PUBLIC SAFETY

Without safe streets, there is no community.

Today, New York is the safest large state in the nation. But as Upstate mayors, police chiefs and prosecutors know too well, not all parts of the State have shared that progress. In Buffalo, Rochester, Poughkeepsie and Utica, violent crime rates in 2006 were the highest those cities had seen in almost a decade. The good news is that, over the last twelve months, we have begun to reverse that trend. With local police and sheriffs, we have used a data driven crime-fighting strategy, called IMPACT. High-tech analysis helps supplement old-fashioned police work.

We have measured the effect of our efforts, and early numbers give us reason for hope. The first 11 months of 2007 saw violent crimes decrease by 10 percent in the IMPACT cities. In Buffalo, for example, homicides were down over 30 percent with violent crime in Niagara Falls down 19 percent.

But this is just the start. Nothing makes a neighborhood feel safer than a cop on the corner. I have directed Acting State Police Superintendent Felton to identify 200 troopers who can be redeployed to those communities with the greatest pockets of violence. Upon the request of mayors and police chiefs, we will be there to help. We won’t supplant local law enforcement, but we’ll support it standing together in the fight against crime.

I would like to note in particular my appreciation for Senator Dale Volker’s many years of leadership on this issue. He has always recognized that in many Upstate communities, troopers can and should be the first line of defense against crime.

We need other law enforcement tools as well. I ask that you pass my proposal to create a full DNA databank and a commission to review wrongful convictions. And I will propose that we give our district attorneys more help in protecting domestic violence victims, sexually exploited children, and witnesses who testify against violent criminals.

In today’s troubled world, safety also means vigilance against terrorism. That is why we have directed our National Guard to assist in protecting our subways and MTA systems. We created “New York Alert,” a real-time, web-based system to alert motorists, home owners and communities of impending disasters. It has a million subscribers already, and we have expanded it to many of our State’s campuses, so that we can prevent tragedies like the one we witnessed at Virginia Tech. We know we are a target. We must be the hardest target possible, poised to prevent, and prepared to respond.

PARKS AND PUBLIC SPACES

Open space clean, safe, attractive parks are a third building block for livable communities. New York State once led the nation, creating America’s first network of state parks. A peaceful park is not just a place for a picnic, it is an economic asset. It draws families to neighborhoods and businesses to communities. I propose $100 million in capital spending to revitalize our aging systems.

In what will be the first major investment in our parks leading up to the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s first voyage up the river that bears his name today, I am announcing the State’s commitment to transform the dormant Poughkeepsie Rail Bridge into an awe-inspiring historic park, complete with a walkway and bikeway that will create a unique public space with breathtaking views of the Hudson. When it was built in 1888, the bridge in typical New York style was the longest bridge in the world, an engineering marvel. For the last three decades, however, the bridge has sat empty and unused. As a new pedestrian bridge over the Hudson, it will allow New Yorkers to connect to the history and natural beauty of our State, and draw them to Poughkeepsie, Kingston, and surrounding communities.

… … …

So that is our program for this year.

To create more and better jobs upstate, I will send you a billion dollar revitalization plan. To educate our young men and women for the global economy, we’re going to fully fund our schools and make them accountable. We will create a $4 billion endowment for SUNY and CUNY, so that they can hire new professors, stimulate cutting-edge research, and join the ranks of the greatest universities in the world. To ensure that every New York child has health care coverage, we will fully fund the State Child Health Insurance Program, offering coverage to working parents that the federal government has refused to extend. To create safe neighborhoods, we will use new computer technology to target crime in Upstate cities, and redeploy 200 State troopers to help fight it. To hold the line on taxes, I will propose no tax increase, more property tax relief, mandate relief, and a smart, fair property tax cap.

And there are items from the past year that we have not finished. We did not complete our work on paid family leave, the Healthy Schools bill, reforming the Wicks Law, or campaign finance reform. Let us come together and pass these bills.

We can work together for the common good, despite any political or personal differences, and we must. More than two centuries ago, after one of the most bitter and divisive presidential elections in our history, Thomas Jefferson issued a call to unity between the two major parties of his day, by saying, “We are all republicans, we are all federalists.” We in this chamber are all New Yorkers. We are all upstaters, we are all downstaters. We are urban and suburban, rural and small town. We are Albany and Buffalo, Glens Falls and Manhattan, Elmira and Pleasantville. We have work to do, a lot of work, for the people who sent us here. That must be our shared determination, our only commitment, and our guiding star.

Nor can we let ourselves be paralyzed by challenging fiscal times. Some of our nation’s and State’s greatest triumphs have come out of bold decisions made during difficult circumstances. New York’s constitution was written when we were fighting for our very existence. It was at the height of the Civil War that Congress passed the Land Grant College Act, and authorized the construction of a transcontinental railroad. And it was during not after World War II that we passed the G.I. Bill. Our state and our nation have always used times of challenge to expand and invest in our democracy. I believe we can and must do so today.

I began by mentioning Henry Hudson and I’d like to conclude with him. Four hundred years ago, he sailed up the river on a wooden ship powered only by the wind, and guided only by a sense of possibility. What New Yorkers have since built along the river the buildings, rails and roads that we see today recount in bricks, mortar, and steel the story of the four centuries of growth since Hudson’s trip: whaling towns, old steamboat landings, grand railroad bridges, interstate highways, and now Stewart Airport. Each successive generation has added its own sense of possibility. Today, coursing through the heart of our State, the river reveals who we are. We are dreamers, visionaries, environmentalists, and builders of the first order.

If we embrace those traits that have long defined New Yorkers determination, pragmatism, optimism, compassion and good hard work we too can make that journey to a better New York.

Join me in good faith. I will meet you with an open hand, an open door, and an open mind. For we will realize this opportunity best if we work together in a spirit of cooperation.

That is the journey to which we rededicate ourselves. It is a journey I look forward to our making, together.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the great State of New York.