Click to enlarge Mayor Cahill delivered his 12th annual State of the City Address from Fire Headquarters on February 22.

This is the 12th Annual State of the City Address I have had the honor of delivering, while serving as the 62ND Mayor of New Brunswick. During this time, New Brunswick has seen monumental changes. Together, our community has led the way on urban renewal, neighborhood revitalization and demonstrating that the vibrancy that once was the hallmark of our City can be restored and renewed. To those who may have thought that the best days of New Brunswick were behind us, I encourage them to look at what our City has become, and I invite them to stroll down George Street, visit our parks, walk through our neighborhoods, tour our schools and talk to our residents, and they will agree, New Brunswick has accomplished great things and has laid the groundwork for our best days still to come. We have worked hard for all these years to make New Brunswick better than it has ever been before, and we continue to strive to make New Brunswick even better tomorrow.

To my colleagues and friends serving on the New Brunswick City Council, I wish to express my sincere thanks for your support and dedication to our collective effort to make New Brunswick even better.

I also want to recognize the hard work and dedication of the entire City administration, led by Tom Loughlin, and all of the Department and Division Heads. Along with our City employees, they do an outstanding job each and every day for the residents of New Brunswick.

Thanks is also owed to the numerous community organizations and their leaders who join with us to accomplish our mission of making New Brunswick even better: members of the various City Boards, Commissions and Authorities, leaders of Rutgers University students, faculty and staff, our world-class health care institutions, our clergy and their congregations, the countless civic community and fraternal organizations, New Brunswick City Market, the New Brunswick Cultural Center, our lead partners in the City's revitalization efforts, New Brunswick Tomorrow and New Brunswick Development Corporation, and of course our residents, whose input, advice and counsel are invaluable, and who always serve as the impetus of all we do.

And I owe the greatest thanks to my family, especially my wife, Laura, my children, Rebecca and Casey, and my mother, Helen, without whose support and love, I could never serve this City.

Over the 300 year history of New Brunswick, we have overcome many adversities, but none have been so poignant or struck so close to home as the terrorist attacks of September 11TH. At 8:45 in the morning, some thirty miles from where we sit today, fanatic criminals attempted to destroy our nation's will. Many neighboring towns were directly affected that morning, suffering the loss of their residents in the attack. Yet while, thankfully, none of our sons or daughters perished, we, as all Americans, were wounded, and when the call for aid went out, we did not hesitate to answer the call. In the aftermath of that terrible morning, members of the New Brunswick Police and Fire Departments deployed to Ground Zero to help in the rescue and recovery mission. We have some of those police officers and firefighters here with us today, and I want to once again extend both the City's and my own personal deep thanks and high praise for their courage, professionalism and dedication.

In the wake of the attacks, our State and nation was shocked again as the threat of biological terrorism was splashed across the televisions and newspapers. In those tense weeks of heightened sensitivity, our City's Police and Fire Departments and all City personnel performed admirably. They responded to residents' concerns, while continuing to calm and reassure the public. Their performance is to be commended.

These men and women in uniform demonstrate the uncommon heroism that is in common people. Their selfless commitment to serving their fellow man exemplifies the best in all of us. This is why I chose to deliver the 2002 State of the City Address here, at Fire Headquarters. For it is this same sense of common values and shared purpose that is woven into the fabric of our community. This universal ethic is the touchstone of our work to ever continue to make New Brunswick even better tomorrow. We are driven by this belief that we are obliged to do what is right for our neighbors – for our City.

Our sense of service to the community provides the impetus to be prepared to take on any challenge or adversity, and to seize upon opportunities presented, to always make New Brunswick even better tomorrow.

This commitment has borne great success for our City. We have developed comprehensive strategies designed to get at the root of a problem and to produce real solutions–not platitudes intended to sound good in thirty-second sound-bites or aimed at placating those we serve. We have demanded honest plans that produce honest results and always keep our City moving forward.

A significant reason for this success has been the City's ability to shepherd projects from idea to implementation. The consistency of leadership and clarity of vision has given our City an advantage. New Brunswick Tomorrow, New Brunswick Development Corporation and the City's many other public and private sector partners, have all shared the same goal of a New Brunswick that will be even better tomorrow.

And with the passage of time we have the opportunity today to review and analysis the comprehensive approach we take in governing our great city.

As an example, lets look at perhaps the best barometer of a City's success, it's crime rate. Just how safe are we? For if our residents do not feel safe within their own community, nothing else really matters.

New Brunswick's crime rate has plummeted since 1991 by almost 45 percent.

How did this happen?

While we have increased the number of Police Officers from 116 in 1991, to approximately 140 today, and we place great emphasis on traditional law enforcement, we have made true community policing work. In addition to the expansion of the Crime Watch and Crime Prevention Programs, we reassigned Officers from patrol vehicles to walking and bicycle patrols, making our Officers more approachable and integrated into our neighborhoods. We started innovative programs such as DARE and GREAT, with the assignment of uniformed Police Officers as teachers and mentors within our schools.

But law enforcement and police work alone just aren't enough. Thousands of children and young people participate every day in the best after school recreational programs in the state like Play S.A.F.E., Y.S.S. and Safe Haven. We established the Teen Center and created, along with New Brunswick Tomorrow and Middlesex County College, A-STEP, a comprehensive job training and placement program for teens from fourteen year old and older. With new and improved schools and educational opportunities and with many other programs, we have seen a 67% drop in our juvenile crime rate alone over the last ten years. This is undisputable proof that young people thrive when given the positive opportunities for productive activities and community engagement.

Most experts agree, the number one, non-law enforcement component to preventing crime is job creation. Since 1991,over seven thousand one-hundred new jobs have been created in New Brunswick–a 31.4 percent increase– creating New Brunswick jobs for New Brunswick people and cutting our City's unemployment rate by more than half from 13.1% to 5.5%, the lowest for any urban center in the State. Workforce training programs such as Project ACCESS and the HOPE VI program–which cut unemployment among the residents of the former Memorial Homes from 40 percent to 10 percent since 1998-- working in conjuncture with the New Brunswick Police Department, have helped achieve this 45% reduction in our Crime Rate over the last ten years and a 52% reduction in violent crime.

New Brunswick has prepared for the future by also preparing our children. In spite of the overwhelming failure of the State of New Jersey to fund the construction of new schools in urban districts-- mandated 3 years ago by the New Jersey Supreme Court in the latest Abbott vs. Burke decision-- we have found ways to provide new educational opportunities for our students. By building the Health, Science and Technology High School, we have given New Brunswick students opportunities unavailable at any other school in the state. The Health, Science and Technology High School is the only high school with an affiliation with a medical school, Robert Wood Johnson, and this spring it will graduate its first senior class. And, we will open the replacement for Lord Stirling School this September. This new 25 million dollar, state-of-the-art school on George Street continues our commitment to both providing the finest facilities for our students and to maintaining a downtown school for our downtown neighborhood. These follow on the heels of a 13 Million Dollar addition to McKinley School and a 3 Million Dollar addition to Woodrow Wilson School, all accomplished without the assistance of the State of New Jersey required under the Abbott decisions. And, given the success to date of the Health, Science and Technology High School, this year we will explore the possibility of expanding its size and enrollment. It is because of actions like these by the School Board and Administration, and a host of others like our partnership with the Puerto Rican Action Board which developed two new day care centers within the City totaling in excess of 3 million dollars of new educational investment, that we have been able to manage the increase in our school's population from 4,000 in 1991 to well over 6,500 today.

We look forward to working with the new administration in Trenton, and Governor McGreevey's formation of the Abbott Implementation and Compliance Coordinating Council is the first glimmer of hope that we've seen of the State's willingness to step up to the plate in ensuring quality of education for all of its citizens.

We will work with our City's schools in lobbying the McGreevey Administration for the funds and steady implementation of the school construction program mandated by the Abbott decision. New Brunswick is looking forward to the state finally becoming a partner in our plan to make our schools better.

