Good Afternoon
And thank you for the opportunity to once again address the Council and all of Atlanta as we start a new year. This is the 6th year of the new millennium and as such we as elected officials and public servants are challenged to stay the course of preparing our city for the future of the hundreds of thousands of residents, men, women, children, families, business men and women, visitors who count on city government for the delivery of top flight municipal services, who count on our strategic thinking and effective execution of our plans, who count on our honest and thoughtful decision making as we deliver services today and think for tomorrow, balancing our city’s current interests with the long range interests of the generations who will follow in our footsteps.
On this day in 1788 Georgia entered the Union and became the fourth state in the modern United States.
In 1900 the population for the City of Atlanta was just 89,872 and metro Atlanta was 419,375. Today the population of the City is half a million and growing.
This month in 1957 Martin Luther King, and others formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and later that year the "Little Rock Nine" integrated an Arkansas high school amid federal troops that were sent to quell an angry mob and protect the students after Gov. Faubus defied a federal order.
Others made decisions that we might enjoy the fruits of their labor, the benefits of their strategic planning and the opportunities to live and work in one of this nation’s most successful cities.
What my friends, my colleagues what are we doing, how are we acting, what are we planning that will have positive and fruitful benefits for our children, their children and their children 30, 50, 100 years from now.
Oh, that we might be remembered for our thoughtful, smart and forward thinking decisions and contributions.
Thanks to you the Council, many residents, city employees, our business and civic partners, people from all walks of life who have volunteered, some who have contracted with us, thanks to all. Today the city of Atlanta has the wind at our back…..we- across the government- are pointed in the right direction, we are moving deliberately to best-in-class status.
We are sailing. Some say we should or could coast, which is the natural temptation having tackled some tough issues these last 5 years. We could coast and wait for others to lead the way or we can claim the mantel of leadership that Atlanta leaders have seized without fear , with clear vision and with dedication and commitment for over 80 years.
The lessons of our past offer a clear path and high aspirations. We can galvanize coalitions to tackle the tough issues of the day. We can make the tough decisions and the people of Atlanta expect us to make the tough decisions on their behalf……
It was 100 plus years ago that our predecessors claimed the title of Atlanta: the Crown Jewel of the New South.
We must take advantage of the prevailing wind at our back to enhance our city’s position as the business, social, educational and cultural center of the region in this new century.
We must chart the course of our city’s future, of our children and their children’s future.
There is no time to waste as the city and as the region grows faster in the next 20 years than it has in the last 20 years. Sure there will be rough waters, there may be turmoil and dark places along our route but we, the elected officials of our time, cannot wait for 40 years to build the physical infrastructure needed in 2030 or to invest in the people who will carry on the work of the city in 2030.
As much as we might like the ease and comfort of worrying about our own neighborhoods, our children and their children will not live in an insolated, disconnected world and our city will not compete with our nearby neighbors for jobs, business investment or residents. Atlanta will compete for position with the great cities of the world.
The world of tomorrow demands forward progressive research and fact based strategic thinking and fearless, bold commitment to getting better, more effective and more efficient each and every day.
The world will not wait for Atlanta to catch up again as we are catching up with our watershed improvements for example. The world will not wait for Atlanta. We have the wind at our back. Let’s seize the time, let’s decide to accelerate our speed and take advantage of our position as the region’s most important economic center.
Today Atlanta has the wind at our back. Let’s take advantage of our position.
As the saying goes” We shall pass this way but once. Therefore any good we can do let us do it for we shall not pass this way again.” Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.
Therefore, we must seize this time because tomorrow is not promised. Because our children need us to make investments for their present and future benefit. Because we took an oath of office anticipating our leadership. Because it is ours to do.
Where are we going?
Thirty, forty, fifty years into the future what kind of city do we want for ourselves and our families?
Our city will only be as good as the people who live and work here,
will be as good as the air, water and earth is clean and healthy,
will be as good as we are safe,
as good as the jobs are and as healthy and vibrant as business is,
as good as people who can live their lives without unjust and unfair limitations on their aspirations,
as good as it is integrated and connected with the region and vice versa.
To be a best-in-class city
we must continue to march toward a best in class public school system,
every student must graduate from high school with a diploma and access affordable and relevant post secondary education options,
every resident must have accessible and affordable education and training over their lifetime.
In America today, two-thirds of the jobs require some type of post-secondary training. Those cities that thrive in the future will be those with an educated workforce.
