[0:00] I'd like to call the city Caucus meeting

[0:02] to order

[0:04] ladies and gentlemen

[0:07] [Music]

[0:15] I'd like to call the city Caucus meeting

[0:17] to order for Monday January 9th 2023

[0:20] and we will open with Prayer by Reverend

[0:23] Amare Tanya Santos

[0:32] as we prepare to listen and consider the

[0:35] state of the city address and as a city

[0:37] council convenes for his first meeting

[0:39] as a plenary in 2023 We Gather to call

[0:42] on every source of inspiration for

[0:45] excellence admiration and goodness it is

[0:48] my hope that we can find manifold

[0:51] reasons to be thankful this evening even

[0:53] in the midst of the very real and

[0:56] profound challenges faced by far too

[0:58] many in our beloved city of Schenectady

[1:01] And We Gather in prayer because as a

[1:04] community of leaders we must seek to be

[1:06] guided in our discernment and empowered

[1:09] in our actions by everything that is

[1:12] true holy righteous pure lovely and

[1:17] worthy of praise

[1:19] and it is seeking to be guided and

[1:21] empowered in these ways that I invite

[1:23] you to join me in prayer

[1:26] Everlasting source of Truth and Love

[1:29] in whom we leave and move and have our

[1:32] being as individuals and as a community

[1:35] give us purity of heart and strength of

[1:37] purpose that no selfish passion May

[1:40] hinder us from knowing your will

[1:43] no weakness keep us from doing your will

[1:46] that in your light we may see light

[1:49] clearly and in your service find perfect

[1:52] freedom

[1:54] open unto us light for our Darkness

[1:58] open unto us courage for our hatred

[2:02] open unto us hope for our despair

[2:05] open unto us peace for our turmoil

[2:09] open unto us joy for our sorrow

[2:12] open unto us strength for our weakness

[2:16] open unto us wisdom for our confession

[2:19] open unto us forgiveness for our

[2:22] shortcomings

[2:24] open unto us love for our fear

[2:28] open unto us your holy self for our

[2:32] human self

[2:34] to you all sorts of goodness open unto

[2:37] us we pray amen

[2:42] thank you Reverend Santos and I'd like

[2:44] to just first of all wish everyone a

[2:45] Happy New Year tonight the mayor will be

[2:48] presenting his state of the city address

[2:49] mayor McCarthy you have the floor

[2:54] [Applause]

