[8:00] hello i want to thank you today for

[8:02] joining me for the 2022 state of the

[8:06] city

[8:07] dress for the city of schenectady i want

[8:09] to specifically thank jen paluccio alex

[8:12] sutherland jennifer clifford and amy

[8:14] hill

[8:15] provided technical and administrative

[8:17] support for today's address

[8:21] i want to thank council president

[8:23] porterfield majority leader

[8:26] members of our city council

[8:28] i

[8:29] appreciate the work that they do every

[8:31] day on behalf of the residents of the

[8:33] city

[8:34] i also

[8:36] appreciate people who are watching live

[8:38] via webex open stage media or may view

[8:41] this as a recorded meeting of the future

[8:45] i want to thank our department heads and

[8:47] the city staff for the work they do

[8:49] every day for the residents of our city

[8:52] it's really an impressive team that we

[8:54] have of dedicated individuals who try

[8:56] and make a difference in people's lives

[8:59] every day

[9:02] covent is still an issue in our

[9:04] day-to-day lives over the past year i

[9:07] have and still recommend people get

[9:09] vaccinated

[9:11] wear masks wash their hands and practice

[9:14] social distancing to minimize the spread

[9:16] of the virus

[9:17] something that we're dealing with and

[9:19] they're going to have to deal with into

[9:21] the future

[9:24] 2021 was a pretty good year for the city

[9:27] of schenectady

[9:28] thanks to the american rescue plan act

[9:30] just signed into law on march 11 2021 by

[9:34] president biden

[9:35] the fiscally proven work by city staff

[9:38] and resiliency in our local economy s p

[9:41] global ratings affirmed its a rating for

[9:45] a general obligation bond and raised the

[9:48] city of schenectady's outlook from

[9:50] stable to positive

[9:52] schenectady will end 2021 with a

[9:56] balanced budget

[9:58] our expenses will equal revenues

[10:03] prior to the covid 19

[10:05] pandemic we have cut taxes five years in

[10:09] a row

[10:10] and even with the pandemic driven

[10:12] adjustments over the past two years our

[10:14] property tax rate is more than six

[10:16] percent lower than it was seven years

[10:18] ago

[10:19] to get into very good fiscal story from

[10:22] the city

[10:24] schenectady

[10:26] the multi-year trend of property value

[10:28] increases continued last year

[10:31] there is and has been

[10:33] real value in real estate in the city of

[10:36] schenectady

[10:39] we've received half of our almost 53

[10:42] million

[10:43] dollars of arba allocation as part of

[10:46] that process i held several neighborhood

[10:49] discussions and we put in place an

[10:51] online application process to seek

[10:54] community input on using the arc of

[10:56] money

[10:57] we now are in the process of evaluating

[11:01] and implementing those projects which we

[11:03] have to do in a manner that will be

[11:05] compliant with federal guidelines

[11:09] the infrastructure

[11:11] and investment and

[11:13] commonly referred to as iija

[11:17] provides significant additional federal

[11:19] funding on top of the american rescue

[11:22] plan

[11:23] this is the largest long-term investment

[11:26] in our infrastructure in our nation's

[11:28] history

[11:29] this money will provide this will

[11:32] provide money to states and local

[11:34] governments through new and expanded

[11:37] programs in the area of transportation

[11:40] broadband energy resiliency and water

[11:44] projects

[11:47] we have now completed the conversion of

[11:50] all of our 4000 plus utility pole

[11:53] mounted street lights in this in the

[11:56] city to smart led fixtures

[11:59] as part of our

[12:00] rev demonstration project with national

[12:02] grid this also includes

[12:05] smart city features to improve public

[12:08] safety transportation

[12:10] mobility

[12:11] and environmental sustainability

[12:15] our public wi-fi deployment in the

[12:17] neighborhoods is also steadily increased

[12:21] which has been critical to many

[12:22] residents throughout pandemic

[12:25] i remind residents of the interactive

[12:27] wi-fi map we have on our website to keep

[12:30] everyone posted on where we currently

[12:32] have this expanding service

[12:35] networking of all city facilities with a

[12:39] fiber backbone

[12:40] is a foundational part of this project

[12:43] and we're approximately halfway through

[12:46] the installation of this backbone it's

[12:48] an ambitious plan

[12:50] and different from other communities is

[12:52] the goal is a city-wide and not just in

[12:56] the central business district they have

[12:58] the services available

[13:00] to show

[13:01] the importance of this network and how

[13:04] it has affected residents over the last

[13:06] year

[13:08] we have seen

[13:09] [Music]

