Good evening. Congratulations to the newly elected and returning City Councilors. Welcome to all of you who have gathered for this "Organization Day" meeting of the City Council.

I would like to portray the state of our city in the year 2000 by beginning with two broad-brush sketches.

From one point of view, things have never been better. Downtown Burlington businesses have been thriving, with three-quarters reporting dramatically increased sales over the holiday season. Burlington’s new Filene’s has attracted people to downtown who haven’t been here in years. Those of you who came to the Church Street Marketplace on weekend evenings this winter know that patrons were lined up at local restaurants. Unemployment statistics have hit record lows.

Yet, from another point of view, the picture is far from rosy. Rental vacancy rates have fallen to less than one-quarter of one percent, and rents have skyrocketed across Chittenden County. A recent HUD report to Congress indicated that, despite the country’s continued economic expansion, a record number of U.S. residents—some 5.4 million low-income families nationwide—need housing assistance due to the shrinking number of affordable rental units. Far too many of our citizens continue to be bypassed by the boom times—a situation that was not helped in Montpelier when efforts to ensure livable wages for Vermonters were thwarted in the Legislature. Too many working folks and senior citizens on fixed incomes find themselves left on the down side of the "opportunity gap." Too many among us are denied opportunity and security by racism, sexism, and homophobia.

We should note that cities and towns also continue to struggle on "fixed" incomes. As federal and state governments reap enormous revenues and accumulate huge budget surpluses, local officials in Vermont and across the country struggle to balance school and municipal budgets. While Montpelier is awash in money from a variety of revenue sources, places like Burlington—dependent as we are on the property tax—continue to stretch tight budgets to make ends meet.

At the beginning of the 21^st century, Burlington is faced with promise and possibility—as well as serious challenges. Let’s pause for a few moments to look a full generation into the new century before we review an agenda for the coming year. Last Tuesday night, almost 300 Burlington residents of all ages gathered in this auditorium to review the draft plan of Burlington’s Legacy Project, and to celebrate those—in particular our young people—who contributed to the plan’s development. The Legacy Project was launched last August. From surveys, focus groups, poster and essay contests, steering committee meetings, and public hearings, a plan emerged. That plan essentially frames a community vision for the Burlington of the year 2030 and outlines the choices we must make to realize our vision. At Tuesday’s meeting, residents strongly supported Burlington’s designation as the primary growth center in the region as an alternative to sprawl. They also clearly supported local ownership and increased economic self-sufficiency, a seamless multi-modal transportation system, preservation and construction of affordable housing, more activities and opportunities for youth, energy conservation measures, a cleaner Lake Champlain, and an open space protection plan.

In this unfolding year, we will take specific steps toward achieving our long-term vision. And we will do more to build on our strengths and shore up our weaknesses.

To address the challenges of a housing market that is severely out of balance, we will move forward initiatives to assist low- and moderate-income individuals and families, who bear the brunt of the housing crunch. Working in collaboration with nonprofit housing organizations, the City will continue to focus on producing new units of affordable rental housing. In February, CEDO and the Neighborworks HomeOwnership Center announced a new program to help low- and moderate-income first-time home buyers purchase duplexes in the Old North End; the response to this initiative has been overwhelming. We will continue to seek funding and develop creative programs to promote homeownership, thereby providing opportunity and security for our citizens as well as stability for our neighborhoods. We will also support the construction of new market-rate housing, and work to foster regional solutions to the problem.

Over the past year, the development of a downtown supermarket has been the subject of understandable concern and considerable debate in our community. We now look forward to the Central Market, a locally owned, 17,000 square-foot, full-service supermarket—open to all—with a large selection of products, including a hardware section. At this City Council’s last meeting, a development agreement was approved. In the coming months, design work will be underway, permits will be secured, and demolition work and site preparation will occur. Actual construction will begin later this summer, and the Central Market should open its doors in July of next year.

Residents of Burlington’s New North End are also anticipating a new state-of-the-art supermarket, Hannaford’s, as part of an ambitious reconstruction of the Ethan Allen Shopping Center. The project has received the necessary permits from the City. In the coming months we will support the developer’s Act 250 application, and do all we can to ensure that the project moves forward as quickly as possible.

In downtown Burlington we have seen significant and positive effects from the combination of Filene’s opening this fall and the institution of two hours of free parking in designated lots and garages. In the coming year, we will continue to build public-private partnerships to solve problems, strengthen our downtown district, and enhance the connections between our downtown and waterfront until the two are one in image and in reality.