[2:59] president

[3:01] Reverend thank you other distinguished

[3:03] members of the clergy that are here

[3:05] thank you for joining us tonight

[3:08] appreciate the work and the service that

[3:10] you provide to our community every day

[3:18] council president Mr Majority Leader

[3:21] members of the city council thank you

[3:23] for the opportunity to address you

[3:25] tonight

[3:26] as we start our 225th year as a city

[3:31] I'm looking to talk to you about housing

[3:33] continued development Public Safety and

[3:37] city services

[3:40] I want to thank our department heads and

[3:42] the city staff for the work they do

[3:43] every day for the residents of our city

[3:46] and especially how they stepped up

[3:48] during the pandemic to make sure that

[3:50] our city ran smooth and it's great to

[3:53] see everyone out here tonight

[3:55] I see uh judge Hoffman is with us he's

[3:59] been retired a few days

[4:03] we got to find a way to put you back to

[4:04] work judge it's done uh I see Mark

[4:08] little joined us who's uh again

[4:10] contributed so much to this community

[4:12] his role at Global r d for GE the

[4:16] service on the Smart City commission

[4:19] his and Terry's contributions to the

[4:22] community on an ongoing basis uh Neil

[4:25] golub uh we're just so lucky to have all

[4:28] the talent that we have within this room

[4:30] I want to thank my staff that helped put

[4:34] this all together coordinates all this

[4:36] John coluccio Alex Sutherland Michelle

[4:40] Davis Amy Hill

[4:42] can some of the people who are joining

[4:45] us tonight our district attorney Robert

[4:47] Carney uh distinguished members of the

[4:50] County Legislature Rich Russo Rich

[4:52] paternity Gary Hughes Omar McGill

[4:57] assembly member Angelo Santa Barbara is

[5:00] in route and should be here shortly

[5:02] hopefully when they come from the state

[5:04] if they bring a check it always livens

[5:06] up in these meetings then

[5:09] uh former city council member Sean

[5:11] O'Brien

[5:12] uh Sunni president steady mono I don't

[5:17] know if it's Dr Professor just all

[5:20] around good guy to Shabazz uh helped us

[5:24] so much with some of the work we're

[5:25] doing in the reform uh with the police

[5:29] department uh the police collaborative

[5:32] and the work is doing to help us with

[5:35] Recruitment and education within law

[5:38] enforcement

[5:39] uh Deputy superintendent uh Lynn Rudnick

[5:44] with us from the school district thank

[5:46] you for joining us uh former School

[5:49] Board member our former city council

[5:52] member and current School Board member

[5:54] Kathy Lewis thank you for uh

[5:57] stopping by tonight

[6:00] Schenectady is a leading Community with

[6:03] new housing initiatives work continues

[6:06] on the next phase of the 300 unit

[6:08] Northside Village

[6:10] home ownership opportunities are still

[6:13] the Cornerstone of my award-winning

[6:15] homes program in construction of market

[6:18] rate Apartments remains strong in this

[6:21] community

[6:22] the last several years we have produced

[6:25] over 1100 units of newly built or

[6:28] renovated affordable housing in the city

[6:31] of Schenectady

[6:32] [Applause]

[6:35] [Music]

[6:40] our Partnerships with the federal and

[6:43] state government are producing Real

[6:45] Results congressman tanko and Governor

[6:48] hokel have been very supportive in

[6:50] creating Innovative housing options and

[6:52] assisting us here in Schenectady

[6:55] Congressman tanko was able to secure in

[6:58] recent Federal legislation a million

[7:01] dollars for a community virtual power

[7:03] plant project

[7:05] we have partnered with a local company

[7:07] Echo long who's CEO Nancy Min is joining

[7:11] us tonight

[7:13] this will be done in conjunction with

[7:15] the Brookhaven National Laboratory this

[7:18] project will place highly efficient

[7:20] components into homes that will lower

[7:23] heating cooling and lighting cost by 30

[7:26] percent and what we expect it may grow

[7:28] to as much as 50 percent with some of

[7:31] the machine learning that's being

[7:33] developed by the Brookhaven National Lab

[7:35] and this is a nationally recognized

[7:37] program and deployment that's happening

[7:39] here in the city of Schenectady the

[7:41] Clean Energy Efficiency modifications to

[7:44] low and moderate income residential

[7:46] buildings will include on-site clean

[7:49] energy generation such as solar and

[7:51] battery storage

[7:53] building loads will be optimally

[7:55] controlled using machine learning for

[7:58] energy use reductions in demand in

[8:01] generation flexibility to lower overall

[8:04] energy cost

[8:06] each building will be connected and

[8:08] coordinated to further optimize the

[8:11] demand and flexibility and again this is

[8:14] going to serve as a national model

[8:17] I'm looking to incorporate the community

[8:20] virtual power plant in a soon to be

[8:23] formally announced affordable home

[8:24] ownership opportunity on Summit Avenue

[8:27] working with aik properties whose

[8:30] principle is also with us tonight Pam

[8:32] swanigan

[8:34] and MLB

[8:37] construction who is one of the

[8:40] principals Damien Pinto Martin is here

[8:44] will construct on 15 vacant city-owned

[8:49] properties they're going to get

[8:50] converted into 31 units of affordable

[8:53] housing using this higher level of

[8:55] technology which will again make them

[8:57] much more energy efficient and while

[8:59] these are going to be applied to some

[9:02] low and moderate income housing the

[9:04] technology that's being developed is

[9:06] applicable across housing not only Here

[9:09] in Schenectady but really across the

[9:11] country

[9:12] DePaul properties on Crane Street their

[9:16] Mosaic Apartments will transform several

[9:20] Parcels of vacant land and buildings in

[9:22] the Mount Pleasant commercial Corridor

[9:24] into 60 units of new quality affordable

[9:27] housing

[9:28] this is the same developer that did the

[9:31] Joe Allen Apartments on Albany Street

[9:34] and this is just up the street from the

[9:36] recently developed Orchard Park

[9:38] and down the street from the new

[9:42] Pleasant County Library it's actually

[9:45] not quite as new now it's been a couple

[9:47] of years but really great projects

[9:49] within the neighborhood

[9:51] the former Elmer Avenue School on

[9:54] Eastern Avenue received some local

[9:55] financial support and it's recently been

[9:58] awarded state and federal housing tax

[10:01] credits to transform the building into

[10:04] Elmer Gardens a senior housing complex

[10:08] developed by home Leasing and better

[10:10] Community neighborhoods the project will

[10:13] convert the historic Elmer Avenue School

[10:15] into 51 apartments for adults aged 55

[10:20] and older and 26 homes will be reserved

[10:23] for seniors in need of Supportive

[10:25] Services to live independently these

[10:29] units will be funded through an Empire

[10:31] State Supportive Housing Initiative

[10:33] award

[10:34] I thank governor hokel and her team at

[10:37] Housing and Community Renewal for this

[10:40] critical support that makes possible our

[10:42] efforts to renovate the historic Elmer

[10:44] Avenue School and create the new Elmer

[10:48] garden senior housing

[10:50] our unified economic development team

[10:52] led by Metroplex in the chair Ray Gillen

[10:56] is here with us tonight

[10:58] worked on this project for several years

[11:01] and while it was not an easy deal to put

[11:03] together this award of the highly

[11:05] competitive tax credits is a recognition

[11:08] that our team with the governor's

[11:10] support has once again been successful

[11:14] foreign

[11:16] [Applause]

[11:18] [Music]

[11:25] we're proud to support the construction

[11:27] of Bethesda house new eight and a half

[11:29] million dollar facility Cara house

[11:33] which will include 26 units of permanent

[11:36] Supportive Housing 11 units with 16 beds

[11:39] of emergency housing for adults

[11:41] experiencing homelessness and those

[11:44] re-entering the community from

[11:46] incarceration

[11:48] facility being built on a previously

[11:50] vacant city-owned lot at 910 State

[11:53] Street

[11:54] will expand Critical Care in safe and

[11:57] secure housing for our most vulnerable

[12:00] residents

[12:01] we're grateful to have the opportunity

[12:03] to support this project and share

[12:05] Bethesda House's call to create

[12:08] healthier safer and a thriving community

[12:11] I also want to thank again Neil golub

[12:14] again for his personal contribution

[12:16] which made this project possible

[12:21] [Music]

[12:23] kneels cars the one out front that has

[12:25] the bumper sticker that says new

[12:27] Schenectady on it

[12:31] also the New York State Office of

[12:34] temporary and disability assistance

[12:36] nyserda and our partners in Schenectady

[12:39] County who have supported this year's

[12:41] Long effort to make this project a

[12:43] reality

[12:45] I said before work continues at the

[12:47] North Side village on Van branken Avenue

[12:49] both Hillside Crossing on Albany Street

[12:52] and Renaissance Square just off Eastern

[12:55] Avenue are open and fully occupied these

[12:58] developments represent over 180 million

[13:01] dollars of investments in our community

[13:05] foreign

[13:08] [Applause]

[13:13] we received a record amount of Home

[13:15] funds through the American Rescue plan

[13:17] to reduce homelessness and increase

[13:19] housing stability

[13:21] this award is shared with the city of

[13:23] Troy in the town of colony the majority

[13:27] of these funds will be used for

[13:28] additional affordable housing

[13:30] opportunities in the respective

[13:32] communities

[13:34] recently the 2.3 million dollar Restore

[13:38] New York award for the wedgeway building

[13:40] at the corner of state and Erie

[13:42] Boulevard was the second largest award

[13:45] within the region and the sixth largest

[13:48] award in the state which will enable the

[13:50] restoration of this vacant blighted and

[13:52] historically significant structure in

[13:55] the heart of downtown

[13:57] we're lucky to have Mark Paquin and his

[13:59] team at Cass Hill development now owners

[14:02] of this site they have transformed they

[14:04] will transform this corner into a great

[14:07] addition in downtown

[14:09] [Applause]

[14:11] [Music]

[14:12] [Applause]

[14:13] [Music]

[14:16] the Adaptive reuse of historic buildings

[14:19] adds character art to our community the

[14:22] Foster and Edison buildings are great

[14:25] projects home to a great restaurant The

[14:28] Nest the Edison Banquet Hall in housing

[14:31] to new people who are moving to our

[14:34] community and if you have not stopped at

[14:37] the Armory Studio to see the van Gogh

[14:39] immersive experience please put it on

[14:42] your schedule because it's got a few

[14:43] more weeks of being there

[14:47] I was doing a quick count and I think on

[14:51] this list there are only 39 projects but

[14:54] I see John Roth in the audience in the

[14:57] public hearing tonight for the Masonic

[14:58] temple historic district overlay later

[15:01] on the agenda

[15:02] so the city council should be able to

[15:05] assist in the financing to make this

[15:07] restoration possible so that we can add

[15:09] it to the list and round that number up

[15:11] to an official Ford

[15:16] [Music]

