Transcript City of Bridgeport

State of the City address
MAYOR BILL FINCH
Article Last Updated: 10/07/2008 04:46:56 PM EDT
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Submitted to the Bridgeport City Council
September 30, 2008
Good evening.
As I am sure you are all painfully aware, we live in very challenging times for anyone who manages a budget, whether it's a head of household, president of a company or a mayor.
We are in uncharted waters, facing many uncertainties.
During this time of dramatic change, we are, and continue to be confronted with situations that can swing 180 degrees in less than a day.
There are no absolutes -- what was true last year may not be true today, and what is true today may not be true tomorrow.
Many of the old rules by which we have lived have changed completely and we, as the managers of city government and keepers of the public trust must pay strict attention, so that we can take whichever bold steps and swift actions are necessary to protect our city, and its citizens.
This is not a positive time for our national economy and as a result, many of the decisions we must make will no doubt be difficult, unpleasant, and at times, unpopular.
We've made some tough choices in the past, and we will make even more difficult choices in the coming months. I believe we can make those tough choices and that we will emerge stronger than ever with more disciplined finances.
To get us from where we are to where we want our city to be our guiding philosophy must be: "To do more with less."
This means that to create a better future and a better
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Bridgeport we must ask for a sacrifice from everyone now, which will pay rewards to all of us in the future. Let me say again, yes, we
will need sacrifices from all.
This will require participation and cooperation on everyone's part, including: administrators in the city and the Board of Education. It includes the unions, city workers, Board of Education
employees, those who do business with the city, taxpayers, and of course, me.
All three of Connecticut's biggest cities -- Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport are facing difficult budget times. The difference in Bridgeport is this -- we've depleted our "rainy day" fund and right now, it's pouring outside.
When I took over this office a little less than a year ago, I realized we had been misinformed and misled about the financial situation regarding the Bridgeport city budget.
We were not in as good shape as we were led to believe, and therefore, I was forced to make hard choices immediately to address a nearly $20 million deficit that I had unexpectedly inherited. Here are the facts:
If there had been no deficit, then there would be fewer layoffs.
If there had been no deficit, we would be seeking fewer concessions from our many labor unions in order to keep the budget on track.
If there had been no deficit we would still have 20 million dollars more in our depleted rainy day fund.
But the news is not all gloomy. From Day 1, this administration has focused on doing what was necessary to put us on the road to prudent financial management.
We have taken action to:
enhance efficiency
eliminate duplication
improve management
take advantage of technology
streamline city government.
While we've done all that, we have continued to place a premium on public safety, on the quality of life in our city, on capturing the revenues we are due, and on working hard to invigorate projects that will provide additional revenue.
I would analogize what has gone on over the past year like this: Last December, when I took office, the city was like a runaway bus on a bumpy road. Today, we've got control of the bus, but the road remains very bumpy.
Just look at what a difference a year makes. This time last year, we were all very excited about the future. There was a great real estate boom, with projects like Steel Point attracting major developers. We were expecting that land sales proceeds, permit fees and new tax revenues would soon be flowing into our great city.
While we continue to work hard with the developers to make sure their proposals become reality, we know it's a very different world than it was a year ago. Our country is struggling with a $700 billion financial system bailout.
The major investment banks on Wall Street -- Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Smith Barney -- most of the major players in the investment banking realm -- are gone. Investment banks are the engine that helps cities like ours sell bonds and raise money. Without them we will have a harder time raising funds for projects such as school buildings and TIF bonds.
This is disappointing news for both the developers and the city. Though we will have to wait longer to see a new city skyline take shape, it won't be postponed indefinitely.
Another area of dramatic change -- unemployment. At this time last year, Connecticut's statewide unemployment rate was 4.6 percent, while in the city of Bridgeport it was 7.2 percent. Now, in just one year, those figures are up to 6.4 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, a nearly three-and-a-half point jump. This accounts for nearly 6,400 people unemployed in our city, and it could climb higher.
Despite our country's financial problems, I have been working hard since I took office last December to get Bridgeport's financial house back in order.
Working with my team and other top advisors, we've been doing it deliberately, step by step, and we're making progress.
As I noted previously, we inherited some very difficult financial challenges including: a budget deficit of close to $20 million dollars, an over reliance on one-time revenues, including unrealized land sale proceeds from Steel Point, plus a majority of the city's union contracts that were about to expire. Despite these challenges, we must create a stable financial condition for the taxpayers, residents, businesses and city employees of Bridgeport.
Without financial security, we can't stabilize taxes, ensure job security, and undertake new public safety initiatives.
Let me tell you exactly what we are doing.
We launched an aggressive plan to make sure all the taxes that are owed the city of Bridgeport are paid. Period.
Simultaneously, we are looking for ways to make our city government more efficient, cost effective and customer friendly.

