The State of the City - 2012 - Part 1
• FIRST OF TWO PARTS
HALLANDALE BEACH - Last week I had the opportunity to address 100 stakeholders in our city; business owners, citizens and staff at an event open to the public and hosted by the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce. The following is the speech I delivered that will be covered in two parts. It is in speech form.
Thank you all for taking time out of your busy work schedule to attend today’s luncheon and listen to my State of the City Address. I want to thank Patricia and the Chambers staff for once again organizing this event and offering me an opportunity to talk about a job that I truly enjoy doing. I am especially happy to have an opportunity to talk about a place I love and call home - Hallandale Beach! I also want to extend a special thanks to Mardi Gras and their superb staff! Your gracious service and hospitality is truly appreciated.
I had an opportunity this January to represent Hallandale Beach at the US Conference of Mayors. It is an honor and a wonderful experience to share best practices and ideas with fellow mayors around the country.
Mayors are a unique group of people. No matter what size city, what state, East Coast, West Coast, every Mayor shares the same common goal of protecting and serving their residents. We also share a common desire to learn from one another and collaborate on a national level to address many issues including education, environment, job growth, small and large business development and infrastructure.
At this year's conference one of the keynote speakers was Thomas L. Friedman. You may not recognize his name but you may recognize the title of one of his famous books “The World Is Flat”. This book was published back in 2005 and the topic was how the new Internet was changing the world and moving us all towards globalization.
Between you and me, I was not too thrilled with hearing Thomas Friedman speak. I am not too happy with the direction the world has taken since his first book. I looked at my colleague across the table and jokingly said isn’t this is the guy that ruined the world and made it flat. At that time the United States was the leader in the global economy. We loved globalization.
What happened in the technology world since then did not only change the world but changed every corner of the world. According to the International Telecommunication Union ITU an agency of the United Nations, today the population of the world is current 6.8 billion in 2010 there were over 4.6 billion cell phones worldwide. Two thirds of the world's population has access to technology. 23% of the globe uses the Internet. So not only is the world now flat, it is truly connected village to village.
Freidman shared his views about not only how we are connected, but the fact that we are hyper connected. By now I know many of you have already checked that new email, text or tweet that came in on your phone. Let's face it, we are hooked and some of us know now how valuable a tool technology is, so long as you are brave enough to try. Just ask a kid they will help you out. It has become a required tool in our daily lives.
Every day individuals across the globe in far corners are connecting through the Internet. Collaborations are taking place between individuals, not across town but across nations. Young entrepreneurs are collaborating, sharing new ideas and finding new ways to deliver services to customers not simply in the US but around the globe. Ordering goods and services has become as easy as surfing the web. I have even succumb to the necessity to have Facebook, LinkedIn, text and tweets. I haven’t mastered Skype yet.
Friedman discussed this topic in his new book; That Us To Be Us: How America fell behind in the world it invented. The same country that created microchips in Silicon Valley exported the technology around the world that is now being used around world is slipping behind, we have lost our drive and desire to educate, work hard and invest. The same thing that made us strong, Made in America was exported over a flat world and we need to get back.
There is one quote he shared with us from his book and it is so true. He goes on to say, “that in 2005 Facebook didn't even exist, for most people twitter was still a sound, the cloud was something in the sky, 3G was a parking space, applications were what you sent to college and Skype was a typo.
Not surprisingly, he goes on to explain that while other countries are focusing on education building infrastructure and creating products America has lost its edge. His speech really inspired everyone. He affirmed what the mayors of the US have been talking about and doing back home for years, despite inaction on the national and state levels.
We get it! We have to because we deliver services on a daily basis. He went on to discuss the political climate and the lack of true national leadership. That's not what I would like to focus on today. You will have to buy his book or should I say down load it on your Kindle. I do want to focus on one of chapters in the beginning of his book and right on point for local government, If you see something, say something! Of course that really means text it, email it or tweet it in today’s sense.
Americans are finally getting it; they're getting fed up with inaction, the lack of jobs and the bad economy. More and more people are engaging in democracy and the Democratic process. And due to technology they're doing it in lightning speed.
During the conference the Occupy Congress Movement began a protest outside of the building while the mayors were meeting. I was quite intrigued to find out what was going. A colleague of mine and I went outside to watch the Occupy Movement and all the action taking place outside. There were all types of individuals; young, old, from all walks of life. All they wanted to do was speak with the mayors. My friend and I spoke with a young couple from California and soon a crowd gathered. They were well organized, well spoken and very civil.
We shared that we supported their efforts against corporate greed and changes to the constitution, that only living breathing beings are individuals. They thanked us for our comments and we proceeded to walk back to the side entrance. What happened next is what really impressed me, and provided a glimpse of how the powerful technology is and hyper connected we really are. Within matter of minutes ½ a block away there was the other group cheering us on that already knew our names and where we were from. It's all thanks to tweets!
Those of you that have gotten to know me understand that in that in addition to being hyper or should I say hyper connected, I am really motivated to work on making things better. But we all need to do this collaboratively. It goes back to, if you see something, say something. It goes back to communication and technology. We know how busy people are, but it is up to all of us to help our city. When an issue is brought up and someone says something it provokes action to solve the problem. We just do it a little differently now; we call on a cell phone, we text, we e-mail.
Today I'm here to deliver to you my thoughts on the State of the City, but I am also going to ask you to do something along with every resident, get engaged in the community. Help improve the city in which you live work and play. You're doing it today as part of the chamber but it also needs to be done every day.
Let me know what we can do better. Everyone here knows that I'm accessible and most importantly dedicated to helping solve problems no matter how big or small, if it is important to you it is important to me. If you see something, say something!
The State of Our City great! We are so different compared too many other cities around the State and country. This has been accomplished with good fiscal policy and planning. Many are raising taxes lying off employees and cutting services.
This past fiscal budget we kept the tax rate the same at 5.90 mills. Over the past three years we have maintained this tax rate even in light of an overall reduction in revenues of over $8 million since 2008. It should be note that we have lowered the millage a full mill over the past years. We lost revenues but we maintained or increased the level of service that our citizens expect. Most importantly we have not lost sight of the need for continued investment in our infrastructure.
To be continued next week!
Please feel free to contact me at anytime with your questions and concerns. I can be reached at 954-457-1318, cell/text 954-632-5700 or e-mail me at www.MayorJoyCooper.com
I want to thank all the Senior Partners that reached out to me on February 6th ! That Monday I called staff and went to work on making sure this program was kept in our city. Thursday the 9th I spoke with Steve Sampier and confirmed his interest in placing the program at our Hallandale Beach Cultural Center. The same evening City Manager Antonio and I spoke directly with Frank Sacco CEO of the Hospital District and confirmed that city would welcome the Senior Partners to our Center.
On February 13th I raised the issue with the city commission and they agreed with donating space to the Senior Partners. The programs have already started with the schedule as follows;
Mah Jong Mondays& Tuesdays 11:30-2:30 : Bridge Wednesdays 1:00-4:00 and Bingo on Thursdays 1:00-4:00 . Staff will be adding Movies on Fridays in April and Steve Sampier is already working on arranging for the addition of the other programs including Zumba Dance Lessons and other classes. I want to thank City Manager Mark Antonio, Jennifer Frastai and Rebecca Munden-Correa and especially Senior Partners and Memorial for working so quickly on getting this new partnership up and running.
