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HomeMy WebLinkAboutState of the City Mayor Jim Brainard State of the City Address presented to the Carmel Chamber of Commerce at the Annual Chamber Luncheon - November 13, 2002 The success, particularly the economic success, of our city depends on our ability to attract residents and businesses. The determining factor is always: what type of quality of life can we offer residents. Is our city a place where you want to live ... a place where you want to work ... a place where you want to raise your family ... a place where you want to retire? We must be able to create the kind of community that fulfills those needs. Government leaders have ~choices. to make when it comes to the development and growth of their cities. They can be reactive and concentrate on fixing problems, or they can be proactive with a bold creative vision for their city, determining its destiny for generations to come. That is what we have tried to do in Carmel. Our vision is to create the kind of community where people d_.~o want to live, work and raise a family. And, if we are doing things right, the youth of the community will return to Carmel after college to pursue their careers here. We will attract businesses with good paying and fulfilling jobs and our citizens will want to remain here after their working careers have ended. When John Winthrop, preacher, lawyer and first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, came to America in 1630, he had a vision of what it would take to create the ideal community in Massachusetts. He set a noble example for civic leaders to study and follow. Admirers of Winthrop said he had the courage to "dare to do right" and "stand among the lions." But through the hardships of Colonial life in the early 1600s, Winthrop remained steadfast to his goal. John Winthrop had a vision - a vision of a "city on a hill"; a city that would be a peaceful haven for settlers; a city that would satisfy the needs of many; a city that would serve as a beacon and an example for all other cities aspiring for a better quality of life. He envisioned a city, unlike the cities from which the colonists had come in Europe. This new type of city would be a place where everyone had opportunities through diligence and hard work. Carmel strives to be that city on the hill for our residents and businesses and each day brings new challenges as we work hard to meet that goal. It is clear that people are looking for what this community has to offer. According to the Wall Street Journal, our county was one of the fastest growing in the state and nation during the decade of the 90s with the 6th highest per capita income in the nation. Careful fiscal planning and municipal management has ensured that our rapid growth has not. come at a higher cost to taxpayers. Carmel has the lowest tax rate of any city our size or larger in the state - lower than when I came into office. Water rates are an average of 43 percent lower than Indianapolis - and we continue to expand our customer base to ensure that our rates stay low. We have invested a great deal in our sewer and water utilities. We have kept ahead of the demands of our rapidly growing community. When the City of Indianapolis announced they were buying the privately-held Indianapolis Water Company lines in Carmel and Clay Township, we took a strong uncompromising position that it was not proper for the City of Indianapolis to have taxing power and control of water lines in the City of Carmel or Clay Township. The City of Indianapolis would have then had the ability to say "NO" to development in Carmel had they chosen to do so. We also purchased Hamilton Western Utility water lines in the northwest portion of Clay Township. This has allowed us to offer our lower City water rates as these areas become part of Carmel. It' s not just our taxes and water rates that are low in Carmel. Sewer rates were lowered to the same level they were 20 years ago while keeping service and quality at our wastewater treatment facility first rate. The plant itself has won the federal EPA's "best in class" award and the laboratory there has won awards of excellence for the past two years. If anyone doubts the need to invest in the best at this facility, just imagine what would happen if we only demanded second best and the system failed us. Our city is also cleaner than it was a few years ago because of the success of our Household Hazardous Waste Facility, which keeps toxins from being dumped in landfills, down our storm sewers or on the ground contaminating our water supply. While many of the projects and investments I have just discussed are not the most visible parts of our City's business, they are among the most important when it comes to your health. Also important to your health are the public safety departments of the City of Carmel, including Police, Fire and the emergency communications dispatch center. We have one of the best-trained and equipped forces in the country. Our Police Department SWAT team took the gold medal at the World Police and Fire Games. And, one of our firefighters was called to train members of the Fire Department of New York City after 9-11 on handling hazardous materials. And, we are the first fire department in the state of Indiana to require our new recruits to become certified as EMT Paramedics within three years of their hiring. We have made sure our officers and their squad cars have the latest technology including in-car cameras and computers. This past year, our firefighters added computers to their vehicles as well. Both the police and fire departments received new software earlier this summer that allowed them to more effectively respond to calls for service through enhanced mapping and the ability to add detailed data bases for specific locations. The Citizens Police Academy continues to educate residents about the duties and responsibilities of our officers. It also forms alliances between the Police Department and the graduates of the class who have a better understanding of the risks and challenges facing our police force each day. This City also attracts many families because we have chosen to make education a priority in Carmel and Clay Township; and it shows. Our schools are among the best in the state. Our 2 students consistently achieve high rankings on state achievement tests. And our nationally recognized, award winning library adds another valuable component to education in our community. In addition to providing strong educational opportunities, a quality