Further evidence of our success at converting long term planning into long lasting results is New Brunswick's water utility. For the last 137 years, our utility has lead the industry by meeting and exceeding every State and Federal regulation in providing quality drinking water to our residents. Since 1990, we have limited water rate increases to an average of 1.8% per year, well below the rate of inflation. All the time never compromising the high levels of quality provided. This year, we will embark on a new Capital Improvement Program. Shortly, we will begin the process of updating the filtration plant, staying ahead of the curve of even federal and state water quality standards. The proposed 13 million dollar membrane filtration system will provide the City with up to four million more gallons of water each day. This improvement will accommodate the City's needs for the next half century, while increasing the amount of water available to be sold to other towns.

We should not forget when we plan for more water, we also plan for better sewers. The City is the midst of a ten million dollar sewer infrastructure upgrade program–replacing a system that is over 150 years old in parts. These upgrades will not only save residents money, but also help to protect the environment.

We prepared for an even better New Brunswick by providing for neighborhood improvements and housing initiatives such as: Comstock Court; Providence Square; Livingston Manor; 7 Million Dollars of renovations to the Schwartz Robeson complex in the Renaissance 2000 area; Hampton Club and Camner Square; the HARP Homeowner Rehab Program; the CDBG Rehab Program; the Neighborhood Preservation Programs, Buy-It-And-Fix-It and our Rental Rehabilitation and Lead-Based Paint Abatement Programs.

We have, and will continue, to develop a downtown neighborhood with Riverwatch at Hiram Square; Riverwatch Commons; Richmond Court and University Center; soon to be joined by Skyline Tower, the renovation of the former County Administration Building; Hope Manor, Phase I of the HOPE VI Project;
Riverside, Phase II of the HOPE VI Project; Phase III of the HOPE VI project the renovation of the current Lord Stirling School; the Highlands at Plaza Square; and the Metropolitan on New Street.

We have provided for the highest levels of health care for our residents and families throughout this area and created job opportunities for our residents through the further development of New Brunswick as America's Health Care City by fostering increased health care investment like: the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and its ongoing expansion-- tripling its size this year; UMDNJ's Clinical Academic Building and Eric B. Chandler Health Clinic; St. Peter's University Hospital's Women and Children's Pavilion, Ambulatory Care facility, and Family Health Center in the Renaissance 2000 area; Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital's Bristol Myers Squibb's Children's Hospital and The Cancer Hospital of New Jersey; and the soon to be constructed Child Health Institute and associated professional office development along French Street. All are jewels in New Brunswick crown, setting us apart as THE city for health care research and treatment.

We have prepared for an even better tomorrow through our partnership with Middlesex County in providing improved government facilities to better serve the public, with our Civic Square II Project involving the new Middlesex County Administration Building; the Civic Square Building, housing not only the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, but also the City's Police Headquarters and other City government offices and Civic Square III, the Family Court House facility and the Middlesex County College campus. We are providing true one-stop shopping for those looking to do government business with New Brunswick.

We have provided entertainment venues such as our Cultural Center and the new state-of-the-art Loews Theater.

We continue to expand upon the successes of our partnership with Rutgers University in the development of the Edward J. Bloustein School for Public Policy and Urban Planning and University Center, with new opportunities, such as the new Public Safety Building for the University along the George Street Corridor and the Rutgers Workforce Development center which is part of the 105 million dollar Heldrich Plaza project.

We will continue to build upon our efforts to improve and develop new parks and preserve open space, such as the Alice Jennings Archibald Park, the completely renovated and improved Boyd Park, and Delaware and Raritan Canal Park, and our preservation of over 100 acres of land in the last ten years for a total of 270 acres of park land and dedicated open space throughout our City. Later this year, we will open the new Youth Sports Complex on Joyce Kilmer Avenue, providing three state of the art baseball fields and two soccer fields for continued improvements to our recreational opportunities for our young people. And we will create a quiet little pocket in our downtown community by restoring-- in appropriate fashion-- the Willow Grove Cemetery and those surrounding it.

