State of the city speeches are typically by-the-numbers presentations, even when the presenter is a quintessential communicator such as Mayor Pam Iorio. Where else can you combine stormwater sediment trap projects, an important new (New Tampa) traffic-signal installation and the elimination of 200 parking meters (Ybor City) with the groundbreaking of museums (art and children’s) and the grand opening of a history center?
And it’s an ideal forum — with city council sitting behind you – to underscore your big agenda items – such as moving to light rail, going green and pushing the aesthetic virtues and pragmatic value of the cultural arts. In fact, the mayor gave a notable shout out to council for adopting a land-use plan that – for the first time – recognizes the role of transit in reshaping the community.
In previous years, there were more seats than there were sitters. This year, however, the city-employee-skewed crowd at the Tampa Convention Center (Ballroom D) was standing room only.
The mayor took note. And knew why. The economy. Jobs. Anxiety. Rumors. A sense that the rules were changing. That some perverse occupational rubicon was being crossed. The city’s workforce has dropped by 8 percent in the last two years. Next year’s budget is already projected to fall short by more than $30 million.
This would be no off-the-rack, state of the city address. No mere paean to the usual progress.
The mayor wears many hats. Among them: the chapeau of the Reassurer-in-chief.
“I think more city employees are here because they want to hear directly – no filters, no rumors,” said Iorio. “And I’m glad they’re here. I wanted to thank them personally for what they do.” And she did.
She also reminded them that even during a “severe budget challenge,” the city was “sensitive to the issue of job loss. There will be,” she underscored, “no drastic measures.
“We are careful, methodical and we plan for the long term,” stressed Iorio. She also implored employees to continue to come to work each day “with the same sense of dedication. Do not be fearful. Don’t listen to rumors.”
“We will continue to protect services and protect our employees,” she promised. And not “overpromise.”
“We keep our word,” said Iorio. “We do business the right way. We believe in transparent government.”
She also put the city into a bigger context. “Truly, we are in a time of new realities,” she assessed. “We’ve had recessions before, but this one is different – in scale, scope and size.” It has no “easy fix,” she pointed out.
Iorio used the “new realities” metaphor to reiterate her mass transit mantra: “Light rail: Where it goes, so goes smart investment.”
And as for auto reliance and suburban sprawl? She clearly believes it’s no viable way of life for the 21st century.
“It’s a pattern of growth that’s not sustainable,” asserted Iorio. “Thinking like the past won’t cut it.”
She also waxed hopeful that if a one-cent sales tax hike for transit is on the 2010 ballot, it will get passed. As it is, only Tampa and Detroit – among major metro areas – are without meaningful mass transit. Iorio made it clear that she wanted the Hillsborough County Commission to do the right thing – and put the light-rail tax on next year’s ballot.
“I think the voters have been well ahead of the politicians on this issue,” she opined.
And sounding less like a mayor and more like a candidate for something else, she then noted the rent in America’s societal fabric. We have “lost a lot of trust in our institutions,” she said – enumerating bond-rating agencies, companies “too big to fail” and formerly sacrosanct pension and annuity investments.
“A lot of that trust is gone,” said Iorio. “That’s the job the president has – rebuilding trust.
“Our country has gotten away from (trust), but not here in our city,” she said. Iorio then segued into bullet points from a decreasing crime rate to an increasingly clean city to Super Bowl expenditures that came in ($400,000) under budget. “We work every day to gain trust,” she said.
Iorio also decried the national mania for equating “self worth” with “net worth.” “Our nation is truly troubled if that’s how we calculate our net worth,” she said.
“We keep investing in underground pipes, cultural assets and schools that we partner with,” pointed out Iorio. “I see people stepping up to help a neighbor. I see activism at new heights. Our net worth has nothing to do with a brokerage statement. Our net worth as a city is very high. Are there problems? ‘Yes.’ Are they insolvable? ‘No.’
“Our city stands strong,” stated Iorio. “We are the city of Tampa, and that means something.”
No Teleprompter
By all accounts, this was Mayor Pam Iorio’s most challenging state of the city speech. It had, of course, everything to do with the global recession and a Sunshine state sans a “stable source of revenue.” And the reality for municipalities such as Tampa means being forced into budget-cutting mode. Job/position and service losses inevitably result from declining tax collections.
The mayor conceded the national and statewide economic realities — “not good on many levels” – and contrasted it with a can-do work ethic and a smart-growth agenda for Tampa. Light rail – and the growth it can spawn and the sort of businesses it can help attract – was a major theme.
So, was the mayor burning the midnight oil to prepare for her state-of-the-crucible pep talk? Hardly.
“Normally I see a prepared version that I can e-mail out,” said Liana Lopez, the mayor’s director of public affairs. “Not this time. As far as I know, she’s been working off 3×5 cards.”
Actually, not even that.
For what those in attendance were according high marks for its interwoven themes and mix of grim reality and Iorion optimism was actually on a single piece of paper no more than 2 inches by 4 inches. With bullet-point themes inked in.
“I do better this way,” said the mayor. “I’m much more at ease.”
It was vintage Iorio. And it had to be.