[15:18] thank you

[15:20] just the last few years we've reduced

[15:23] the number of vacant properties in the

[15:24] city of Schenectady by more than 50

[15:27] percent but distressed property still

[15:30] drives a lot of our costs for code

[15:32] enforcement police fire and related

[15:34] expenses on top of the lost property tax

[15:38] revenue

[15:40] the cities of Albany Schenectady and

[15:42] Troy obtained a settlement of over 665

[15:46] thousand dollars in a coordinated zombie

[15:49] property lawsuit against Ocwen Financial

[15:52] Corporation and PHH Mortgage in July of

[15:57] 2021 utilizing New York State zombie law

[16:00] the three cities filed 18 lawsuits

[16:03] covering 18 properties with over 502 New

[16:07] York State building code violations this

[16:10] coordinated action sent a strong message

[16:13] to Mortgage Services across the state

[16:15] that they must properly maintain

[16:17] properties upon which they foreclose and

[16:21] bring foreclosure proceedings to a

[16:23] timely completion

[16:25] also in the city of Schenectady judge

[16:28] found El AK al-haq LLC guilty of

[16:32] multiple property code violations at

[16:35] eight properties in the city of

[16:36] Schenectady and imposed fines totaling

[16:39] over 600 thousand dollars

[16:41] the city Law Department prosecuted the

[16:43] cases and proved numerous violations

[16:46] going back to 2018 and I thank Andrew

[16:51] Colden and the team and the corporation

[16:52] council's office for their work on that

[16:54] project

[16:58] city of Schenectady was a winner in the

[17:01] IDC government's Insight fifth annual

[17:03] smart cities North America Awards the

[17:06] city was recognized in the

[17:08] administration category for our

[17:11] community data our community officials

[17:13] data exchange commonly referred to as

[17:16] code

[17:17] this project that shares data around

[17:20] problem property owners and best

[17:22] practices in Code Enforcement with the

[17:24] goal of using data to address Urban

[17:26] blight in our communities

[17:29] we thank the New York State Department

[17:31] of State and the center for technology

[17:33] and government the applied Research Unit

[17:35] the University of Albany for their

[17:38] partnership and continued engagement in

[17:40] the work together that we're doing to

[17:42] address the stress property we're

[17:44] grateful to receive this recognition for

[17:47] our joint efforts to Target blight in

[17:49] the harm that it does to our

[17:51] neighborhoods quality of life

[17:56] since I've been mayor my focus has

[17:58] continued to prioritize the sale of

[18:00] foreclosed properties and to create home

[18:03] ownership opportunities

[18:05] since 2013 chart shows that we have sold

[18:11] over 817 properties

[18:19] [Music]

[18:21] a number of those are vacant Lots but

[18:25] most of them again have been

[18:28] put there in our creating home ownership

[18:30] opportunities throughout our city and

[18:33] it's an ongoing effort I appreciate the

[18:35] work that the city council does and the

[18:37] staff does to make that all possible

[18:40] at the same time this program is

[18:43] producing real Revenue these sales have

[18:45] generated 13 and a half million dollars

[18:48] in revenue and it's just not that

[18:50] purchase price but getting the property

[18:52] back on the tax rolls and the

[18:54] reoccurring property tax revenue that is

[18:57] being generated by competent and

[18:59] conscientious landlords and property

[19:02] owners

[19:04] prior to covid we had a cutter tax rate

[19:09] for five consecutive years

[19:11] today our tax rate is still six and a

[19:15] half percent less than it was in 2015.

[19:19] [Applause]

[19:26] and we actually lowered the tax rate by

[19:28] one cent a thousand for 2023 when we did

[19:32] the final computations before the tax

[19:34] bills were sent out so we're continuing

[19:36] that trend

[19:38] our assessed value of property in the

[19:40] city continues to steadily rise with a

[19:43] total value of over 2.4 billion dollars

[19:48] this summer the city of Schenectady and

[19:51] local community organization hosted the

[19:53] inaugural 518 common Unity cup

[19:56] local law enforcement and Community

[19:58] organizations participated in a

[20:00] five-week summer Sports series that was

[20:03] kicked off during National Night Out

[20:06] the 518 common Unity cup was a five-week

[20:10] summer Sports series with one cause the

[20:13] community

[20:14] during the eighth month of the year

[20:16] there were events held every Tuesday in

[20:19] August

[20:19] basketball kickball football softball

[20:23] dodgeball and field games and the

[20:25] locations were Jerry Burrell Park

[20:27] Bellevue 4th Street Park Schenectady

[20:30] High School Central Park at the Mount

[20:33] Pleasant Middle School

[20:35] and we're looking to make that an annual

[20:37] event and I want to thank will Rivas

[20:39] who's here tonight and the event

[20:42] sponsors we can give will a round of

[20:44] applause here

[20:45] [Music]

[20:52] thank you to thank will and the event

[20:54] sponsors on this successful Community

[20:57] Partnership this is an exciting new

[20:59] event designed to promote activities for

[21:02] local Youth and serve to strengthen the

[21:04] bonds within our community and I thank

[21:06] all the dedicated Community Partners

[21:08] who've made that possible

[21:11] in 2020 we saw historic lows in criminal

[21:15] activity due to the covid pandemic we

[21:18] unfortunately have seen an uptick in

[21:20] crime since then and these graphs show

[21:22] the last over the last 10 years

[21:26] our part one violent crime is still 20

[21:30] percent lower than what it was in 2012.

[21:33] I first came in as mayor and property

[21:36] crimes are 18 percent lower than 2012.