[13:10] 770 million separate page views on that

[13:14] network and this was driven by 45 000

[13:17] unique visitors

[13:21] the schenectady police reform and

[13:23] reinvention collaborative was formed

[13:25] with accordance with the governor's

[13:27] executive order

[13:29] we have put in place a nationally

[13:31] recognized community review panel for

[13:33] police hiring

[13:35] school-based community engagement

[13:37] officers and established a recruitment

[13:40] and education partnership with suny

[13:43] schenectady is part of our ongoing

[13:45] efforts in this area

[13:49] this county police department cares

[13:51] program

[13:52] is guided by the principles of police

[13:55] assisted addiction and recovery

[13:57] initiative this allows individuals in

[14:00] need of assistance to simply walk into

[14:02] the police station and connect with

[14:04] services this program has helped over 78

[14:09] people

[14:10] in probably the last six months

[14:13] we're fortunate to have new choices

[14:15] recovery center catholic charities and

[14:18] schenectady county community services as

[14:21] partners in the delivery of this program

[14:25] our total police calls were down over 11

[14:28] last year's compared to the five year

[14:31] average

[14:32] this continues a trend that we started

[14:35] pre-pandemically

[14:38] uh we continue to develop the new

[14:40] telemedicine platform of ellis hospital

[14:43] mvp

[14:44] cd php healthcare and united concierge

[14:48] medicine and we're looking to expand our

[14:50] partnerships with other providers

[14:52] our paramedics can perform telehealth

[14:55] consultation with ucm physicians

[14:58] avoiding costly trips to the emergency

[15:01] room with 115

[15:03] certified paramedics the smokey fire

[15:05] department is the first and largest

[15:08] department in the region to offer this

[15:11] service

[15:13] we've updated our city website

[15:15] and have

[15:16] put in place secret fix is a new feature

[15:21] it's to make reporting and tracking of

[15:23] non-emergency problems or issues easier

[15:27] i thank the city clerk and city council

[15:30] members for adding the c-clec fixed qr

[15:33] code to their business cards to ease the

[15:35] access of this service for our residents

[15:40] garbage collection is one of the great

[15:42] services we provide to our residents

[15:44] unfortunately we're facing two issues

[15:48] one our recycled material which we used

[15:51] to have it taken away at little or no

[15:54] cost

[15:55] today our cost is just under 62. a ton

[16:00] and that compares to a little over 44.

