Mayor’s 2010 State of the City Address

Good Morning…and welcome to the Hippodrome State Theatre for the 2010 State of the City Address, my last as Gainesville’s mayor. This is such a wonderful venue and I want to again thank the Hippodrome staff for their wonderful support of this event. This is the third State of the City Address that we have held here, and two of my four swearing-in ceremonies were hosted here as well. Each of these milestones is among the many warm memories of my service that I feel grateful for. I thank you for the opportunity to have had the best job in the world, being mayor of my hometown.

On behalf of the Gainesville City Commission and our staff leadership team, I’d like to report on the progress of our journey toward a more sustainable municipal government and on our city’s international leadership in creating a better vision for green cities of tomorrow! And perhaps more importantly, leave you with a few thoughts about the Gainesville we want.

I want to recognize and appreciate the hard work and commitment of my colleagues, Mayor Pro Tem Sherwin Henry, and City Commissioners Craig Lowe, Jack Donovan, Jeanna Mastrodicasa, Thomas Hawkins and Lauren Poe. Together, I believe this Commission and our staff have balanced the urgency of meeting daily needs with the excitement of planning and investing in a more prosperous and inclusive future that provides an even higher quality of life in this great city. During difficult times we must embrace change in a positive and proactive way, and do our best to create opportunity from crisis. As our nation’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams, penned, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

I wish to also thank and recognize the service of all of the city charter officers, City Manager Russ Blackburn, GRU General Manager Bob Hunzinger, City Attorney Marion Radson, Clerk of the Commission Kurt Lannon, City Auditor Brent Godshalk and our new Equal Opportunity Director Cecil Howard … along with their respective departments and office staff. I am grateful especially to the citizens who took the time to participate this morning.

Your contributions to the fabric of our community are vitally important to the health of our city. Thank you for your service: on various city boards and committees; in our neighborhoods and businesses; to our children; to our senior citizens; helping the sick, abused and disabled; in support of our homeless and poor; and on behalf of the cultural arts, educational institutions and natural environment that so enrich our daily lives. Please take a moment to applaud your combined efforts toward making our community a better place to live.

In keeping with our community’s passion for the arts, the city conducted our first annual Gainesville photography contest this year entitled The Gainesville Way of Life! More that 280 photographs depicting views of life in Gainesville today were submitted by people whose qualifications ranged from accomplished photographer to absolute novice. Through a rigorous judging process, 20 award- winning photographs were selected to create the exhibition now hanging in the Hippodrome Art Gallery, just outside this theater. If you have not done so, I urge you to spend a few minutes viewing the fine work of these talented artists.

This morning I have the pleasure of unveiling this year’s grand prize winning photograph submitted by Hugo Cruz, and entitled “The Clock Tower #2.” The photographs of contest finalists and semi-finalists are also featured throughout the 2009 Citizen’s Report and are available to you as downloadable calendars on our city Web site.

In keeping with recent tradition, we are publicly releasing our annual Citizen’s Report simultaneously with today’s address. The theme of this year’s report is “Connecting Community…” My letter to you in the report touches on the ideal expressed in the familiar African proverb which states that “it takes a village to raise a child.”

Each of us carries an obligation to take individual responsibility for our community’s quality of life and to nourish our shared dreams and plans for the future. The first step is to understand the kind of Gainesville that we want. That is the prism through which we have reviewed our progress in 2009 and face our continuing challenges.

Last year, I indicated that city government would focus its efforts on the three Es: environment, equity and economy or, more specifically, enhancing our environmental stewardship, increasing our human capital and ensuring our fiscal sustainability. We have made progress in a few key projects, programs and activities that point the way forward toward the kind of Gainesville that we as a community say that we want.

In 2009, city government experienced considerable declines in most of our major revenue sources. We experienced a lowered rate of growth, or flattening, of GRU’s transfer to general government, falling property values and reductions in sales tax revenue. These factors led to an initially projected 7.3 million dollar deficit in the FY 2010 budget. Fortunately, our staff, commission and citizens worked together to adopt a balanced budget without substantial service level reductions, layoffs, or significant increases in revenue. Here are some of the ways that we did it.