As I enter my tenth year in the Mayor’s Office, one of my highest priorities is to ensure that we provide quality educational, recreational, social, and cultural opportunities for our youth. Over the past year, this community has certainly not been standing still. We’ve seen school improvement initiatives, a significant increase in after-school programs thanks to the 21^st Century Grant, increased activity at 242 Main, and new programming being developed by various local nonprofit organizations. Burlington and other communities around Chittenden County are particularly indebted to Bruce Wilson and the young people involved with Club Youth Speakout for their tireless efforts in organizing discussions, dances, book groups, environmental efforts, and other activities for youth. While we should acknowledge what we’re doing right, we must do more. Might this be the year that we begin to achieve political consensus and mobilize support for investment in a Community Recreation Center?

My administration is now working hard to balance the Fiscal Year 2001 operating budget with the least possible reduction in services. In the coming months we will do everything we can to curtail the skyrocketing costs of health care for our employees. While we have no rabbits left in our hat, we will look toward the creativity of city departments, the cooperation of city unions, and the constructive participation of City Councilors to achieve this difficult balancing act.

Burlington voters approved an additional 4.5 cents in property taxes for improvements to streets and sidewalks and an additional half-cent for trees and greenbelt improvements. This means that DPW will have some $1.5 million annually to address our streets and sidewalks, beginning with this year’s construction season. At the same time, with this important funding in place and our Urban Forestry Master Plan nearing completion, Parks and Recreation will begin planting some 150 trees annually.

In May of 1997, I created the North Street Task Force. In December of 1998, the City Council approved a plan for North Street revitalization. Now, after years of public participation, planning, and efforts to secure the necessary funding, the revitalization of North Street is on track for a groundbreaking in the spring of next year.

We continue to work toward the development of a Multi-Modal Transportation Center. As we move the project forward, we remain flexible and sensitive to the concerns of the public. With a significant portion of the needed funding now in place, the City will purchase the former Sanel building by the end of this month.

We’re also investing in our information infrastructure. Burlington voters have given the "go ahead" to the City to enter a public-private partnership to provide a variety of telecommunications services, including cable television. The result will be enhanced services and more choices for residents and businesses in our city. The City and Aptus, a privately owned company, are moving forward to form Burlington Networks. A Board of Directors and General Manager are expected to be on board by July. The major part of construction of the fiber-optic infrastructure is slated for the 2001 construction season—presuming, of course, that we receive legislative approval for our Charter Change (a presumption that is certainly our rightful expectation).

Over the past year we have silenced all talk of the Burlington International Airport’s demise through a concerted effort involving the City, the State of Vermont, our Congressional delegation, and regional businesses. As a result of these efforts, existing air carriers are expanding service and replacing prop planes with regional jets. Later this year, JetBlue Airways will begin offering low-cost fares in and out of Burlington. To accommodate this expanded service, Burlington voters wisely authorized $12.3 million in revenue bonds for terminal improvements. Construction on the new terminal and gates has begun, and is expected to be completed by October.

Burlington City Arts continues to advance plans to transform the historic Ethan Allen Engine Company Number Four into the Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts. This summer City Arts will open a renovated Memorial Auditorium Annex, which will house art classes of all kinds through City Arts’ new print studio and Frog Hollow’s new pottery studio.

Last year we gained voter approval for our updated Waterfront Urban Renewal Plan. We supported the completion of the UVM’s Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory at the Lake Champlain Basin Science Center. CEDO worked with the Parks Department to conduct an assessment of the urban reserve, and to remove underground storage tanks and derelict buildings on the old Astroline site. And we secured resources to repair our historic breakwater.

This year (I know it seems hard to believe for those who’ve been waiting so long) we are building a waterfront skate park, which will include an in-line hockey rink as well as a winter ice-skating rink. Construction contracts have been approved, work starts this month, and the project will be completed by July. The Skate Park will be largely funded by impact fees and private fund-raising efforts. Also under construction this season will be a fishing pier, which will provide access for residents and visitors to some of the best fishing on the lake.

I’m very pleased that Main Street Landing Company is planning for the construction of a mixed-use project on the corner of College and Lake Streets. The project will include a 30-room inn, a two-screen cinema focusing primarily on independent films, a black-box theater for productions of live drama, and a pub and restaurant. Work is slated to start in September.

