2019 Annual Report
"We have a window of opportunity before us–a responsibility right now—to keep working together to drive Syracuse to its best days ever."—Mayor Ben Walsh, 2019 State of the City Address
Dear Syracuse,
This year we have seen a great deal of progress on our vision of becoming a growing city that embraces diversity and creates opportunity for all. We have seen how working together and establishing unprecedented partnerships in the public, private and non-profit sectors can provide the fuel for our city to surge ahead. And we have seen how a simple change in mindset, from “we can’t” to “we can,” can fundamentally change the way in which the rest of the world views us, and how we view ourselves.
In this annual report, you will find a summary of the work done over the past year to advance the following four objectives, which we use to guide our work and measure our performance.
- Achieve fiscal sustainability
- Increase economic investment and neighborhood stability
- Provide quality constituent engagement and response
- Deliver city services efficiently, effectively, and equitably
As my third year in office begins, I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the last two years. Since launching Syracuse Surge just one year ago, we’ve seen unprecedented investment from corporate giants like JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and Verizon, as well as job creation and growth from local companies like JMA Wireless and Bankers Healthcare Group. Our public partners bought in as well, as evidenced by New York State’s support of the Tech Garden expansion, and the proposed regional Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) high school and workforce training center.
There is much work to be done, however, and I am more focused than ever on the challenges in front of us. We must continue to keep our city government on the path towards fiscal sustainability, and improve the way in which we deliver city services to those that need them most. We still have far too many of our families in Syracuse living in poverty, and while the barriers to progress are still daunting, I continue to believe they are not insurmountable.
Powered by working together and buoyed by our recent progress and growing partnerships, we are presented with a window of opportunity that we must continue to seize. As always, I am grateful for the honor to serve as mayor of the City of Syracuse and I look forward to the bright future ahead of us.
Sincerely,
Ben Walsh
Mayor