Let’s begin by considering the role that our municipal utility plays in fiscal and environmental stewardship. Under the leadership of General Manager Bob Hunzinger, GRU continued a balanced approach to innovative solutions that meet our community’s long-term needs with a focus on energy-efficiency programs to reduce demand and help customers lower their bills. As a result of aggressive rebate programs and educational efforts, GRU residential customers now use about one-third less electricity than customers across the state of . In fiscal year 2009, another 4,300 customers participated in these programs, bringing the total annual energy savings to more than 50,000 megawatt hours― that’s the amount of energy needed to power about 5,100 homes. These savings add up to $6.8 million a year on customers’ energy bills. Overall, more than 10,000 of our utility’s nearly 90,000 electric customers have participated in energy saving incentives, rebates or grants.

The utility also launched several renewable energy initiatives that will promote energy independence, add diversity to the fuel supply and shield customers from anticipated fossil-fuel price increases.

In March, GRU became the first utility in the nation to offer a solar photovoltaic feed-in-tariff. The program offers businesses and homeowners a chance to install solar systems and sell electricity directly to the utility at a fixed rate for 20 years. Unlike traditional solar rebate programs that pay for the installation of solar systems up front, GRU’s Solar FIT program only pays participants for the energy actually produced. This guarantees that the dollars invested in solar systems result in usable electricity that benefits all customers.

Solar FIT applications have poured into GRU. By early 2010, the utility expects four megawatts will be installed – that’s more solar energy than was installed in the entire state of Florida as of last year. Within five years the total is expected to grow to 20 megawatts. We have received international attention for our solar feed-in-tariff, and investment and media coverage beyond our wildest expectations. This program is a great credit to our GRU staff, and our community.

In June, GRU entered into a 30-year contract to bring carbon-neutral, biomass energy to Gainesville. American Renewables will build, own and operate a 100- megawatt power plant on GRU’s Deerhaven property. GRU will purchase and own 100 percent of the energy. Because GRU will not own the plant, customers will not pay for this new energy source until it begins producing electricity in late 2013.

Investing in biomass as the primary renewable energy source is the most cost- effective, long-term option currently available in Florida and will provide added benefits to the community. The project will add more than $5.5 million per year to the local property-tax base and provide more than 500 new jobs in the region.

As a vital part of GRU’s comprehensive energy plan, the biomass plant will ensure that the utility continues to provide safe, reliable, competitively priced electricity in an environmentally responsible manner. Gainesville will be well positioned to face anticipated renewable-portfolio standards and federal carbon regulations and to achieve the city’s carbon-reduction goals, which are based on the Kyoto protocols.

When I was first elected as mayor in 2004, there was a sharp four to three division on the City Commission over whether to expand our coal-fired electrical generation. After a great deal of study and community dialog, including at least 37 televised meetings, we developed a strong consensus to support the biomass plant as proposed. More fiscally conservative and critical members like Ed Braddy and Rick Bryant supported the plan and more environmentally oriented members do as well. It is also worth noting that in mid 2007, just after we first voted on the biomass option, the Florida Public Service Commission issued a moratorium on additional coal generation anywhere in our state, and no new coal plants have been approved in the intervening three years. The fact that our citizens and our utility staff helped your elected officials, all of them going back to 2006, to develop consensus from conflict on this difficult issue is a fact we should celebrate.

The redevelopment of Depot Park took another step forward in September as GRU began removing polluted soil from the site. The property was contaminated by the petroleum and coal tar residue of a privately owned, manufactured-gas plant that operated in the early 20th century. GRU bought the local natural gas franchise in the early 90s to provide customers with greater value through combined utility resources and services. But by purchasing the assets of Gainesville Gas Company, GRU assumed the liabilities as well.

In the end, this extensive project will clean the environment and permit the building of Depot Park, a recreational area that will host the renovated, historic train depot and the privately funded Cade Museum of Innovation and Invention.

In November, GRU’s South Energy Center began providing 100 percent of the energy needs for the new Shands Cancer Hospital at the . One of the first facilities of its kind in the southeast, the 4.3 megawatt energy center also provides the hospital with cooling, heating and medical gas services.

The South Energy Center is extremely efficient at converting fuel into electricity, providing a 46 percent savings over traditional fossil fuel-burning generation. The projected annual energy savings is equal to the power needed to run more than 3,000 homes.

