January 14, 2009 State of the City: Menino proposes wage freeze Play video

(NECN: Boston) - Mayor Thomas Menino focused on the economy during the annual State of the City address at Faneuil Hall. He said that while Boston did not create the current economic crisis, it must deal with it. He is asking municipal unions to accept a one-year wage freeze, as the city tries to cope with the estimated $140 million budget shortfall.

He says the wage freeze would avoid "core service reductions and painful layoffs." Menino also highlighted positives such as population increases, reduced property taxes, lower foreclosure rates, and reduced gun violence. Menino: Boston's best days are ahead of us

The following is prepared text of Mayor Menino's address:

Governor Patrick, Secretary Galvin, Attorney General Coakley, Treasurer Cahill, Auditor DeNucci, Senate President Murray, Speaker DiMasi, distinguished guests, and my fellow citizens. Thank you all for joining me tonight here at Boston’s Faneuil Hall – a building that represents the resilience and strength that must guide us this year.

Congratulations to new City Council President Michael Ross, and thanks to the entire City Council for your service to our great city. Together, we will serve with commitment and compassion.

The most compassionate person I know is my wife, Angela. Thank you, Angela, and thanks to my family for your unconditional love

Thank you also to all of the men and women who serve in the United States Military, including the 20 City of Boston employees who are currently on active duty. We are grateful for your service and sacrifice.

Tonight we mourn the loss of a member of the Boston family. Lieutenant Kevin Kelley dedicated 30 years to the Boston Fire Department and the City of Boston. He was a loving husband and father. We offer our support and prayers to his family, the injured firefighters and residents. Please join me in a moment of silence to honor him.

Our firefighters put their lives on the line every day. Our whole city thanks you for your service.

Tonight, let’s note the history that will be made one week from today when Barack Obama is sworn in as President of the United States. We share a strong belief in the power of people and the importance of an urban agenda. I look forward to working with an individual who’s so dedicated to moving our country forward. We are really going to need that partnership now. This is no ordinary year. But ours is no ordinary city.

We are confronting a great economic crisis. Boston did not create it, but Boston must deal with it. Together, we will overcome it. The problems are truly global in scale, but they are also very, very real in our city.

I am in the neighborhoods all the time. The other night, I talked with families at a hockey game in East Boston, who told me how tough it has become for them to put food on the table. Recently, at a groundbreaking, I sat with construction workers who voiced real concern about their jobs. I spent Christmas Eve on Bowdoin/Geneva with small business owners who told me their business is off. I understand how they feel. Whether it’s at your kitchen table, or at my desk, the numbers are not pretty.

Governor Patrick already was forced to cut $1.4 billion from the state budget and has talked about another $1 billion in cuts this year. Speaker DiMasi has prepared us for what could be a ten percent cut in local aid.

Taken together with rising costs and declining revenues, the City is looking at a shortfall in the range of $140 million this coming year. That dramatic figure threatens all our hard-won gains in education, in public safety, and in our neighborhoods. I worry about all the residents who depend on the services we provide, and I worry about the City employees who deliver them.

Because $140 million means cuts to core services. It means cuts in jobs. We are talking about real pain for working families, and I don’t want that.

Other cities are already laying off hundreds of people. But, Boston is no ordinary city. We’ve had the foresight to prepare for the bad times, even when it was deeply unpopular. That’s why we were able to refinance debt and cut costs by more than $30 million.

I will not stop seeking efficiencies and streamlining operations throughout City government. I will not stop fighting for legislation that gives cities the additional tools we need to manage through this crisis and beyond, and I will focus our resources on our shared priorities: public safety, public education, and economic opportunity for everyone.

We cannot tighten our belts out of this situation – no matter how much we prioritize, legislate, and consolidate. We need courage and urgent action.

Tonight, I am asking municipal union leaders to partner with me on behalf of working men and women. If we can agree to a one-year wage freeze, then I can protect core services for residents and preserve jobs. I know this will be hard on working families, but the way I see it, a one-year wage freeze beats core service reductions and painful layoffs.

We all love our city. We all benefit from a strong Boston. When we work as partners, we weave the fabric of the city together. As we draw this fabric closer, we feel the warmth of human connections that will help us not only weather this storm, but to lead our nation out of it.

Make no mistake: I have a bold vision for Boston – a city of strong community and unlimited opportunity. We already have made important gains on that vision by working together, staying focused on our goals, and maximizing every resource. The tough economy may slow our advance, but we will not be stopped.

There are many reasons to have faith in our city. Right now, Boston residents are seeing their second straight year of property tax reductions. Right now, nearly 40 buildings are under construction – creating some 10,000 permanent jobs. Right now, the city’s population has surged to more than 600,000 people for the first time in 30 years. Never has Boston been so diverse, and never have our neighborhoods been so strong.

Boston’s neighborhoods are special for me. You can feel the sense of pride when someone says, “I’m from West Roxbury” or “I’m from Hyde Park.” That pride has to do with people’s sense of commitment. The most powerful expression of that is homeownership.

I remember when Angela and I bought our first home – we still live there. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was a dream come true, the culmination of years of hard work. It increased our sense of belonging to the neighborhood, and it gave us a deeper feeling of responsibility to our neighbors.

Foreclosures destroy that.

I started foreclosure prevention efforts more than ten years ago. Today, we can see the difference our efforts are making. Graduates of our first-time homebuyers course have a foreclosure rate that’s less than a third the rate of the overall Boston market. In the last two years alone, the City prevented nearly 450 foreclosures. We kept nearly 500 families in their homes and preserved over $130 million in home values.

But we didn’t stop there. We created the nationally-recognized Foreclosure Intervention Team. We purchased 12 foreclosed units in the Hendry Street neighborhood – one of our hardest hit areas. A year ago, in this 4-block area in Dorchester, there were 16 foreclosed and abandoned properties. Today, there are three.

Street by street, block by block, we will do even more this year. I will stand by your side to preserve your investment. I will stick up for Boston’s neighborhoods. I will fight to protect all that we have achieved.

This same commitment is what keeps our communities safe. People standing up and saying, “I am responsible for my actions and my community.”