Property owners, both developers and individuals, owe the city millions in back taxes and we are going to collect what is owed.
Our message is clear: It doesn't matter who you are or who you know, if you owe taxes to the city, then it's time to pay up.
Motor vehicle owners have cheated their tax-paying neighbors and the city out of nearly $45 million dollars in back taxes, some stretching back 15 years. Fifteen years.
This is unacceptable. We're going to recapture as much as possible by getting tough on scofflaws.
To put some enforcement teeth behind this effort, we've enlisted a new company called VioAlert, which uses computer technology to scan license plates to find car tax cheats. Boots are then placed on the wheels of cars whose taxes haven't been paid. This means owners won't be able to move their cars until they have paid their taxes.
We are selling city-owned property, moving these parcels from tax draining to tax generating positions. For example, we recently sold 333 State St. and the old American Fabrics property in July, creating not only new tax revenue but new opportunities for Bridgeport residents. These two properties alone represent a combined investment of almost $14 million dollars. This development means new residential units, as well as new office, retail and industrial space will now generate tax revenues. This will generate new jobs and tax revenues.
Additionally, we will recommend to the Council the sale of both the Elias Howe School and the former M&F property. Our intention is to dispose of city-owned properties that the city no longer needs, can't maintain and, and which will pay us taxes once in private hands.

We crafted, and the City Council approved, an Undesignated Fund Balance policy in order to prepare the city for emergencies, so-called "rainy days."
A healthy "rainy-day" fund is vital to a city's economic wellbeing. It provides for the creation and maintenance of a rainy day fund of eight percent of the total operating budget. This rainy day fund also creates a positive response from the financial markets by assuring that the city's bond rating is as good as possible, saving us hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest.
We instituted CitiStat, an innovative program used in Baltimore, Md.; Providence, R.I.; New York City; and Somerville, Mass.

CitiStat's purpose: to make city government more accountable and improve services while simultaneously saving tax dollars. CitiStat makes it possible to continually evaluate our programs in order to find ways to make them more efficient and cost effective, while saving the taxpayers money. Just one example of what CitiStat can do: Baltimore realized a savings in the neighborhood of $30 million as a result of using its CitiStat program. It's a program that can help us "do more with less."