And so, when the State of New Jersey tells us once again that State Aid to municipalities will remain unchanged or decrease, this is nothing new, and we are prepared to meet that challenge. In 1991, my first year in office, the amount of State Aid received was 14.86 Million Dollars. In 2001, the amount received from the State in Municipal Aid was 14.82 Million Dollars, resulting in-- actually-- a slight decrease in the past eleven years. All the while, the City maintained a stable tax rate increasing only 29 percent since 1990, 17 percent below the Middlesex County average of all municipalities and eight percent below the rate of inflation. We have been able to withstand all prior cuts in State Aid, and we will, once again, not only survive, but thrive and continue to flourish, notwithstanding anticipated cuts this year. As always, like all good households and businesses, we will live within our means and to all our residents, let me make it clear that we will not sacrifice services that will affect your quality of life or your safety.

We will remain fiscally strong and prudent in order to make sure that we are poised and ready to continue the phenomenal redevelopment of the City of New Brunswick through the economic downturn and its anticipated recovery later this year. Through our efforts to continue to build New Brunswick, with the planned development of Heldrich Plaza, the Matrix Office complex, The Highlands at Plaza Square, the Metropolitan and other projects currently under construction, we expect to realize an annual increase of revenue of 2.5 million dollars once construction is completed.

One thing, however, is certain. We have never been satisfied that what we have achieved is enough. We are ever striving to improve our community, better our schools and reach for that next plateau from which to reach again. New Brunswick is a work in progress, rejuvenating and regenerating our vitality, ever renewing the promise to be even better tomorrow.

As we renew that promise, we must set for ourselves and the City those goals we will meet in the coming year.

In a continuation of the City's aggressive campaign to attract new businesses and job opportunities, we are kicking off a new marketing campaign funded through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Cyberdistrict Program. The City has earned a $100,000.00 grant to pay for a new wave of marketing. Working with New Brunswick Development Corporation, this campaign will include New York market radio ads and billboards posted along the New Jersey Transit / Amtrak northeast corridor rail line from Philadelphia to New York City. These will combine to promote New Brunswick's unique qualities as a hub of business and research that makes us ideal for locating high tech businesses.

This year in partnership with NBT, the City will undertake the job of setting the scope and timetable for a new New Brunswick Community Center. Over the coming months, we will solicit the active input and suggestions of residents and community leaders as we decide what should be included in a new center, where it should be located and how much we should spend as we plan to build this valuable community asset.

The next wave of residential neighborhood development includes a broad array of projects designed to provide housing opportunities for all income levels. In 2002 our downtown neighborhood will come to blossom with the Hope Manor project along George Street, the Riverside at the former Memorial Homes site, The Highlands at Plaza Square, The Metropolitan on New Street, the conversion of the old Lord Stirling School into one bedroom apartments, and Skyline Tower the conversion of the former County Administration Building into a mix of market rate and affordable residential units.

In 2002, the City will step off the redevelopment of the Fulton Street, Remsen and Commercial Avenues neighborhood. This project includes $300,000.00 in neighborhood improvements such as sidewalk repair and the rehabilitation of existing housing and the redevelopment of an adjacent industrial site. The City will clear away old underutilized industrial buildings to make way for 190 new, mixed income homes. This project will provide 57 low and moderate income families with housing integrated with 133 market rate units. These projects exemplify our efforts to bring a mix of housing options to New Brunswick and build dynamic and diverse neighborhoods.

2002 is also the second year of our five-year French Street Neighborhood Preservation Program. And the much anticipated Jersey Handy Shopping Center will break ground this year with the construction of a large pharmacy and convenience store, a bank, and other neighborhood serving businesses.

This spring, we anticipate the presentation by the New Jersey Department of Transportation of the proposed final design for the Route 18 Widening Project. All indications from the D.O.T. lead us to believe that they have been receptive to the community and the City's comments and concerns, by not only providing for the improved flow of traffic, but also integrating pedestrian walkways along the roadway and adding multiple new and improved pedestrian access points across Route 18, into Boyd Park and the D&R Canal and Raritan River areas.

By building upon our partnerships with Rutgers University, Middlesex County, New Jersey D.O.T. and New Jersey Transit, we will work towards developing a new rapid transit system for New Brunswick. Focusing on the goal of moving the most people in as safe and cost efficient manner as reasonably possible, we will explore all strategies for resolving New Brunswick's congestion.