[21:40] a lot of the data that's quoted today

[21:43] references the historic lows that

[21:46] occurred during covet crime was down

[21:48] economic activity was down people were

[21:51] laid off from jobs everything had a

[21:54] lower base and so people have to put

[21:56] things into perspective and understand

[21:58] what the real numbers are when you're

[22:00] doing economic comparisons

[22:03] last week we added nine police officers

[22:07] who graduated from the zone five Academy

[22:09] and I hired six

[22:13] [Music]

[22:18] and I hired six officers who will start

[22:20] at the police academy this will bring us

[22:23] closer to full Staffing and enable the

[22:26] public to see a greater level of

[22:28] deterrence to criminal activity

[22:31] the city is partnering with transfinder

[22:33] who CEO Tony savitel is here tonight

[22:36] Tony are you great

[22:42] on the development

[22:44] and pilot deployment of Patrol finder

[22:48] it's a GIS software that will increase

[22:51] police officer efficiency

[22:54] dramatically improve the flow of

[22:56] information to and from the patrol

[22:58] officer expand Community safety and

[23:01] forward-facing transparency

[23:04] I'm doing this solely as a teaser

[23:07] putting it out there because we're not

[23:08] going to get into the full details of it

[23:10] that Tony and the team at transfinder

[23:14] Chief Clifford and the members of the

[23:16] Schenectady Police Department are going

[23:18] to do a formal announcement on this next

[23:21] Tuesday the 17th at 9 30 at the GE

[23:24] theater in the Proctors campus and I

[23:27] invite everyone to stop and see that and

[23:29] again we thank the transfinder team for

[23:31] their work

[23:34] we continue to develop a new

[23:36] telemedicine platform with Ellis

[23:39] Hospital insurance carriers United

[23:42] concierge medicine and ideon and are

[23:45] looking to expand our Partnerships with

[23:47] other providers

[23:51] the country saw the value of immediate

[23:53] and appropriate Medical Care last week

[23:55] with the fluke incident with Buffalo

[23:57] Bills safety Demar Hanlon and I wish him

[24:01] the best in his continued recovery

[24:04] but having trained and equipped

[24:07] Personnel that immediately respond

[24:09] produce in that case and every day

[24:13] life-saving results about 70 percent of

[24:16] the calls to our fire department are for

[24:18] Emergency Medical Services

[24:21] we're able to put apparatus with fully

[24:24] trained paramedics in front of your

[24:25] house in three to four minutes from that

[24:27] 9-1-1 call

[24:30] the current protocols have paramedics

[24:34] put the patient in the ambulance and

[24:36] transport them to the emergency room

[24:39] if there's trauma a cardiac or stroke

[24:42] event that's clearly the best way to

[24:44] treat the patient but most cases most

[24:47] patients don't need the full Suite of

[24:51] services that are provided in an

[24:53] emergency room

[24:54] we're using our well-trained and

[24:56] equipped paramedics to do a more

[24:58] detailed diagnostic evaluation in the

[25:01] field with direct observation and

[25:04] consultation with emergency room

[25:06] certified UCM Physicians the patient can

[25:10] then be directed to the most appropriate

[25:12] level of care

[25:13] it could be an urgent care center their

[25:16] personal doctor maybe an Imaging

[25:18] facility where you're not sure if

[25:20] somebody has a twisted sprained ankle or

[25:22] broken ankle

[25:24] or even the emergency room but doing it

[25:27] on a scheduled basis is opposed to kind

[25:30] of the random event

[25:31] through the 9-1-1 call

[25:35] you go there with a non-life-threatening

[25:39] set of circumstances or symptoms you can

[25:43] sit there for a long period of time

[25:45] in some of this it's to level that flow

[25:49] in the emergency room and also uh

[25:54] cases where people maybe should just be

[25:56] left at home it's our partnership with

[25:58] ideon that's going to allow a high level

[26:00] of monitoring for patients that are left

[26:03] in place

[26:05] but by getting individuals quick and

[26:09] appropriate level of care it will

[26:12] improve the outcome and reduce the

[26:14] overall cost of Health Care again this

[26:17] is being looked at as a national model I

[26:20] thank the men

[26:21] [Applause]

[26:28] thank Chief Marino we have some of the

[26:30] members of the Schenectady fire

[26:32] department with us tonight thank you for

[26:35] the work that you do every day and

[26:37] really part of this Innovative and

[26:39] transformational program

[26:41] [Applause]