Another cost-saving measure: we consolidated the Central Grants Department with the Office of Housing and Community Development. By putting all the functions in one basket, so to speak, we have eliminated unnecessary costs.
We also instituted a furlough program through which I, members of my staff, and other city administrators took unpaid time off in order to cut costs. Let me take a moment to thank all the employees who took a furlough; I would urge all city employees to consider joining the effort.
Shortly after being elected, I convened the first ever Mayor's Financial Advisory Board. I asked this panel of experts for a fresh and objective view of Bridgeport's financial status and practices. Their report and recommendations were sobering.
The smartest financial minds in our State told me that our City finances were weak; we had come to rely on one-time revenues, and other poor practices that put us in a vulnerable situation. They told me I had no choice but to get tough on finances -- and I listened.
At that time, I cut all departments by 10 percent and gave the City Council an honest budget that called for sacrifice from employees and taxpayers in order to begin to correct the sins of the past.
What has happened to the national economy in the succeeding seven months has added to our troubles and made these conservative financial practices even more essential and unavoidable. Cities by nature are "pay as you go" and we now have fewer dollars to "pay" yet we must "go" the same distance.
We must "do more with less."
Doing so will require all the resolve, creativity and ingenuity that Bridgeport can muster.
We are focused on continuing economic development. No doubt, the flagging national and state economies which have dramatically affected the national budget, as well as the state budget and the budgets of cities like Hartford and New Haven, has hurt our ability to -- to use a baseball analogy -- hit the ball out of the park. But we have hit some solid singles and doubles.
Here are some examples:
The City Council and my administration have been instrumental in securing completion of the latest phase of the Bijou Square project at 323 Fairfield Ave. This involves construction of a five-story building with retail stores and 84 condominiums. This is the first private, new real-estate construction project in downtown in 20 years. I promise it won't be another 20 years before we see the next project.
The CityTrust project on Main Street, a perfect example of the kind of adaptive reuse that the city is now known for, was renovated into 118 apartments with retail space on the ground level, and is nearly fully occupied.
The Lofts at 881 Lafayette Blvd. -- another adaptive reuse project -- is a $7 million dollar project that resulted in the creation of 38 residential condominiums, which includes four units made available to buyers at below-market prices.
We hired Donald Eversley as our new director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development. Don comes to us from Providence, known as the "Renaissance City" of the Northeast, where he led the charge to get approximately 200 properties back on the tax rolls, generating millions of dollars of new revenue for Providence. We're excited at his arrival and optimistic that with his talent and experience we can replicate that effort here in Bridgeport.
And, just outside downtown, St. Vincent's Medical Center just broke ground for its new Cancer Center -- a $150 million investment in the city's growing healthcare sector. This project contributed significant building and permit fees in the last year -- a bright spot in an area where revenue is down overall.
But that's not the end of the good news.
We created the Homeownership Opportunity Preservation Effort (HOPE), a three-part program to address issues of mortgage foreclosures brought about by the nation's subprime mortgage crisis.
Did you know that Bridgeport has the highest number of subprime mortgages in Connecticut? More than 5,200. Nearly 1,000 of those are bank-owned properties.
The American Dream of owning your own home should not be a dream deferred for these families.
The HOPE program addresses the plight of these homeowners while simultaneously trying to prevent other first-time homebuyers from getting into the same situation. It also prevents vacant, foreclosed properties from becoming blights on their neighborhoods.
The federal government recognizes our plight and just recently sent $25 million dollars in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to the state to help cope with the widening foreclosure problem.
I implore Gov. Rell, and our legislative leaders, to send 100 percent of those funds to the handful of cities with the greatest need.
We know that the current mortgage crisis will cause more people to look for safe and affordable housing. In April, I attended the opening of East Main Mews, an affordable housing development that redeveloped six historic buildings, creating 20 affordable rental units and four commercial rental opportunities for city residents who are in low and extremely low-income households.
I'm also pleased to report that we are close to completing our obligation on the Pequonnock Replacement Housing units. Soon, former residents will be provided the opportunity to move into scattered site public housing -- a long time coming, but close to two-and-a-half years before anyone expected it to finish.
Public safety is paramount, and our crime rate shows that we care about the public safety and welfare of our residents. Recent FBI reports list the Park City as the Safest Big City in the state.
Nearly 50 new police officers have joined the department -- the first new police officers in more than seven years.
The Fire Department also welcomed 35 new recruits in the past year. All of these new police officers and firefighters will help us get better control over the overtime situation, saving taxpayer dollars, while ensuring public safety.
We fought hard to create a new position of Assistant Police Chief, whose job it will be to manage the Police Department budget in order to keep costs down, without reducing vital services.
Overall, crime is down in the Park City -- and, citywide, violent crime is down 12 percent, with incidents of rape, felony larceny and felony assault all down by double digits.
This is great news. I want to take a moment to thank the entire police department -- the detective division, patrol division -- every one of you is responsible for helping to keep the crime rate down and make our citizens feel safe.
Kudos to the Tactical Narcotics Squad -- one of the finest units anywhere doing this kind of work -- for the recent arrests of several people who were involved in drug dealing in the city. It's just one example of the number of arrests this unit makes throughout the year that helps improve the quality of life for our residents.
Kudos also to the Neighborhood Enforcement Team, a unit that specializes in quality of life issues. The team has taken more than 60 guns off the street ranging from handguns to machine guns. They have intervened in two robberies in progress. The unit also closed down numerous retailers who were illegally selling alcohol to minors. And this group has only been working together for 18 months.
The work that the NET Team and the Tactical Narcotics Squad do, are but two examples of the fine work that our police officers do every day.
We purchased a new fire boat to help us better patrol the harbor and protect the many boats and ships that sail through our waters every day.