We have already started the first phase of a City-wide examination of every major corridor and intersection to see what improvements can be made to provide as safe and congestion-free travel within the City as possible. By working with New Brunswick Development Corporation in examining the area of French Street from Easton Avenue to Jersey Avenue and Somerset Street from Easton Avenue to Prospect Street, the City expects the results of this first phase of the traffic analysis to be completed this spring. The overriding goal is to make New Brunswick a better place to walk, bicycle, drive or ride in years to come.

Starting with Livingston Avenue, we will undertake a major corridor initiative, in 2002. Working with community groups, residents and businesses existing along and in the vicinity of our major thoroughfares, we will implement community suggested changes aimed at improving the every day quality of life within the City. Anticipated to be included would be major thoroughfares and gateways into the City, such as Georges Road, Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Somerset Street, Hamilton Street, Easton Avenue, Suydam Street and any other street where residents and businesses express and exhibit the only ingredient necessary to pursue this program, a willingness to get involved.

We will look to market the former Police Station site for a use compatible with the new and improved Boyd Park and D&R Canal area, and we look to join with our federal legislators, in partnership with the Board of Freeholders from Middlesex County, in the dredging of the Raritan River.

Later this spring our City government will make its first foray into cyberspace with the launching of the City's website at www.CityofNewBrunswick.org, The site will be a one stop e-source for information on City government and the City. The goal is to make New Brunswick an e-friendly city and offer residents a convenient way to get information online.

By every measurable standard, the last ten years has brought amazing progress to New Brunswick, something we should all be proud of. Now as we turn our eyes toward the next generation of our rebirth, we have the opportunity to develop a holistic plan for our City. A plan that integrates all we have done, are doing and will do. In partnership with New Brunswick Development Corporation, we have commissioned a major study that will produce a blue print for future development capturing the goals, vision and ambition of an even better New Brunswick. This blueprint, being conducted by Skidmore Owings Merrill– an internationally renowned architectural firm with projects dotted around the globe and is currently working on plans for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site--will be the product of the collaboration of many of the partners involved in the revitalization success of New Brunswick. Stakeholders from every quarter will be invited to comment on and have input to this blueprint. Once completed this blueprint will be a product of our collective vision for New Brunswick– a guide for our future endeavors and a benchmark by which to measure them.

In 1991, if one were to have said that New Brunswick, over the course of the next ten or so years, would see the development of over 1,000 upscale and luxury housing units, the demolition of Memorial Homes, the development of hundreds of new low- and moderate-income housing units, an increase in the City's population of 16.5 percent, representing the largest growing urban center in the State of New Jersey, the creation of over 7,100 new jobs, the City's unemployment cut by almost two-thirds, hundreds of acres of new and improved parks and open space, its rising prominence as the number one health care center in the region, and a crime rate drop of 45%, and the realization of over 1.1 billion dollars of investment within our revitalization efforts, most would have thought that individual was dreaming.

And on this date, let me make it clear that we will, this year of 2002, embark upon the next generation of revitalization. In the years to come, the City will be firmly established as a center of excellence for health care throughout the region. New Brunswick will become a center for the development of research and technology in areas taking advantage of the presence of our health care and educational institutions within our boundaries. Our schools will be viewed as the model for equality in education regardless of ones race, ethnicity, income levels or place of residence. Thousands more will call New Brunswick home, as more and more people choose New Brunswick as a place to live. New Brunswick will re-emerge as a major retail destination in the region. And we will become a City where people will be able to move about, through and within our City, both with and without their own vehicles, with greater ease than one could imagine. All the while developing an even stronger economic base.

And though some may say I'm dreaming, just remember... in New Brunswick, dreams of an even better tomorrow become a reality.

As we leave here today, I ask you to recommit yourself to our cause and our City. The City of New Brunswick is strong and vibrant, diverse and growing, but it requires each of us to work to continue its rebirth. There is an old saying: "We do not inherit the world from our parents, but borrow it from our children." Together, we have made tremendous gains in making our corner of the world much better than when we began, and together as we strive for that next plateau, we can ensure that New Brunswick will be even better tomorrow.

Thank you for coming. Thank you for your efforts. But most of all, thank you to our residents for providing me with the most exciting opportunity to serve my home town. May God Bless.