[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]