Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon delivered his State of the City Address on Thursday as the first new leader to do so in almost 20 years.
During the address, Scanlon outlined his administration's vision and key policy priorities to help strengthen the city's future.
"The state of the city is what we make of it, collectively. I talk about partnerships. I talk about collaboration. I think that if we're on the same page, city, county, state, nonprofit, private residents, and we're pulling in the same direction, the city of the state of the city can continue to get stronger. It is strong. We've got some challenges. We're using them as opportunities, but together, we'll get over those hurdles in the state. The state of the city of Buffalo will be strong for years to come," Scanlon stated.
Scanlon says in order to tackle Buffalo's key areas of concern, he's creating three new offices:
The Office of Emergency Management and Resiliency: Focused on equipping Buffalo with the tools necessary to combat extreme weather conditions, this office will lead the city's first-ever Climate Action Plan to ensure sustainable and cost-effective government operations.
The Office of Innovation: Committed to streamlining city services, eliminating outdated red tape, and improving government responsiveness to residents' needs.
The Office of Gun Violence Prevention: Implement strategies to reduce gun-related incidents, address root causes of violence, and improve community relations.
"We've taken our Chief Innovation Officer, made him the head of The Office of Innovation. Working with department heads, each department is identified someone as their innovation lead to kind of break down the processes, eliminate the silos that exist in government too often," Scanlon stated.
Scanlon outlined his vision to create the Buffalo Parking and Mobility Authority to streamline parking operations, eliminate redundancies, and save taxpayers millions in capital repair costs.
"The Parking and Mobility Authority will ensure more efficient management of our parking infrastructure while maintaining fiscal responsibility,” Scanlon explained. “Successful models exist across the country—it’s time for Buffalo to follow suit.”
Scanlon says he would like to sell the city's parking ramps to an authority who can financially and physically maintain them.
"We do extract some revenue from them, but these ramps need a tremendous amount of work over the course of the next few years, and those that's those are repairs that taxpayers would have to shoulder. The authority can bond out to do this work, and then we wouldn't have to do that," Scanlon explain.
Scanlon also called upon NYS legislators to authorize a 3% hotel bed tax to help maintain and enhance Buffalo’s cultural institutions, like Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Kleinhans Music Hall, and the Buffalo Zoo.
"We've talked to hotel owners, people like that, who would be impacted by it. The conversations we've had with hotel owners have been positive. I think one of the problems is, last year it was at 5%, we've dropped it to 3%, so I think that's a little more palatable for people. But, the goal is that, we have visitors coming here, and they should help us pay for the services that they use. Hopefully, with the leadership of Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the rest of the delegation will follow suit and pass the legislation," Scanlon stated.