GRU continued to strengthen its infrastructure to ensure customers receive the most reliable year-round service. Through its investment of rate payer dollars to improve water and wastewater utilities, electrical distribution, and telecommunication systems, GRU is ensuring our ability to support community needs well into the future.

Finally, a word about protecting GRU customers from upward price pressures… this was the utility’s top priority in 2009. Despite increasing costs and sharp declines in electric and water sales due to economic conditions, GRU delivered a budget that lowered bills for the average residential customer.

This was achieved by implementing aggressive cost-cutting measures. All departments at the utility cut 10 percent from the 2009 and 2010 fiscal year budgets, resulting in a combined $31.7 million in savings. These cuts, coupled with innovative approaches to fuel purchasing and management, allowed GRU to lower the average bill for a residential customer using electric, water, wastewater and natural gas by $1.77. GRU also maintained its financial support of vital city services, including police and fire protection, through its general fund transfer which totaled about $34.5 million.

Clearly our coordinated effort to become better environmental stewards demonstrates the interdependency of government services. Sustainable practice is not an office or department practice. It is an organizational commitment to do what is right to ensure the long-term health of our city, even when the right thing is not expedient. All of the actions we are taking to improve our environmental performance are simultaneously improving our quality of life, and preparing our community for the next economy. This was my primary message during the presentation I was honored to make at the invitation of White House at the recent COP15 Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

Whether the focus is on our environment or other areas, our city government is committed to sustainable practice as a leading principal of governance. This is a philosophical cornerstone of Gainesville today, and of the Gainesville we aspire to.

Evidence of this commitment extends to our General Service Department, which has implemented energy systems upgrades to City Hall, the Old Library Building and the Historic . The total cost of these upgrades is $923,000 dollars. However, the debt will be paid using savings achieved through lower utility costs. Estimates indicate that the upgrades will reduce energy consumption and increase our savings in the upgraded areas by 10-percent.

Our new police patrol cars are also part of our continued effort to purchase more fuel efficient automobiles for GPD's fleet of patrol vehicles by downsizing from older patrol cars. The replacement vehicles are approximately 15 percent more fuel efficient than their predecessors and will reduce our annual fuel expenditure by an estimated $70,000.

We are also planning greater efficiencies in servicing our fleet of city vehicles by consolidating our maintenance operations, building a centralized garage and relocating our street materials storage and recycling operations. Land for this purpose has been acquired and we expect to break ground for this new facility in 2010. By accomplishing this task, not only will we be able to work smarter… we are also responding to your desire to protect and preserve the character of Gainesville residential areas.

And given today’s new fiscal realities, we all must continue to search for better ways to do more with less. For our city government, this means meeting demands for mechanical, structural and custodial services with fewer resources, including a reduced work force.

November 2009 marked the first anniversary of your vote in favor of the Wild Spaces - Public Places half-cent sales tax initiative to fund local capital improvement projects for our parks, recreational and cultural programs, as well as sensitive land acquisitions. The initiative is funded through a half percent local government surtax put in place for a two-year period that began on January first of last year and will end on December 31 of this year.

Original projections for Wild Spaces - Public Places revenues for the City of Gainesville were estimated at 14.2 million dollars for the two year period. However, based on reduced estimates provided by the state, the current projection for revenues during the two-year period is down to 12.2 million dollars, as a result of the recession.

Nevertheless, our Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs Department, continues to work toward implementing a priority list of projects vetted by community stakeholders, and approved by both city and county commissions. Land acquisition for the city is occurring through contracted services with Alachua Conservation Trust, with oversight provided by the city staff and input and coordination through Alachua County’s Land Acquisition Program staff.

As you attend our parks, recreational facilities, and cultural programs, look for Wild Spaces - Public Places signs in many locations throughout the city. These signs are there to assure you that your dollars are working to achieve the improvements you voted for. For updated, detailed information about the status of a particular project funded through Wild Spaces - Public Places, please visit our city Web site.

Alachua County, the University of Florida, the Florida Department of Transportation and the City of Gainesville are funding partners for the implementation of an 18.2 million dollar traffic management system. The targeted completion date for the Traffic Management System is September of this year. The system is part of a five-year overhaul of traffic signals in Alachua County. The City of Gainesville Public Works Department maintains 229 traffic signals in Gainesville, other cities in Alachua County and in the unincorporated area of Alachua County.