[26:45] foreign

[26:51] fix

[26:55] everybody doesn't have it on your phone

[26:57] put it on before you leave tonight

[27:00] we continue to see an increase in use of

[27:02] our online platform for residents to

[27:05] contact the city with issues or

[27:07] questions after our first full year of

[27:10] deployment we're very happy with the

[27:12] utilization and look to continue to

[27:14] promote its use by our residents is just

[27:17] one more way to better manage citizen

[27:20] requests and to assure appropriate

[27:22] follow-up last year we were able to

[27:24] successfully close out 1500 requests

[27:30] we've now completed the conversion of

[27:32] all our 4 000 plus utility pole mounted

[27:35] street lights uh in the city to Smart

[27:39] LEDs

[27:41] [Applause]

[27:44] [Music]

[27:47] this mesh network has reduced our

[27:51] electric use by over 1.6 million

[27:54] kilowatt hours every year

[27:58] this next slide shows some of the

[28:01] equivalent impacts of that savings you

[28:04] know it's over 50 000 trash bags uh

[28:08] would be recycled 20

[28:11] 000 trees seedlings growing for 10 years

[28:14] again it's a significant positive impact

[28:17] it reduces our costs it's

[28:19] environmentally sustainable and in fact

[28:22] the lighting on the streets are higher

[28:24] level and better than what they were

[28:26] before

[28:28] our public Wi-Fi deployment

[28:30] neighborhoods is also steadily increased

[28:33] which has been critical to many

[28:35] residents throughout the pandemic

[28:38] they want to acknowledge Camille

[28:41] susanowski and Christine Moore from the

[28:43] goose Hill Neighborhood uh

[28:46] give me a hard time because I said the

[28:48] North End would be sooner in this

[28:50] program that it actually ended up being

[28:52] which was more of an engineering

[28:54] decision but this is in our next phase

[28:56] and it's highlighted there so we're

[28:58] coming to the North End

[29:00] I remind residents of the interactive

[29:02] Wi-Fi map we have on our website to keep

[29:05] everyone posted on where we currently

[29:08] have this service

[29:10] networking of All City facilities with a

[29:13] fiber backbone is found is a

[29:16] foundational part of this project in

[29:18] we're more than halfway there and I want

[29:21] to thank Nathan Roberts from nice Tech

[29:23] who's here in the work he does every day

[29:26] in the guidance that that organization

[29:27] has given us in terms of deploying and

[29:30] implementing this we have installed over

[29:32] 115

[29:34] public Wi-Fi access points throughout

[29:37] the city there are 304 additional access

[29:40] points that are going to be installed in

[29:43] the near future through the cares act

[29:45] Grant and our total project will have

[29:48] 1500

[29:50] with the full city-wide deployment

[29:55] to show just how important this network

[29:57] has been for residents in just the past

[29:59] year there have been almost a million

[30:01] and a half visits to our Network this

[30:04] was driven by over 53 000 unique

[30:07] visitors in 19 2022 and that's up from

[30:11] forty five thousand in 2021.

[30:16] can we're looking to continue to expand

[30:19] this and I hope everybody's Wi-Fi access

[30:22] tonight is working or or John I'm going

[30:25] to have to yell at you

[30:30] our Partnerships uh continue to produce

[30:34] Real Results

[30:35] uh the solar Consortium with Schenectady

[30:39] County again it's from replacing the

[30:41] city street lights with Advanced LEDs to

[30:44] building the municipal solar arrays to

[30:46] expanding our EV charging infrastructure

[30:49] to Growing our Municipal Fleet

[30:51] uh proud to continue the electric City's

[30:55] Innovative Legacy by Leading The Way on

[30:58] climate

[30:59] the city of Schenectady has previously

[31:01] received a climate smart Community

[31:03] certification through DEC and a clean

[31:06] energy Community designation through

[31:08] nyserda

[31:10] I want to thank everyone and all the

[31:13] volunteers who helped organize the

[31:15] Capital District Drive electric week in

[31:17] sustainability Fair

[31:19] to celebrate National Drive electric

[31:22] week Here in Schenectady

[31:24] and this was done in conjunction with

[31:26] the Green Market Schenectady was the

[31:29] largest National Drive electric week

[31:32] event in the country by the number of

[31:34] registered participants

[31:37] [Applause]

[31:38] [Music]

[31:44] and we continue to take advantage of

[31:46] incentives and Partnerships as we build

[31:48] out our infrastructure and shift the

[31:51] fleet over to vehicles that are far more

[31:54] sustainable

[31:56] it'll be formally announced next week

[31:58] that Schenectady has been selected as

[32:01] the electric vehicles Association EV

[32:03] city of the year in 2022.

