Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner discussed efforts in the redevelopment and reinvestment of Syracuse neighborhoods, schools, safety departments and infrastructure in her State of the City address Thursday night.

Miner immediately addressed the many serious challenges facing Syracuse including extreme financial distress, failing infrastructure and community cynicism of the government.

“We are being put to the test like never before,” Miner said.

Miner discussed public safety as “a constant and principle priority” of her administration. Miner called 2014 a challenging year in public safety, with 22 homicides. She responded to these concerns by saying that the force has a new class of police recruits of 32 officers, and has added 33 more COPS cameras which they will be expanding a program for in 2015.

Miner discussed the “ongoing fiscal storm” that Syracuse has faced, saying, “the year ahead will be no different.”

She cited several reasons for the financial difficulties, including an 86 percent increase in the city’s health care costs and a 355 percent increase in pension costs in the last decade. These financial setbacks are the reason Syracuse can’t keep up with the demands of failing infrastructure systems, such as the city water system, Miner said.

Miner said an all-time record of 391 water main breaks occurred in Syracuse in 2014, which cost $205,739 and were discovered to be the result of water pipes from 1893.

“The frequency of breaks and the limited nature of our resources have dictated a pay-as-it- breaks approach to water service,” Miner said, “but we are determined to do better.”

The asset management plan is being developed to better respond to and prepare for problems like these, Miner said. The management plan will allow the city to avoid reactive emergency repairs and instead focus on proactive system improvements.

Miner also discussed technology in her speech, saying it’s important to have fast, municipal Internet delivery, adding that communities without high speed Internet are being left behind.

A $1.35 million dollar grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies has funded the creation of an innovation team, which Miner said will help to develop new solutions to pressing technology problems.

Miner detailed the growth of downtown Syracuse, with 153 new market rate residential units in 2014, and 439 additional units under construction.

She explained the importance of “creative adaptive use of historic buildings” as a tool to modernize and revitalize the city. An example of this is the Hotel Syracuse, located on South Warren Street, which Miner said was acquired by the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, and will be fully renovated into a 261-room full service hotel, and has been named the official convention center Onondaga county.

Miner spoke on the future of Syracuse public education as it faces an “an extremely tumultuous time in urban public education, not only in our district, but across the state and the nation.”

The Syracuse City School District graduation rates exceeded 50 percent in 2014 for the first time in six years. The four-year June and August graduation rates, were 52 and 54 percent respectively.

“We all know the graduation rates in our district are not where we want them to be,” Miner said.

The Say Yes to Education program, now in it’s seventh year, is especially crucial right now, Miner said. The Say Yes Endowment, Say Yes Foundation and individual donors have provided more than $4.5 million in direct tuition assistance, Miner said.

She called on the Syracuse community to help secure the Say Yes endowment fund and continue the program, saying, “Say Yes to Education will only be a priority if we make it a priority.”

Miner urged Syracuse community members to let the challenges and moments of adversity inspire problem solving and a city-wide sense of unity.

“Remember, meaningful change does not happen on its own,” she said. “We must decide what sort of city we give to future generations.”

Published on January 29, 2015 at 10:03 pm

Contact Lydia: lawilson@syr.edu