In addition to the Traffic Management Center located at the city public works center, the City of Gainesville operates three satellite centers. The satellite centers are located at the UF , the Gainesville Police Department DataTrac room and the Combined Communication Center in the Alachua County Emergency Management Center.

Our newest Traffic Management Center, located in UF’s Ben Hill Griffin stadium, went into operation in September of 2009. This new capability allows city traffic operations staff to improve pre- and post-event traffic along major arterial roadways by observing traffic flow using video from 67 cameras located throughout the city to manipulate signal timings. More than 90,000 fans now spend roughly a third less time in traffic on game days and special events, reducing congestion, delay and tail pipe pollution.

Another primary benefit of traffic management is improving response times for emergency vehicles during heavy traffic. During an incident such as an automobile crash, for example, the city can alter the operation of individual signals to clear traffic at an intersection or on an affected roadway. This is the kind of leadership in innovative application of technology, creative thinking, and collaborative partnership that will help to improve Gainesville’s quality of life for years to come.

Our Regional Transportation System, often referred to as RTS, is a major contributor to the Gainesville lifestyle. In 2009, for the second consecutive year, RTS transported more than nine million passengers on city and campus routes. Its customer driven and product development approaches to bus transit service, combined with a successful partnership with the University of Florida, is a winning formula for the most successful transit system in Florida. We are hopeful that the Florida Legislature will again approve a bill that will allow us to share this success more fully with through a similar funding partnership.

Last year, RTS updated its fleet by purchasing four new buses and 21 previously owned buses. Two new routes were added this fall offering increased service to our ridership. A new pilot biodiesel program was launched last year on buses serving the UF Campus. The program’s success has led RTS to plan expansion of the program to its entire fleet of buses. Additionally, RTS increased GPS technology on buses by expanding this service to 17 city routes, and we are in the final stages of a bus rapid transit corridor analysis. BRT is almost a cross between a bus and a light rail car, and we anticipate that it will be the next generation of transit service locally.

When I hear automobile drivers complain about RTS buses impeding their progress, I am quick to remind them each bus can carry approximately 45 passengers so imagine what traffic would be like if 45 additional cars, motorcycles, or mopeds were crowding onto the roads ahead of you. Not only is RTS helping to reduce our carbon footprint, it is helping to reduce traffic demand on our major arterial roadways, while providing an economical and safe travel option. Even if you never step foot on a bus, you are benefiting from the transportation efficiency, and additional parking spots, that are provided as a result of others riding RTS.

Consistent with the vision of the City Commission, Gainesville Fire Rescue completed a major conservation effort by training all staff on general conservation and recycling practices. In addition, the department’s conservation effort included replacing all existing lighting fixtures in all fire stations and administrative offices with more energy efficient lighting systems. City staff utilized the GRU rebate program, and as a result, recovery of the project cost from reduced use of electricity is expected within 18 months. Additionally, all fire stations have been hardened through funding received from a federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program along with bond-funded emergency power generators.

In 2009, GFR contributed to our investment in human capital by contacting over 13,000 citizens in our community with fire and life safety messages and responding to more than 15,000 calls to help those in need. GFR is also working to establish a safer club environment for our citizens through its coordinated effort with Gainesville Police to implement Operation Safe Club, our crowd management training program for all businesses with an occupant load over 50 that serve alcohol. Just two weeks ago during a routine check, Gainesville Police patrol officers cited a downtown bar for exceeding its posted 88 person capacity by nearly double the allowed limit. This is just one example of how Operation Safe Club is helping to avert possible tragedy through public education and enforcement.

The design for Fire Station 8 is now complete and a station construction grant application has been submitted to help fund it. In addition, a grant application to help cover the cost of firefighters for the station was also submitted this past year.

In the coming year, GFR faces the continuing challenge of providing increasing amounts of emergency and non-emergency services with fewer staff than it had in 1975. The department will continue to provide quality fire and emergency service to our community. However, Fire Rescue’s return to 1975 staffing levels and its ability to open a new fire station is clearly contingent upon available funding resources. During this year’s budget process in preparation for FY 2011, your City Commission will determine the appropriate balance between the city’s fire service needs and available funding sources necessary to accomplish the mission of Gainesville Fire Rescue.

