers them an urban experience few cities can match. Soon a network of trails and parks - the BeltLine - will link them together to form what will surely be one of the greatest urban amenities in the country. New residents will find a revitalized urban core with great sports teams, exciting cultural attractions, world class colleges and universities, diverse and exciting neighborhoods.
But at the end of the day, folks are moving to Atlanta because the city offers them a chance to pursue their dreams.
Atlanta is an ideal place to attend school, to launch a business, to start a family, or even to retire and enjoy the benefits of urban living. Those are the reasons we have Cities. Hundreds of people from all walks of life contribute to the vibrancy of the city.
As we "stand at the threshold of greatness"
We must look beyond the next term....beyond the comfortable next step....and open our minds to the great possibilities of the future.
We can't wait until 2030 to build our infrastructure, to offer access to a first- class education to every child and every adult, to market our city, to invest in economic and community development, to build parks or to invest in creative industries of the future.....
The success of the national economy is dependent on the health and success of the towns and cities across America. Cities are where most people live and work, where fortunes are made that fuel philanthropy, where dreams become true.....
The success stories of our time include Robert (Spano), Jermaine (Dupri), Susan (Booth), Clifford (Harris), India (Arie), Chris (Bridges), Jane (Fonda) Pearl (Cleage), Amy (Ray) and Emily (Saliers), Usher (Raymond), Tom (Key), Antwan (Patton), and Tyler (Perry)
The success stories of our time include corporate giants, Fortune 1000 companies in our midst and the incredible community-based programs like United Way, Hosea Feed the Hungry, Atlanta Community Food Bank, AID Atlanta, Habitat for Humanity, Odyssey Family Counseling Center and hundreds of others that provide social and education access to thousands in need.
Our success stories include the stories of thousands of city employees who dedicate their talents and skills everyday in serving those who live, work and visit our city.
Our future as a city and as a region depends on the success of each segment of our city- government, business, education and social sectors.
No one sector can insure our economic health and community success. Our future success as a city depends on our willingness to remember the past while forging new partnerships and alliances, leaving no one behind or out in the cold.
We cannot repeat the divisiveness that led to the truncated success of MARTA or the inadequate maintenance of our aging water infrastructure. We cannot afford to be limited by our fear of each other or the limits of our politics. Working together creatively—we are more than the sum of our parts....... We can scale higher mountains and overcome larger obstacles.
We can recount the past and typically in a State of the City address we do.......Our accomplishments build on those of previous administrations and lay the foundation for the next one......
In 2002, we started with Ethics reform because the public demanded and deserved transparency and we owed them accountability and honesty.
We created greater transparency and honest government through stringent ethics reform by
Creating Mayor’s Task Force on Ethics which--
Appointed Board of Ethics
Banned all gifts and gratuities
Prohibited the earning of outside income for senior government officials
Banned the receipt of speaker’s fees and honoraria
Required the disclosure of income and assets
Appointed an Ethics Officer
Established an Ethics Hotline
We also
- Created a Civilian Review Board to review APD complaints
- Created ATLStat to establish performance targets and track progress for City services
- Redesigned employee performance evaluation process and increased percentage of employees evaluated from 79 % to 91% annually
We improved the efficiency of services across city government
- In 2002 Bain Consulting worked with us to develop a Turnaround Plan for the City and 95% of the plan has been implemented
- We streamlined City operations and improved employee per capita by 25%
- Hired new management team based on national talent searches
- Realized over $100 million in operating savings
- Consolidated the courts system and reduced operating expenses by $20 million
- Reduced support departments by 15%
- Re-engineered fleet management services and achieved best-in-class cost targets
- Reorganized 12 departments
- Reduced Solid Waste Services costs by $10 million and established SWS as a stand-alone enterprise fund
- Created a 21st century technology platform and implemented the Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning system
The quality of life improvements over the past eight years include:
- Total number of major crimes down by over 10%, crime rate (crimes/pop) down by over 24%
- Dropped from second to 15 in national city crime rankings
- Added over 300 sworn police staff
- Implemented recommendations of Linder Commission including a reorganization of all crime fighting operations
- Achieved police and Fire department accreditation
- Our plan to end homelessness helped to establish the Commission on Homelessness and implemented recommendations across eight jurisdictions
- Launched anti-panhandling campaign for downtown
- Hired General Growth Properties to manage public vending program
- Established Regional Arts Task Force to establish plan for making Atlanta a premier arts destination
- In 2006 the City began its sustainability efforts by focusing on government operations and policies – promoting what we were already doing, identifying what we can do better, and implementing what we need to be doing to be more sustainable.
And of course we have invested in public infrastructure by
- Implementing $6 billion HJAIA Expansion
- Successfully completed the 5th runaway and major upgrade of terminal facilities
- And we are on target for completion of new car rental facility
We have invested $200 million in new public facilities
- Public Safety Headquarters
- Public Safety Annex
- 911 Call Center
- Government Center Parking Deck
- We have expanded the City’s parks and greenspace since 2001 by 37% through the addition of 1179 acres
- Adopted new parks maintenance standards
- Renovated 11 recreations center facilities, 45 ball fields, 9 pools and opened 3 new centers (Adamsville, Washington Park Natatorium and Washington Park Tennis Center)
- Implemented Cultural Experience Program with Atlanta Public School system exposing over 20,000 students a year to curriculum approved cultural experiences from Kindergarten through 12th grade.