[16:05] for our msw msw is municipal solid waste

[16:09] so it costs us 40

[16:12] more to dispose of recycled material

[16:15] than just regular garbage

[16:18] the other issue is we deal with

[16:21] individuals

[16:22] depicted in this photograph who put out

[16:24] extraordinary quantities of garbage

[16:27] and i look forward to working with the

[16:29] council as we look at these issues and

[16:32] how we can

[16:33] hopefully stimulate

[16:36] markets for recycled materials that are

[16:38] going to reduce our overall cost and

[16:41] also balance out and put some equity in

[16:43] the individuals who use the service and

[16:46] find a way to restrict those people that

[16:49] really take advantage of our garbage

[16:51] collection and drive up our overall

[16:54] costs

[16:56] we received the clean energy communities

[16:58] designation through nyserda last may and

[17:01] in june eec gave's connect to the abroad

[17:04] certification is a climate smart

[17:06] community

[17:07] these are given in recognition of local

[17:10] climate action and clean energy

[17:12] leadership

[17:13] we specifically had significant

[17:15] investment in electric vehicle fleets

[17:18] our led street lights and our municipal

[17:21] solar arrays

[17:23] we continue to look for ways to make

[17:26] schenectady more sustainable working

[17:28] with a local company livingston energy

[17:31] we added 10 new electric vehicle

[17:33] charging stations on liberty street

[17:37] this in addition to the 26 new ev

[17:40] charging stations and soon he's

[17:42] connected

[17:44] and we're still waiting for the delivery

[17:46] and the hybrid and electric vehicles we

[17:48] plan to add to the police department

[17:50] it's unfortunately some of the supply

[17:52] chain issues

[17:53] but we remain committed to reduce our

[17:56] carbon footprint and add electric

[17:58] vehicles the city fleet

[18:02] we worked for the national grid last

[18:04] year retreats connected the community

[18:06] fathers and sjta to plant 50 trees in

[18:10] environmental justice areas

[18:13] the climate vulnerability and adaptation

[18:16] report done by our staff identified the

[18:19] critical role urban trees

[18:21] play in combating air pollution reducing

[18:24] the heat island effect and improving

[18:27] overall mental health within the

[18:29] community

[18:30] dec has provided us funding to continue

[18:33] our city-wide free inventory and

[18:35] management plan

[18:38] we're almost done with the 1.3 million

[18:40] investment in orchard park

[18:44] crane street

[18:45] land bank under the leadership of county

[18:47] legislator richard bruzo executive

[18:50] director david hogan

[18:52] coordinated the demolition of six

[18:54] adjacent buildings to this site this

[18:56] added over 35 000 square feet of green

[19:00] space for the mount pleasant

[19:01] neighborhood

[19:02] and we've added a basketball court

[19:05] playground equipment and we'll finish

[19:07] this spring with the addition of an

[19:09] outdoor fitness court

[19:12] two additional park upgrades done last

[19:15] year as part of the thriving

[19:16] neighborhoods challenge

[19:18] were the new splash pad at the

[19:20] wallingford park and improvements to

[19:22] jalen park on land and terrace

[19:27] we look forward to starting construction

[19:29] for jerry morrell park

[19:31] this will include a new splash pad

[19:34] basketball cart seating area improved

[19:36] lighting and public art

[19:39] this is possible because of the support

[19:41] from new york state parks

[19:43] in schenectady county

[19:46] i appreciate the city council's early

[19:48] support for a new pool in central park

[19:51] this will allow us to deal with state

[19:53] department of health compliance issues

[19:55] with our current pool reduces our

[19:58] overall maintenance issues and

[20:00] compliment our past investments in music

[20:02] haven the a diamond and tennis courts

[20:05] central park again is really a great

[20:07] facility

[20:08] encourage people who haven't had the

[20:10] opportunity to go in and see the things

[20:12] that are there take the time

[20:15] stop by and really enjoy what we have

[20:19] we've reduced the number of properties

[20:21] on our vacant property registry last

[20:24] year from

[20:25] over 800 to

[20:27] 386

[20:29] cut it you know by half

[20:33] it's significant uh again distressed

[20:36] property still drives a lot of our

[20:38] expense for code enforcement for

[20:40] policing in the fire department and has

[20:43] a negative effect than general city

[20:45] revenue

[20:46] it's an area that we have to continue to

[20:48] collectively work on

[20:50] and again it's one that schenectady has

[20:53] a fairly good track record on but it's

[20:55] still significant when we continue to

[20:57] have to focus our efforts

[21:00] since 2014 we've demolished over 200

[21:03] blighted and vacant buildings in our

[21:05] neighborhoods we're scheduling the

[21:07] removal of another another 13 this year

[21:12] we've sold over 100 properties last

[21:14] through last year through our

[21:16] award-winning homes program

[21:18] home ownership made easy and schenectady

[21:21] our focus continues to be creating

[21:24] owner-occupied homes in our

[21:26] neighborhoods just under 750 properties

[21:29] have moved through this program in the

[21:31] last nine years

[21:33] the homes program also continues to be a

[21:36] good source of revenue this program not

[21:38] only puts properties back on the tax

[21:41] rolls for continued and stable tax

[21:44] stream

[21:45] revenue stream but last year generated

[21:48] over 3.7 million dollars in gross

[21:51] revenue through our sales

[21:54] work continues at the new northside

[21:57] village on van branden avenue both

[22:00] hillside crossing and albany street and

[22:02] renaissance square just off eastern

[22:04] avenue are open and fully occupied these