Two thousand nine was a transitional year for the Gainesville Police Department including a change in its top leadership. With the retirement of Chief Botsford and after a national search, City Manager Russ Blackburn selected a new chief of police with deep community roots and an impressive record of integrity and accomplishment as he rose through the ranks at GPD—Chief Tony Jones.

Chief Jones is moving swiftly to address community and city commission concerns regarding policies, practices, and procedures at GPD. Independent consultants from the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives were asked to assess these areas of our police force and they have provided a report of their findings and recommendations to City Manager Blackburn.

The good news is that steps taken to identify and correct problems at GPD are already paying dividends. More experienced uniform officers are back on patrol. A citizen’s auxiliary patrol is being trained for deployment. A restructuring of GPD’s organization is maximizing available resources. Chief Jones is moving quickly to restore public confidence in a department whose distinguished record of service has been unfairly tarnished by the individual actions of a few disgraced officers. Those officers found guilty of crimes and severe personnel violations have been punished and have lost the privilege of serving you as Gainesville police officers. However, there is still much to do as revised policies, procedures, and practices are put into place to ensure that GPD is the kind of police department that you value, respect and deserve, in the Gainesville that we want.

Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of the more than 133,000 calls for service that GPD handled last year went off without a hitch. In many areas our police department excelled beyond expectations. For example, implementation of the new point system for legal compliance at drinking establishments has led to a 66 percent reduction in underage alcohol arrests, and close coordinated actions with the University Police Department and state agencies.

In the spring elections of 2009, Gainesville citizens reaffirmed that the Gainesville we want doesn’t exclude anyone from participating in civic life with full equality. I am proud that our citizens upheld our longstanding tradition of equal protection under the law, even for minorities who are easy to ostracize and demonize. Affirmation at the ballot box was followed up by an extraordinary opportunity to hire a new Equal Opportunity Director. Cecil Howard has made excellent progress in the few short months he has been with us, immersing himself in meeting with citizen groups, implementing online training programs, increasing our focus on use of small, minority and women-owned businesses, and recruiting mentors for middle and high school students.

Our Equal Opportunity Department is kicking off an exciting film series study circles, and action process on dismantling racism, starting on February 13 with “Remember the Titans.”

For more than four years, the city and county governments have been working methodically toward increasing resources to help homeless individuals. Some examples of this include:

• Working to acquire a site for a Homeless One Stop Center (that will provide meals, 60 shelter beds and other services) on 53rd Avenue, and committing and seeking funding for a multi-million dollar construction project. We are in final contract negotiations now, and have been moving forward aggressively in the land use and zoning process and the building design.

• Allocation of more than $560,000 in federal stimulus dollars for homelessness prevention efforts to pay for apartment rent, security deposits, utilities and other critical needs.

• The city and county have for several years provided funding for winter shelter beds, via St. Francis House, Holy Trinity and private hotel rooms.

• The city has for several years funded the “Homeward Bound” program to reunite homeless individuals with family members, treatment programs or other “receivers” who can assist them.

• Both governments have also funded of the joint city/county Office on Homelessness, which has obtained millions in additional dollars to support homeless services.

There is much more to do, and we look forward to the One-Stop providing a physical place and an organizational model for better service delivery to those most in need.

Perhaps the greatest long-term threat to protecting our community’s natural water resources and our neighborhood environments is the intolerable situation that exists at the 170-acre Cabot Carbon-Koppers Superfund Site in North East Gainesville. The Cabot Carbon-Koppers site has been a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site since 1983 and has been a significant concern to our community since well before that time. Poor waste handling in the past led to contamination of ground water, soil and possibly off-site surface water.

A number of efforts to cleanup the site began in 1985 and have been ongoing. In 1990, an approved cleanup approach for the site was initiated that included additional soil sampling at the site location. Site clean-up was delayed when additional contaminants were identified in site soil samples. In 2002, migration of contaminants into the intermediate aquifer, known as the Hawthorn Group, was discovered. Contamination was discovered in the Floridan aquifer in 2004.

From 2004 until now, additional studies have further defined the extent of contamination on-and off-site. That is in part a major reason for the high level of concern by the City Commission. The slow pace of remediation efforts to clean up the site is driven by federal and state agency processes that we as local elected officials have little control over. In an effort to strengthen our ability to protect our citizens and our water supply, your city has invested over $2 million dollars in staff time, technical expertise, and work related to sentinel wells we demanded to monitor our groundwater between the Superfund site and the wellfield. To date, all of those wells have tested clean.