Atlantans in 2030 must be better educated and trained than we are currently.
To be a best-in class city we must continue to invest in making Atlanta a safe city. Our investment has paid off in lower crime rates and a safer city but we cannot progress by patting ourselves on the back for past accomplishments. We are challenged to continue the crime reductions and to promote crime prevention.
To be a best-in-class city we must hold ourselves, our employees and contractors to high ethical standards, transparency and accountability in all government operations and management.
To be a best-in-class city we must continue reversing our history of disinvestment or minimal investment in parks, greenspace, arts, culture, recreation and leisure facilities and operations.
To be a best-in-class city we must compete effectively for jobs, business investment from near and far. We must understand the global economy, connect with partners around the world, tell the Atlanta story.
To be a best-in-class city we must continue to reform our government operations, streamline processes, improve service delivery and customer service, launch the most sophisticated far reaching planning for a sustainable environment and viable local economy, keep the cost of living in the city competitive and affordable..
People in Atlanta must get good value for their investment in taxes, fees and investment.
To be a best-in-class city we must continue the work we’ve started to eliminate chronic homelessness, to finance affordable workforce housing, to improve parks maintenance, to build the Beltline, to refine the Peachtree Corridor, fund arts and culture, intensify our commitment to environmental sustainability and meeting the Kyoto Treaty goals, to advance the Clean Water plan, implement state-of-the-art technology, expand and enhance airport facilities and operations………
To be a best-in-class city we must be partners with our regional neighbors, planning and executing regional plans for transportation, transit, healthcare, economic development and jobs, healthcare and watershed and waste management.
Atlanta can’t afford to go it alone any more than our neighbors can afford to ignore or deride Atlanta.
For instance, it may be time for Atlanta to join with Fulton and DeKalb counties to negotiate with MARTA for long range system financial viability and expansion.
It is definitely time to complete the projects the Quality of Life and Opportunity Bond investments anticipate and to invest in the financial health of the city beyond the next decade.
Today the city’s population exceeds half a million residents and some 250,000 to 400,000 visitors, students and workers come to Atlanta every day requiring the city to perform services for as many 900,000 people. Atlanta is moving closer to becoming a 24 hour city that demands 24 hour municipal services of the highest quality to protect our position as the business, educational and cultural center of the southeast.
Regional growth is tilting back to the southern part of the region and the city population is growing and the population growth is expected to continue. The airport accommodates as many as 250,000 passengers each day financing its operation largely from passenger and airline fees. The water and sewer system serves over 1 million customers daily who pay user fees.
As successful as we have been over the last five years in identifying over $75 million in savings to streamline operations (i.e. courts),
to target priorities for new investment (technology, increase police and fire forces, parks, transition housing, marketing and economic development),
to stabilize the city’s finances, we now know we operate the city on a shoestring…..and moving the city to best-in-class status will require additional investment conservatively of $250 million per year in our General Operating Fund budget to maintain our credit rating and pension standing, to cover the needed investment in public safety, solid waste management, parks maintenance, technology, public works, economic development and community engagement and planning.
We must prepare Atlanta to compete effectively with the best cities in America matching or exceeding the best-in-class cities of our time.
As hard and difficult as it was to face the financial obligations of upgrading the water and sewer system, we face a new financial challenge of Herculean nature. How do we finance the expansion of the city’s budget without jeopardizing the future of the city, without creating a hardship for the residents and tax payers? We don’t have all the answers but the goal is clear…. We must use all our power to find the right financial options for the city or we will miss our opportunity to seize our time as leaders who care about the future of Atlanta…….This is a case of nothing risked nothing gained.
We must keep the wind to our back… we must push for innovation, we must challenge ourselves to find new partnership opportunities with the state, the federal government and with business and with our regional neighbors.
We must stake claim to the glorious future that can be ours 30, 50, 100 years from now. We are challenged to deliver today and think and act for tomorrow.
As the saying goes” the best way to predict the future is the create it.”
I stand ready to partner with the Council to make create that future in the tradition of Hartsfield, Jackson, Allen, Massell, Young and countless other men and women who dedicated their lives that we and our city might enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Today we enjoy the shade of trees we didn’t plant. Let us plant the seeds for a great city into the future.
We have the wind at our back.
I want to close with a quote from former assistant secretary of education Mary Frances Berry who said, “If Rosa Parks had taken a poll before she sat down on the bus in Montgomery, she’d still be standing.”
Thank you.