In the coming months, we will remove the central waterfront’s last remaining eyesore, the Pease Grain Tower. We will complete our harbor management plan. We will continue our efforts to relocate the railyards currently occupying state-owned land on the waterfront. And we will move toward the comprehensive redevelopment of waterfront land to the south of the Science Center, including Lake Champlain Transportation land, the Woodbury Lumber property, and brownfields.

In recent years, we’ve made measurable progress in turning Burlington’s brownfields into productive assets. Yet, in many ways, the real work lies ahead of us. In the coming year we will take significant steps toward realizing the full potential of those brownfields located from downtown to Flynn Avenue, from Pine Street to the lake—an area that can be a powerful economic engine for the next century.

In the autumn of 1999, we officially established a Coordinated Code Enforcement Office, which now enforces minimum housing codes, zoning ordinances, and public health and safety ordinances. The City has made significant progress in supporting neighborhood noise reduction initiatives, reducing front-yard parking within center-city residential neighborhoods, and improving Burlington’s rental-housing maintenance codes. Code Enforcement has played a key role in the successful citizen-led Neighborhood Action Project, which brings community-based problem solving to the area bounded by North Union, North Willard, Pearl, and North Streets. In the coming year we must begin to share the lessons learned and the ideas implemented as part of this project in other neighborhoods throughout the city.

Burlington’s Community Justice Center continues to evolve as a place where our citizens apply the principles of restorative justice, supporting the victims of crime and restoring community safety and harmony. Restorative Justice Panels (including a Neighborhood Impact Panel, which will hear noise violations with the goal of negotiating contracts whereby offenders take responsibility for their actions), workshops on racism, dialogues for young people, and informal discussions on a range of community-justice topics have all resulted from the Center’s efforts. In the coming year, we will work to ensure sustained funding for this initiative.

Given all the challenges and opportunities before us, we need to ask ourselves the fundamental question: Is the City’s current governance and management structure, which has largely gone unchanged for more than fifty years, serving us in the most effective and responsive manner possible?

The last time this question was seriously asked was in 1985 when a Citizens Panel for the Study of Burlington's Commission Form of Government was formed. The answer then was "no." However, the report of the Citizens Panel, while comprehensive in its approach, did not lead to any fundamental change.

Now with Burlington's focus on long term sustainability, with new opportunities presented by new technologies, with new demands for accountability in all aspects governance, I believe the time has come to take a fresh look at the issues raised in the 1985 study. I believe this important report should be reviewed within the context of the emerging challenges facing our city in the 21st century.

Another way to put it might be: we know it’s broken, so let’s fix it, rather than just trying to make things work in spite of it. Our city government has done extraordinarily well, given our outdated, dysfunctional organizational structure. Imagine how much better we can do if we redesign our government to be more efficient, accountable, and responsive to our citizens.

To commence this process, over the next month or so I will be undertaking a review of the previous reports. Based upon this review, I will identify the governance and management issues that I believe are most critical to achieving our community goals. I will then recommend to the City Council a set of specific issues that deserve further attention by the Council and our community.

I expect my report to address the following issues:

1) What are the governance and management issues which deserve immediate attention, and will require a more thorough review before specific recommendations can be placed before the Council and the public?

2) How can a participatory process be structured that will be both thorough and timely? How can it be completed in time to allow for any possible Charter changes to be voted upon this coming November?

3) How can the city obtain the best possible insights from individuals, both within our city and from outside, who are professional experts in these governance and management issues? One specific idea that I will explore during the next month is to involve the National Academy of Public Administration, an organization with the capacity to assist cities like Burlington in addressing these important issues.

4) Finally, I will have a specific recommendation for the City Council as to how we can fund this more comprehensive study with support from foundations and other funding sources.

Too often the issues of governance and management reform are not addressed. We have a tendency in our society, in our community, to look much more closely at policies and programs. We often forget that innovative public policies and programs only lead to meaningful change if they can be effectively implemented. It is the implementation—the governance and management part of the equation—which now deserves our collective attention. I look forward to providing the Council with a set of

recommendations for how we night proceed to address, in a timely and participatory manner, the key governance and management challenges facing our city.

Burlington is truly a great city. We fully deserve the accolades and awards that have been bestowed upon us. (I emphasize "we" because the success of this community is the product of ever improving collaboration.) We have done well. But we can do better. As we close a century, let us rally around a vision. Let us act together in ways that will make Burlington’s next years Burlington’s best years.