In March 2009, a special Gainesville City Commission meeting was held to meet with representatives from U.S. EPA Region 4, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Beazer East. At this meeting we vigorously pushed for immediate remediation efforts. We also discussed soil cleanup standards and future possible land-reuse scenarios for the Koppers portion of the site in the event that the current Koppers wood-treatment facility ceased operations.

In June, the previously mentioned regulating agencies were joined by state health department, Alachua County EPD and Koppers representatives at a public meeting. The meeting was held at the Stephen Foster Elementary School to discuss results of off-site sampling conducted in February 2009.

This past October, a draft feasibility study for the Koppers portion of the site was issued, to which the city responded on November 16. In our response we included significant concerns and comments that we believe revealed critical shortcomings in the proposed remedy for the site. We also aggressively argued for more rigorous protection for the Floridan Aquifer and to more effectively address subsurface contamination, and the removal of contaminants from on-and off-site surface soils.

In December, Koppers announced that it is closing its facility at the site and selling it to Beazer East. Our priority is to determine how quickly the site can be thoroughly cleaned and readied for development and that will depend on the type of remediation plan approved by the U.S. EPA and the timing of their final decision. In both December and January, I traveled to Atlanta with staff to reinforce the urgency of this matter and appeal to EPA for a complete and expedited remedial action, both on the site and on impacted adjacent properties. While recent developments may be a cause for cautious optimism, we will keep the pressure on for swift action and will continue to closely monitor this process.

We need your help in this effort. You can help by staying informed and staying involved with the process. With your perseverance and with your voice we will prevail, because in the Gainesville we want… there is no place for a decades- old contaminated superfund site

That is why it is necessary for communities to carefully steward planning and zoning matters and development standards within their boundaries. Only through responsible, sustainable planning activity can we hope to nurture commercial and residential growth in appropriate areas of our city. Every ten years we engage in a process to update Gainesville’s Comprehensive Plan.

That process is called the Evaluation and Appraisal Report or EAR. It is a vehicle for extensive community involvement in identifying major issues that affect development in Gainesville and to determine how our Comprehensive Plan can be updated to address these issues. Gainesville’s EAR process kicked-off in April 2009 at the Matheson Museum and continued throughout the year with four town hall and six stakeholder meetings. The updated report has been approved by the City Plan Board and City Commission for submission to the Florida Department of Community Affairs.

In March 2010, another process will begin that will have tremendous long-term impact on the financial health of our city. It is called the 2010 Complete Count U.S. Census. The census counts every resident in the United States, and is required by the Constitution to take place every ten years. The data collected by the census is used to make important political and social decisions, and helps cities like ours receive more that 400 billion dollars in federal funds each year for community needs like hospitals, job training centers, schools, and more. Our local complete count committee is comprised of local community leaders who are working to ensure that everyone in Gainesville and Alachua County is counted. There is a link on the city’s Web site to the 2010 Census homepage. Find out how you can get involved and be counted, “It’s in your Hands.” These periodic efforts such as the census and the EAR process are layered on top of the normal work of our planning staff. During 2009 they handled the complex and lengthy plan board and city commission approval processes for Hatchet Creek, Plum Creek and the expansion, among others. Each of these three projects is of a scale well beyond typical for Gainesville, and each represents an opportunity to grow our city carefully and consistent with our community values, if well implemented.

One of last year’s more pleasant events was the opening of Hampton Inn & Suites Gainesville Downtown in August 2009. The hotel offers 122 rooms and 7,500 square feet of new retail space. Through a public-private partnership, this Gainesville CRA project transitioned a surface parking lot into a much needed hotel venue in the heart of our city’s downtown. The project represents a 14.7 million dollar investment in our community, generated 50 new jobs and added to tax increments used by the CRA to fund additional projects in the area.

There were several more CRA projects underway in 2009 including continued work toward redevelopment of Kennedy Homes and Seminary Lane, restoration of historic homes in Pleasant Street, the Cotton Club, and the Hawthorne Café. But I wish to highlight just one other project completed in May. It is the East Gainesville Gateway located in the Five Points area of east Gainesville. This project transformed a once blighted property into a beautiful gateway feature using native plants. This project is intended to demonstrate our public commitment to stimulating private investment in this area, and I commend CRA staff for working closely with neighborhood residents to develop a distinguishing gateway feature that is as unique as it is authentic.