lifestyle must also include diverse recreational options. This administration set a goal to bring the number of acres of parkland up to the amount recommended by the national association of park directors for a community our size. We achieved that goal, increasing parkland from 40 to more than 500 acres. This includes the addition of the Morion Greenway, which opened only a year ago. The Monon was a dream come true for many citizens and it is hard to imagine our city without it, yet it did not come easily. Many said we could never make it happen. We worked for years, plowing through the legal jungle of real estate ownership issues with regards to the trail. We were undaunted because we knew the Morion Greenway would offer the kind of recreational opportunities for families, singles and seniors that would help us attract residents to our "City on the Hill." Now that we have the greenway our vision for the future needs to include safe access to the trail for our families from every neighborhood in the community. This includes pedestrian bridges over Keystone Avenue and other improved connections and pathways. We also need to continue developing our parkland to meet the needs of our residents. It will be exciting to see Central Park created based on the community's input and suggestions gathered during the many public meetings help for this purpose. Founders park, at the northwest comer of 116th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway is currently collecting public input for its creation. Other components that add interest and texture to our lives are cultural and entertainment options. City Center is designed to help fulfill these needs. Because we are such a fast growing community, some of you may be new to the area and not know about the City Center project. When visitors to Carmel ask to see our downtown, people respond in a variety of ways. Many have different ideas about where our downtown is located. This public private partnership was designed to give Carmel a downtown. The City purchased about 80 acres, including a mainly abandoned strip mall. We then created a master plan for the redevelopment of the area and went through the bid process to build within the architectural and other guidelines set out in the City's Master Plan designed for City Center. .... ' ' ' n of the partnership By creating an Economic Development D~stnct m th~s area, the City s port~o is paid for solely out of property taxes from businesses in the area that will benefit from the redevelopment. No existing residential property taxes are being used for this project. City Center, located just north of the current Civic Square complex, will include a variety of residential units, restaurants, retail development and office space. In addition, plans call for a Performing Arts Pavilion and a Museum building to bring cultural and entertainment options for families. Soon you will see the completion of the reflecting pond, condominiums and offices just east of the AMLI apartments and townhomes. And, at the northwest comer of 3rd Avenue SW 3 and City Center Drive, more office space will be added. Next spring the retail portion will begin construction on the southwest corner of Range Line Road and City Center Drive. In order to ensure that all of these amenities remain easily accessible, we have invested millions in new and improved roadways such as Hazel Dell Parkway, Pennsylvania Street, City Center Drive, the new Carmel Drive Streetscape, and we have made improvements along Range Line Road and in Old Town. Today, the Hazel Dell project has paid off handsomely with reduced travel time and congestion on Carmel's east side. The bike and walk trails along Hazel Dell provide a valuable recreational resource and our east side neighborhoods have flourished as a result. Our own experience has now shown that the roundabouts on Hazel Dell are far safer than intersections with stoplights. The roundabouts have proved to be a very popular new feature to roads in this area; so much so that we are adding more in our community. In the next few weeks, construction will begin on the roundabout at 106th Street and Gray Road. We are also planning to add them to the intersections of 131st and 136th Streets and Springmill Road as well. The increased demands on our street department have caused it to outgrow its old facility in Old Town. A new Street Department maintenance building will be located at 131st Street and Shelbourne Road. In addition, salt storage buildings will be constructed at three locations across our community for quicker access during inclement weather. In the past, the salt trucks had to return to the Street Department facility each time they needed to reload. This will become particularly important as Carmel continues to expand west of US 31. It should be noted that the vision of combining the City of Carmel with Clay Township to create more efficiency in the operation of our government is coming to fruition. This past year, the City Council and executive departments worked together to annex an area roughly from US 31 west to Towne Road, north of 131st Street. This annexation was completed with the cooperation of many homeowners in the area because most will actually pay less for their governmental services after annexation because of our lower City water and sewer rates. This is all part of the careful planning that must take place as we continue to grow. Special consideration must be given to planning and zoning in our community. It has allowed us to create an attractive city, which continues to draw new corporate headquarters even during this time of recession. During the past month we have welcomed the corporate headquarters of ITT Educational Services and Allete Automotive Services to Carmel. They both chose to locate on our US 31 Meridian Street Corridor, which initially will bring more than 600 new jobs to Carmel. This area is home to the second largest concentration of office workers in the state of Indiana. This doesn't happen by accident. We decided that to attract quality companies we needed to offer them a professional location with a high quality life style and workforce from which to draw employees. Some of you may be new to the community, so you don't remember the run-down health hazard that was the Carmel Motel, located on the northern edge of the Meridian Street Corridor. It was not easy to close this motel. However, we dedicated ourselves to making this take place and when the opportunity presented itself, we enlisted the help of other agencies to make it happen