[32:08] [Music]

[32:14] the electric vehicle association is

[32:16] North America's leading volunteer

[32:18] organization that accelerates the

[32:20] adoption of electric vehicles

[32:23] the climate vulnerability and adaptation

[32:26] report done by our staff identified

[32:29] critical the critical role that Urban

[32:31] trees play in combating air pollution

[32:34] reducing the heat island effect and even

[32:36] improving Mental Health

[32:39] DEC provided funding to complete our

[32:42] city-wide tree inventory and management

[32:44] plan uh Kenneth Brooks I believe is here

[32:47] tonight

[32:49] from uh ground up Landscaping who in

[32:52] conjunction with Community fathers

[32:54] worked with us to plant over a hundred

[32:56] trees throughout the city of Schenectady

[32:58] this last year we looked to continue

[33:00] that effort as we go forward

[33:03] [Applause]

[33:04] [Music]

[33:10] garbage collection is one of our

[33:12] greatest services that we provide to our

[33:14] residents unfortunately we're still

[33:16] facing two issues with that

[33:18] a recycled material we used to have it

[33:21] taken away at little or no cost today

[33:23] our cost is just under 62 dollars a ton

[33:28] for disposal

[33:30] and compared to our MSW that's standard

[33:34] municipal waste is it only at forty four

[33:37] dollars a ton so again it costs us more

[33:39] to dispose of recyclables than it does

[33:42] for just regular garbage

[33:44] and we're still dealing with individuals

[33:47] who put out extraordinary quantities of

[33:50] garbage I look forward to working with

[33:52] the city council to address this issue

[33:55] and our code and trying to create some

[33:58] process by which we can shift that

[34:00] burden to those individuals that drive

[34:02] up some of those dramatic costs and not

[34:05] have it go back onto the homeowners who

[34:07] really play by the rules and do

[34:09] everything that's right

[34:12] I appreciate the city council's early

[34:14] support for a new pool in Central Park

[34:17] [Applause]

[34:25] this is moved a little slower than I'd

[34:26] like but it will allow us to deal with

[34:28] the state department of Health's

[34:30] compliance issues with the current pool

[34:33] it's going to reduce our overall

[34:34] maintenance issues and this facility

[34:37] we'll complement our previous

[34:38] investments in music Haven the a diamond

[34:41] in the Central Park tennis courts

[34:45] we rededicated the Central Park a

[34:48] diamond last year to the famed William

[34:50] Buck Ewing Ewing was a star catcher for

[34:53] the Mohawk Giants who used the Central

[34:55] Park field as their home field from 1924

[34:59] to 1943. Buck Ewing spent five years in

[35:03] the Negro Leagues including three years

[35:05] 1928 to 1930 with the famed Homestead

[35:09] grays

[35:10] this Improvement of these improvements

[35:13] this facilities were made possible by a

[35:15] million and a half dollar Grant from

[35:17] assembly speaker Carl Hasty and assembly

[35:20] member Santa Barbara and stack

[35:24] [Music]

[35:26] foreign

[35:30] we look forward to starting construction

[35:32] in the spring for Jerry Burrell Park

[35:35] upgrades that's a million three in

[35:39] investment in that facility this will

[35:41] include

[35:44] [Applause]

[35:46] this will include a new Splash Pad

[35:48] basketball court seating area lighting

[35:50] and public art again this was possible

[35:53] because of support from New York state

[35:55] parks Schenectady County and it

[35:57] complements the Investments made by the

[35:59] city of Schenectady

[36:02] we continue to plan upgrades in other

[36:04] Parks we have projects for both

[36:06] Hillhurst and Fairview Park and the

[36:08] Bellevue neighborhood

[36:10] they're designed and ready to be bid for

[36:13] construction this year these projects

[36:15] were designed with the input from the

[36:17] Bellevue preservation Association in the

[36:20] Mohawk pickleball League

[36:22] again we're going to put one full tennis

[36:24] or basketball court there two half

[36:27] courts six pickleball courts and

[36:30] refurbished the two tennis courts in

[36:32] Fairview Park

[36:34] the Schenectady Municipal Golf Course I

[36:37] generated an all-time record in 2022 of

[36:41] over 1.4 million dollars the course

[36:44] continues to be recognized as a regional

[36:47] asset in its quality and the really

[36:50] fantastic plane opportunities there and

[36:53] I thank Matt Daly and the team

[36:56] [Applause]

[36:57] [Music]

[36:58] [Applause]

[37:06] the 3.1 million Francis Avenue bridge

[37:09] deck replacement was completed through

[37:10] the New York State competitive Bridge

[37:13] New York program

[37:15] the project included the complete

[37:17] removal and replacement of the concrete

[37:19] bridge deck the sidewalks and increased

[37:22] lighting and I again appreciate the

[37:25] tolerance of the neighbors because we

[37:27] closed that bridge so that allowed the

[37:29] project to move at a faster Pace

[37:32] but it did create some inconvenience for

[37:35] the neighbors and residents who wanted

[37:37] to use it these essential upgrades to a

[37:40] vital link connecting to Mount Pleasant

[37:41] and Hamilton Hill neighborhoods also

[37:44] complements the recent pedestrian

[37:46] improvements at the Forest Road in

[37:49] Francis Avenue intersection and I'd like

[37:51] to congratulate and thank Chris Wallen

[37:54] our city engineer

[38:00] the team in the engineering department

[38:02] and our project Consultants on this

[38:04] successful completion of this critical

[38:06] infrastructure project in our community

[38:09] last year the city of Schenectady paved

[38:12] 14 miles of Road

[38:15] we paved more miles in 2022 than any

[38:18] year in the past decade

[38:23] [Music]