Earlier I spoke briefly about some of the financial challenges faced by the City of Gainesville. These challenges are not unique among Florida’s cities and counties, in fact in general we are dramatically better off than most of our peers. Fellow mayors are often shocked when I tell them that we have continued to provide 4 to 5 percent raises in accordance with police and fire union contracts. This is just one reason that despite our considerable efforts last year and continuing in FY 2010 to eliminate remaining inefficiencies from city government, downsize our workforce and decrease spending, the short-term fiscal outlook for the city continues to be difficult.

Every year since 2006, we have pared down expenditures by city government in response to economic forecasts that predicted flattening or declining projected revenues. Last year, we began cutting more deeply in order to close our budget deficit. We instituted a soft freeze on hiring, eliminated non-essential travel, and instituted a one-time voluntary separation program to reduce our work force. However, for the most part we were still able to keep cuts from noticeably affecting those services and programs that the public expects us to provide, or investing in capital projects and neighborhoods historically left behind. As the protracted economic downturn continues into 2010, it will force still deeper cuts to our general fund budget and trigger discussion of very difficult choices as we develop our FY 2011 budget. These choices may finally force tangible impacts to the level of public service that we will be able to provide.

Again, this is not the time to go back to old, outdated paradigms, but to capture the innovation and market advantage that define who we are. It is in this crucible of financial pressure where together as a community we should find the strength and courage to care for one another, to support one another, to provide for one another, to help one another and through that process, to create the Gainesville we want.

The City Commission has already decided a number of issues that that reflect who we are as a city. We are a city that values our natural resources and our sensitive ecological environments. One look at the tremendous tree canopy that is a hallmark of our city attests to our love for the natural beauty that surrounds us. And we have voted as a community to fund projects that enable us to maintain and improve our parks system, our recreational and cultural facilities and programs, and protect our sensitive natural lands from future development. That is the Gainesville we want.

We will continue to offer innovative, energy solutions by honoring GRU’s revised mission statement, which is “to provide safe, reliable, competitively priced utility services in an environmentally responsible manner to enhance the quality of life in our community.” We will continue our internationally acclaimed feed-in tariff program, and bring carbon-neutral, biomass energy to our community to achieve our city’s carbon-reduction goals, based on the Kyoto protocols. We will complete remediation efforts at Depot Park, build a storm water catch basin there so that downtown development can continue and prosper. We will return Depot Park to a natural park with cultural amenities for the enjoyment of the public. That is the Gainesville we want.

We will pursue swift and full remediation of contamination at the Koppers Superfund site in northeast Gainesville. Neighborhood families should not have to wonder whether it is safe for their children to play outside their homes or if their water is safe to drink. That kind of pollution will not be tolerated in the Gainesville we want!

We will offer a range of high quality, cost effective services that enhance the quality of life for the Gainesville community. Whether we are responding to a community need for a One-Stop shelter to provide services for our homeless families or the need for a recreation center to be constructed at the Northside Park for our senior citizens, we will complete quality projects and offer programs and facilities to the extent that available resources allow. That is the kind of compassionate Gainesville we want.

As I approach the end of my two terms as mayor, I am both proud and humbled by our many accomplishments as a city. However, I am also aware that so much remains to be done, and calls for our attention. We need to dramatically improve high school graduation rates, particularly among minorities, and help people understand that it is cost effective to educate a child than to incarcerate a child., We need to attract more businesses that will bring high wage jobs based on our innovation economy to our area. We need to reduce poverty and its attendant social ills. In many ways we remain a community of have and have-nots, and as such our needs are great and can sometimes feel overwhelming.

As the keynote speaker at the 2010 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission Banquet reminded us, Dr. King presented us with a contrast between … “the fatigue of despair and the buoyancy of hope…” I encourage all of us to lift ourselves on the buoyancy of hope and begin now to fulfill our aspirations. That is the way to achieve the Gainesville that we want.

Thank you, and may God bless the people of Gainesville, and of course the people of Haiti. I am grateful to you for the opportunity and privilege to serve this wonderful city.