And as the sewer Mayor, I have to talk about Clean Water
- We re-established control over the drinking water system; no Safe Drinking Water Act violations since
- Repairing more than 700 leaks a month; a 10-fold increase since 2001
- Completed the replacement and outfitting of more than 100,000 residential and commercial meters with automated meter reading technology. The remaining 50,000 meters will be completed by the end of July, 2009.
- Full compliance with the two wastewater consent decrees and the State drinking water consent order.
- Work on the CSO Consent Decree was completed in November 2008.
- In 2004, Atlanta voters overwhelmingly approved a one-cent Municipal Option Sales Tax, with proceeds going toward the $4 billion Clean Water Atlanta infrastructure overhaul; and then overwhelmingly reauthorized the tax in 2008 for another 4 years.
- Since the inception of our grease management program, we have kept 31 million gallons of grease out of our sewer system.
- We have reduced hold time in our customer call center for customers from over 40 minutes in 2001 to under one minute.
- Replaced about 100 miles of water mains
- Inspected 1,200 miles of sewer pipe and repaired 300 miles.
- More than 21 miles of previously combined sewers have been separated
- Purchased about 2,000 acres of greenways to protect approximately 23 miles of stream banks in perpetuity.
- Reduced sanitary sewer spills from 1,000 in 2001 to 305 in 2008.
Some of our goals were thought to be beyond our reach but we stretched to reach new high standards and goals not out of a sense of competition but rather because the times demanded more aggressive goals.....If the city was to reposition itself as a forward looking, as a trendsetter, as a reliable and responsive government then we had to reach higher and take the risk of falling short. In many areas we didn't fall short; we hit our targets squarely.
As the English poet and essayist Samuel Johnson once said, “The future is purchased by the present.”
And we have invested in Atlanta’s future through innovative projects like the…
BeltLine
- Created the BeltLine Redevelopment Plan, the BeltLine Tax Allocation District and Atlanta BeltLine Inc
- Acquired the 138-acre Bellwood Quarry to become a drinking water reservoir and centerpiece of what will be one of the largest parks in Atlanta
- Acquired over 300 acres for BeltLine greenspace, trails and parks
- Received MARTA approval for the 22-mile loop of the BeltLine and a light rail mode of transit
- Opened the first segment of BeltLine trail in the West End
- Broke ground on Historic Fourth Ward Park
- Provided $8.8M million to fund BeltLine Affordable Housing Trust Fund
- Acquired 20% of the BeltLine Right of Way for Transit and Trails
Connect Atlanta Plan
- Created the first Transportation Master Plan for the City
- Identified $6 billion in transportation investments over the next 20 years
- Peachtree Streetcar and
- Developed a feasibility study for the re-introduction of street cars in the City
Atlanta has long been recognized as a city for the promotion and protection of Human Rights. From the legacy of the Civil Rights movement, to the 1960 Appeal for Human Rights written by the student leaders from Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, Atlanta University and ITC—the world looks to Atlanta to lead on issues of Human Rights.
This year the Center for Civil & Human Rights is scheduled to break ground at Pemberton Place and will commemorate the landmark contributions of Atlantans and Georgians to the historic struggle for freedom and equality. The planned 100,000-square-foot Center will be LEED-certified and feature exhibition, meeting, performance, dining, and retail space.
Over the course of its first 10 years in operation, the Center is projected to generate $1.3 billion in economic impact for Atlanta and an estimated $50 million in tax revenue for the city and the state with over 800,000 visitors. It will create 1,150 sustainable jobs on top of 1,550 temporary construction and supporting jobs generated during two years of construction.
And finally I have to acknowledge the success we have had with our human service and community partners in addressing homelessness in metro Atlanta.
The Regional Commission on Homelessness continues to focus on: (1) ending chronic homelessness within 10 years, (2) preventing homelessness and (3) creating a more responsive system for the temporarily homeless, is proving to be effective.
We used the regional approach to bring 8 Jurisdictions together to begin to address long-term homeless issues in metro Atlanta
- $22 million in ADA bond funds for capital to develop housing with support and assessment centers.
- Raised over $30 million from private funders
- Created centralized case management system through the Gateway 24-7 Center
- Partnered to successfully lead and coordinate effort to obtain over 300 housing units upon turnover of Fort McPherson.
- Developing partnership with Veteran’s Administration to support effort to provide housing and services to veterans
- Reunified over 8,000 persons
- Served over 6,000 persons at the Gateway each year
- Provided employment for over 1,200 homeless persons through our partners in the last 2 years
All that we have accomplished is just the beginning of what this city must do to succeed in the rapidly growing and changing global economy.....to pay tribute to those on whose shoulders we stand.....
Let's not waste this new opportunity in the second decade of the 21st century....
In the tradition of Harriet Tubman let's seize the time and wrestle doubts to the ground, pushing the envelope not just for ourselves but for the city and people we love and the generations who will follow....
Sir Winston Churchill, Speech in November 1942
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Thank you