and today, the residents in that area are free from the worries, health risks and crime that the Carmel Motel attracted. The most challenging accomplishments often bring the sweetest successes. There will always be tough choices that face leaders in our community and we must not yield to pressures when we know we are on the right track. After all, there is strong competition for us when it comes to attracting economic development opportunities and we must ensure that our community is ready for the challenge. We need to understand that our main competition is not local, but comes from other cities like Carmel located at the edge of larger metropolitan areas across the country. I have heard from many business leaders that the thing that draws them to Carmel is its quality of life. Without it, they would not be able to attract professional employees to their companies because it is not just the employee who decides to move to Carmel for a job opportunity, but the employee's whole family. Our attention to city design, planning and zoning, along with our strong public education system, quality private education options, award-winning public library, family atmosphere, warm community spirit, and a safe environment are all part of what makes Carmel that "city on the hill." One can't underestimate the power of aesthetic appeal when attracting businesses and residents to Carmel. Visitors to our city comment on its cleanliness, the graceful architecture of the civic buildings, the well-designed and landscaped roadways and parkways and the charm of the Old Town area. They may not realize why our city seems more attractive than others, but they recognize it when they see it. The troth is that we have paid attention to details and we need to continue to pay attention to the way our City is built. One detail that you may think goes unnoticed, but makes quite a bit of difference is visual clutter. We get teased a lot about the strict guidelines of our sign ordinance in Carmel. However, you will not see any billboards in our community and we believe our street signs are more easily read because they are not hidden behind row after row of retail ads and signage that you see in most other cities. Another area of our City where one can see the impact of paying attention to detail is Old Town. Property values have risen in the Old Town area of Carmel. This is due in part to the improvements we have made to water lines and storm sewers to improve services. However, a greater force behind the increased property values and renewed interest in redevelopment in the area has been the visual changes. New curbs, sidewalks and streets have brick accents at crosswalks. Lighting and signage was designed to reflect a historic feel. Baskets of flowers are hung from the light poles throughout the Old Town area to add warmth and color. It is not any one of these items, but the combination that has created a district ripe for redevelopment. To further encourage the private sector to take an interest in the area, we entered into a public- private partnership. The city purchased the land and prepared it for redevelopment. AMLI Residential is now in the process of creating a retail and residential community there. Redevelopment, due to the problems of land assemblage, can only be done on a wide scale ~hrough these public-private partnerships. Economic development is not just about attracting companies through business incentives, it is · "' n hill." Everyone looks at their city from their own porch. If that about creating that c~ty o the already have looks good, then the city looks good. We need to find ways to improve what we going for us and make it better. That is why keeping up the quality of our neighborhoods is so important to the overall success of our City. The creation of Crimewatch neighborhoods and the Carmel Neighborhood Association Network are just a few ways residents get to know each other better and help keep our developments safe and well maintained. Today, it would not be proper to fail to stress the excellence, passion and dedication exhibited by the employees of our city. We are fortunate to have employees who share a strong work ethic, a genuine enjoyment of doing a job well, and a belief that they ARE making a difference. Their individual commitment to excellence and passion to help this City succeed results in creative, caring and productive contributions to our quality of life. Everything we, as City administrators and you, as residents and business owners, do to improve Carmel helps create the foundation from which our community grows and prospers. While attracting businesses is key to our economic growth, retaining those businesses is key to our survival. We all must be active participants in this process. I know some of you already are. Many of our best ideas have come from emails and conversations with residents who "had an idea" that we were able to implement or build upon. We are blessed to live in a community where our citizens have such a rich vibrant knowledge and depth of understanding. That is why, when we work together, we can ensure that Carmel is the best place to live, work and raise a family. We must continually strive to become that "city on the hill." We can all contribute as active residents in a wide variety of ways. Follow the suggestion of the senior George Bush as he encouraged the citizens of this great nation to shine like a thousand points of light. You may chose to volunteer with the Interfaith Hospitality Network to help care for the homeless, coach your daughter's Dad's Club team, plant trees on Arbor Day, become a Monon Trail Blazer or help coordinate one of our community events. All of your efforts help create the kind of community we will remember with affection. After all, if you were looking for a place to move your family, wouldn't you want a place where wonderful memories could be made? We want those memories to be filled with images of warm summer nights spent at Gazebo concerts dancing with friends, bike rides on the Morion under a canopy of green or the brilliant colors of autumn, Saturdays spent buying fresh produce at the Farmer's Market or on the sports fields cheering your favorite team, and simply feeling safe in your own neighborhood. 6 It is the spirit, character and personality each of us br/ngs to this city that makes it a community; much like your family makes your house a home. I would encourage each of you to be an active participant in the development of our City. Only together can we make Carmel that shining ~city on the hill."