[38:26] and we're slated to receive four million

[38:28] dollars in 2023 in the state budget

[38:34] the current process used by the city

[38:36] council for special assessment for

[38:38] sidewalk replacement I believe is too

[38:41] complex

[38:43] it has many variables that residents

[38:45] find hard to understand

[38:47] I'm going to submit legislation to the

[38:49] council and ask you to put in place

[38:52] a fixed cost of 55 dollars per foot of

[38:56] sidewalk for the property owner which

[38:59] could be financed from 10 15 or 20 years

[39:02] at the council or the resident's

[39:04] discretion

[39:05] the city would assume the liability for

[39:08] the variable cost and again we're

[39:10] spending a lot of time and effort

[39:11] engineering class design class going

[39:13] back and forth that translates into

[39:17] added expense but not actually anything

[39:20] practical in the field we're doing

[39:21] calculations in terms of how much we

[39:24] should charge the residents if we just

[39:26] make that assumption it'll smooth things

[39:29] along and speed things up

[39:32] and I'm also going to recommend that the

[39:33] council appropriate a million and a half

[39:35] dollars of our dollars to help Finance

[39:38] this initiative

[39:40] in 2022 the Capital District

[39:43] transportation committee approved over

[39:45] 14 million dollars for major

[39:48] transportation infrastructure projects

[39:50] in the city of Schenectady it's included

[39:52] nine million dollars for the Craig main

[39:55] connection

[39:56] and we're going to go to the cdtc this

[39:59] month with a tip amendment to merge

[40:01] these three individual projects into one

[40:03] large project

[40:04] we anticipate that all of 2023 will be

[40:08] dedicated to design of these and begin

[40:11] construction the projects early in 2024.

[40:16] the forest's main Forest Holland

[40:19] improvements to these two intersections

[40:22] are designed and will be coordinated

[40:24] with what is ultimately approved in the

[40:27] New Albany crane complete Street study

[40:30] and we also have I still have in place a

[40:33] 500 000 Grant from assemblyman Angelo

[40:36] Santa Barbara to complete the crane main

[40:40] Chrysler intersection upgrades and

[40:43] Solomon I thank you for that before you

[40:45] arrived it's always good when people

[40:47] from the state come and bring a check so

[40:49] if

[40:51] [Applause]

[40:53] [Music]

[40:55] we look forward to you coming back many

[40:58] times

[41:00] we have over 35 million of spending on

[41:03] infrastructure projects uh going into

[41:06] 2023. the Rice Road water infrastructure

[41:10] improvements which include three new

[41:13] water wells that will produce 9 000

[41:16] gallons of high quality pure water per

[41:21] minute made possible by a three million

[41:23] dollar WIA Grant from the New York State

[41:26] Environmental facilities Corporation in

[41:28] these critical infrastructure upgrades

[41:31] will help improve the resiliency and

[41:34] sustainability of our water supply which

[41:36] serves not only the city of Schenectady

[41:38] but multiple adjacent communities

[41:43] and we're still hiring we still have

[41:46] openings in the city I would appreciate

[41:48] if people go to the city website you

[41:50] have people that might be uh looking for

[41:52] a new job looking for a career change

[41:55] look at the site and see if we can match

[41:58] something up and help with the city

[42:00] Workforce

[42:02] we're receiving National recognition in

[42:05] terms of that home energy project with

[42:08] Congressman tanko the electric vehicle

[42:11] designation our telemedicine program the

[42:15] record of our accomplishments is

[42:17] impressive our City's future is bright I

[42:21] thank you for the opportunity to serve

[42:23] as your mayor and I want everyone to

[42:25] enjoy the rest of the evening thank you

[42:28] very much yield Batman

[42:30] [Applause]

[42:31] [Music]

[42:33] [Applause]

[42:35] thank you

[42:36] [Music]

[42:38] [Applause]

[42:40] [Music]

[42:45] [Applause]

[42:47] [Music]

[42:47] [Applause]

[42:52] [Music]

[42:52] [Applause]

[43:03] thank you

[43:04] I'd like to thank the mayor for the um

[43:06] for the state of the City address

[43:11] 10 minutes to clear the room

[43:23] [Music]

Schenectady 2023 State of the City Address

Transcript