The Fire Department, in conjunction with RYASAP and AmeriCorps, has been busy installing smoke detectors in the home of any Bridgeport resident who wants one through the Safe Asleep program. Bridgeport's Fire Department has provided more smoke detectors -- 15,586 -- than any other fire department in the country. Just imagine how many lives have been saved because of this program.
In one instance alone, 11 people escaped from a burning three-family home because the Bridgeport Fire Department had provided them with smoke detectors.
If any of you here tonight know someone who needs a smoke detector installed in their Bridgeport home, please call 338-8835.
We created a new state-of-the-art Emergency Dispatch Center, an investment of $10 million, making Bridgeport a leader in disaster preparedness.
No more will fire calls go to a fire dispatcher and police calls to a police dispatcher. All emergency calls will soon go to one central dispatch center, reducing response times. This saves lives and property and provides a cost savings for our taxpayers.
We created the Small and Minority-Owned Business Resource Center.
Its mission: increase the use of small, minority and women-owned business in construction, city commodities purchases, contractual services and architectural and engineering services.
The result: In just 8 months $2 million in city contracts have been awarded to minority and women-owned businesses as a direct result of the new resource center, and this does not even include the Board of Education contracts and millions more in private contracts which our office helped secure. Some examples:
Unity Security, a local minority-owned security company, wanted to expand their company but did not know how to market their business. The center worked with them to develop a professional marketing package and within just 3-4 weeks they were interviewed and received four contracts, including the Downtown Arcade and Park City Hospital project right here in the city. A father and daughter, Dennis Phang and his daughter, Juliette run this company, and they are here along with 15 of their employees. (Please stand.)
Alma Farez always dreamed of owning her own business. Alma specializes in custom-made party favors and decorations. We worked with her to understand the process of starting a business and the proper business licenses that are required. She opened Rosa's Party in the heart of the East Side of Bridgeport in the East Main Mews on August 16th. Alma also is here tonight.(Please stand.)
Thanks to Deborah Caviness we have been instrumental, in conjunction with the Regional Contractors Alliance in New York City, in the creation of a special course in Construction Management at Housatonic Community College.
The course teaches minority and women contractors about such things as blueprint reading, project scheduling, and contract administration. The course is a great success -- there's even a waiting list.
Two other success stories: Kimberly Norman-Rosedam of the Rose Construction Company was so thrilled that she wrote a thank-you letter to us for creating the class, calling it "truly inspiring." Kimberly is here with us tonight. Would you please stand?
Elizabeth Santiago, a single mother of four, formerly receiving state assistance, enrolled in our Lead and Asbestos Training Program and now owns her own business -- MRDE4 Construction. She is currently enrolled in the Construction Management Training Program and is scheduled to graduate October 25th. Please stand, Elizabeth. Let's give both of these women a round of applause.
We have a goal to make the City of Bridgeport one of the greenest and cleanest cities in Connecticut.
We are completing the distribution of "Toters," the large garbage can on wheels, to every residence in the city. Each Toter is automatically picked up and its load dumped into the garbage trucks. The Toters are not only easier for residents to bring their weekly garbage to the street for collection, but they also help reduce injuries to our own workers and help keep our city streets clean.
We also are in the process of distributing thousands of new recycling bins citywide in an effort to increase our city's recycling rates, which is one of the lowest in the state. Increasing recycling will ultimately save the city money by keeping recyclable items out of our regular trash.
We made improvements to our parks. For example, with the help of Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, we installed guardrails throughout Beardsley Park and Glenwood Park. These improvements will help us prevent another horrible tragedy -- like the one that struck a family that lives in my neighborhood -- when three children and a mother drowned in Bunnell's Pond on July 4, 2007.
We completed improvements to Veteran's Memorial Park which include adding two new soccer fields and one baseball field. The final phase of improvements will include nature trails, including a "Solar/Nature" trail behind the Discovery Museum.
We've used grants and other funding to make improvements at Westside II Park adjacent to P.T. Barnum Apartments, renovating the pavilion roof and partnering with RBS Americas to create a Supergrounds Playground --for children ages 2-5 at P.T. Barnum Apartments. Shortly after its completion, the park was named after Natasha Gordon, a longtime employee of the housing authority who was killed in a car accident.
As you can clearly see, since I took office last December, we have not been idle. We've been working hard, making progress toward making Bridgeport the cleanest, greenest, safest and most affordable city in Connecticut, with schools and neighborhoods that improve each year. With your help we can achieve these goals.
As I said earlier -- in order to achieve these goals, we must resolve to "do more with less."
And I know, together, we can do it.
This journey demands same resolve that made Bridgeport the Arsenal of Democracy during
World War II with our citizens working around the clock to supply ammunition for our troops.
It's the same resolve with which we completely rebuilt the PAL Christmas Village in 1984 in one week after arson destroyed our holiday tradition. Hundreds of area children have enjoyed it each year since.

It's the same resolve that gets citizens up to work every day to build our city and raise our families.

Nothing less than this level of commitment, which we have displayed many times before, will be required from all of us to get us through the current swell of challenges.
Working together we can collect the taxes we are owed and increase our revenues.
Working together, we can reopen Pleasure Beach as a place for all citizens of the city to enjoy swimming, fishing and hiking.
Working together we can build not one, but 2 totally green inter-district magnet schools.
By working together, with our federal, state, and city elected officials, with the nonprofit and business communities and with the residents of this great city, we can tackle these challenges and keep the city moving forward, improving each year.
I want to thank the members of the City Council, who together with me have helped make the tough decisions in the past. Your leadership will be essential in the coming months, because we will have to continue to make tough and unpopular decisions in order to build a stronger future for the city.
They say adverse times build strength. With your help and sacrifice, we can lead Bridgeport through these challenging times and build a better and brighter future for the city and its citizens.
Thank you.