[22:08] developments represent over 150 million

[22:11] dollar

[22:13] worth of investments in our community

[22:16] the new depaul 60 unit housing

[22:20] unit the 60 unit housing for senior and

[22:23] veterans development on crane street is

[22:27] moving through the planning process and

[22:29] construction is scheduled to start later

[22:31] this year

[22:32] this will be a significant addition to

[22:35] the new boys and girls club in the

[22:37] county library in the bound pleasant

[22:40] neighborhood

[22:43] given

[22:44] the revitalization of our community the

[22:47] economic activity is significant we've

[22:50] got the major development we've seen

[22:53] the 440 000 square foot uh project in

[22:57] the mill artisan district on state

[22:59] street 67 000 square feet

[23:03] work in the form of trusco headquarters

[23:05] you know 66

[23:07] 500 square feet

[23:09] the new apartment building at 501 state

[23:11] street it's a 40 000 square foot

[23:14] building the ywca facility on washington

[23:17] avenue

[23:19] we've seen uh work and renovations at

[23:21] the old

[23:23] gazette press building

[23:24] renovation the former otb headquarters

[23:28] and also

[23:29] seeing the rehabilitation of the

[23:31] building just across from city hall here

[23:33] at jane franklin streets

[23:37] the final testing and site work will be

[23:39] completed this spring at the north ferry

[23:42] street pump station this is a major

[23:45] upgrade to this critical piece of

[23:47] infrastructure and stabilizes our system

[23:50] for high water events and positions our

[23:52] community for future growth and

[23:54] sustainability

[23:57] in uh

[23:58] rebuilding our infrastructure

[24:02] projects that we completed last year and

[24:04] some were still ongoing

[24:06] there was a million and a half dollars

[24:07] worth of work done in south church

[24:09] street

[24:10] the broadway

[24:12] pavement preservation project uh

[24:15] largely in bellevue was a million for

[24:18] the 750 thousand dollars we spent in the

[24:21] long awaited upgrades the stormline from

[24:24] lancaster wine opening renaissance

[24:27] it's done uh

[24:29] done a substantial amount of work for

[24:31] the intersection improvements at doc

[24:33] wendell and rosa road

[24:35] the intersection is done in forest and

[24:38] francis that's just under 300 000

[24:41] we have planned

[24:43] a hundred thousand dollar improvement

[24:46] for the intersection at that street

[24:48] in mcclellan for stabilization

[24:51] and modifications into the curbs there

[24:55] this year

[24:56] we have approximately 40 million dollars

[25:00] of pending

[25:01] projects

[25:03] these include

[25:05] uh seven

[25:07] five point seven million dollars in our

[25:09] general paving program

[25:11] we're finally gonna be able to undertake

[25:12] the million and a half dollar upgrades

[25:14] to brandywine avenue between state

[25:16] street in 890

[25:18] got a million

[25:20] one

[25:21] for downtown pedestrian safety

[25:23] improvements

[25:24] this five million dollar project for

[25:26] kings road bridge replacement

[25:29] say 3.1 million dollars for francis

[25:32] avenue bridge deck replacement

[25:35] the upgrades for the crane bain chrysler

[25:38] intersection 750 thousand dollars

[25:42] a significant portion of that was made

[25:44] available through assembly member angelo

[25:46] santa barbara

[25:48] the million dollar upgrades with bicycle

[25:51] track on franklin street

[25:54] uh 250 000

[25:56] for bicycle path improvements on

[25:58] washington avenue

[26:00] in phase two and three we're going to in

[26:03] veil park we're going to spend an

[26:04] approximately 350 000 to complete those

[26:09] the 3.1 million dollar francis avenue

[26:12] bridge deck replacement

[26:15] that was awarded through a competitive

[26:18] program bridge new york

[26:20] again it shows that we're able to put

[26:23] together projects that

[26:25] we compete with regionally and do it in

[26:28] a successful manner and i thank the city

[26:30] engineer chris wallin the team for

[26:32] making some of that possible

[26:35] uh this particular project will require

[26:38] the francis avenue bridge to be closed

[26:40] to both vehicles and pedestrians

[26:43] from march 14th through august 1st

[26:46] where we look to minimize that

[26:48] inconvenience we're doing that so that

[26:50] it speeds up the overall project and

[26:53] reduces the overall cost

[26:55] this project again

[26:57] includes the complete removal and

[26:59] replacement of the concrete bridge deck

[27:02] along with the sidewalks and will result

[27:04] in increased lighting

[27:07] for that structure

[27:10] we're

[27:11] similar to other national

[27:14] entities and other levels of government

[27:17] we're

[27:18] having difficulty filling some of the

[27:21] positions at city hall i encourage

[27:23] people to go

[27:25] to the city website look and see what

[27:28] positions are open consider joining a

[27:31] great team of people that we have

[27:33] working in the city is connected

[27:36] we ended 2021 with a bright light

[27:39] our first annual luminosity event

[27:42] brought building owners businesses and

[27:44] not-for-profits together to celebrate

[27:46] the holiday season

[27:48] i want to thank

[27:50] dsic and national grid for making that

[27:53] possible i also had the pleasure of

[27:56] walking with our governor kathy pocal

[27:58] while she did some christmas shopping on

[28:00] j street here in schenectady

[28:03] i'm proud of the record we have we have

[28:05] a bright future and it's an exciting

[28:07] time to be in schenectady again

[28:10] appreciate the work that our city

[28:12] council does our department heads and

[28:14] the city staff so i want to thank

[28:16] everyone for joining today

[28:18] stay safe enjoy the rest of your day

[30:34] you

Schenectady Mayor Gary R. McCarthy 2022 State of the City Address

Transcript