BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown gave his 14th consecutive State of the City address on Thursday at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.
Brown presented his new plan to grow the job market in Buffalo, unveiling his new economic development plan to engage workforce talent to determine how they can best fit in the city.
“Our ‘Roaring 20’s’ will re-imagine the same spirit of industry, innovation, and achievement that defined our City a century ago," Brown said in a statement. "Today, I will talk about innovation as it relates to economic development, job creation and skills training, technology, efficiency, data and analytics, digital connectivity,and building an Intelligent City.”
The mayor announced a new initiative with the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation for the city called 'Buffalo’s Race for Place', which will be focused on making Buffalo more appealing, innovative and inclusive. The Race for Place will look for opportunities of improvements within the city.
The mayor also thanked developer Douglas Jemal who declined $15 million in tax breaks for the Seneca One Tower. That money is expected to advance vital infrastructure improvements within the city. The City of Buffalo is also planning on putting up $25 million toward the infrastructure fund.
"I want to make it a sense of community. That's what's important. I want it to be contagious so it goes all the way down Main Street and we have a living downtown," said Jemal.
The mayor says he is setting a goal to create more than 2,000 housing units along the Main Street Knowledge Corridor from Canalside to UB’s South Campus. He says he is working with county officials to fill this housing need. More on this project will be announced in the future.
Brown also made a commitment to have 40-percent of housing units in the city stay permanently affordable for people with low to moderate incomes.
The Mayor also announced that The Main Place Mall's owner, Patrick Hotung, plans to transform the building into a state-of-the-art office building.
The city plans to sell the Fernbach Ramp to Main Place Liberty Group for nearly $20M. That money will be used to create affordable mobility solutions for downtown Buffalo.
"Just like the 500 block years ago when people used to go down there before we did cars sharing Main Street, people would say, oh gosh, you know, downtown, this city, this isn't a place necessarily that I want to be. We've fought very hard now to make it a city where people want to be. Pat Hotung sees that. He has the vision as well," says Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning Executive Director Brendan Mehaffy.
In a cost-cutting move, the mayor says they're working with National Grid to purchase the city's street light system. By doing this, the mayor says this will help the city reduce energy and lower costs by replacing with LEDs.
"This will help us to meet our reduced energy goals and lower our costs when lights are replaced with energy efficient LEDs equipped with sensors that will generate real-time data related to weather, parking, traffic, and public safety," says Brown.
The city announced a new alert system designed to keep residents informed, as well as a new plan for the Buffalo Roam Parking App. The alert notification system will be called BUFF ALERT! It will send notifications by email, text or voicemail when there is an emergency, a public service announcement or a special event. You can sign up by texting JOIN BUFF ALERT to 30890.
The mayor also announced Thursday afternoon that part of West Genesee Street between Niagara Square and Franklin will be renamed "Croce Street" to honor developer Mark Croce who died last month in a helicopter crash in Pennsylvania.
You can watch the Mayor's State of the City address here: