Inaugural Address of Mayor Timothy Stewart

November 15, 2005

Thank you Mayor McNamara. Thank all of you for your warm welcome.

Good morning and thank you to all of the residents of New Britain who supported me in this year's election. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Unaffiliated voter, from the former mayors and other city leaders who supported me to the hard working people who worked the polls and phones on election day, I thank you one and all for placing your confidence in me to continue running this great city for two more years.

But most of all, I want to thank my family for their love and support that has kept me going these past two years and especially during these past few months of the campaign.

My beautiful wife Patricia, my son Kevin, my daughter Erin, mom, dad, my mother-in-law, and the rest of my relatives, thank you all for your constant support and confidence you have placed in me.

Some of you may be asking why we chose this place in which to hold the swearing in ceremony this year. We chose this wonderful building, Trinity on Main, for this historic occasion because it is one of the cultural centerpieces of the rebirth of New Britain's downtown.

In the years ahead, as our downtown becomes a place for people to come to be entertained, to eat and shop, Trinity on Main will be one of the key places to visit. And so, I believe it is a most appropriate location for today's ceremony.

Two years ago, I stood before you and promised that I would work to make New Britain a better place. I promised to lower property taxes, to control spending, to work hard to promote economic development, to create new jobs and, most importantly, to open government to the citizens of New Britain. I believe that we have succeeded on all of those fronts. But, there is still much more to be done.

So many times people have said to me that they remember what New Britain used to be like when all the factories were here and Main Street was filled with people every day.

I know that we all would like New Britain to be the city it once was with a bustling downtown filled with stores and shops and places to eat and drink. We would all like to have those good old days again. But, times have changed, events have occurred that changed what New Britain once was and it has taken a very long time to come to the realization that we must begin anew and attempt to reinvent this great city from its core in order to be successful.

But we have opportunities before us to build a new and a better New Britain.

We have a city that is a good place to live and work and raise a family; a city that provides outstanding educational opportunities for our children and a safe environment in which we all can live.

We have a city that offers more opportunities for employers to build and to grow and create new jobs for our residents.

We have a city where our parks are filled with people enjoying picnics and playing ball or just taking a leisurely walk.

We have a city where neighbors look out for one another and where we feel we are part of a vibrant community.

In the past two years, many great steps have been taken to begin some of this rebuilding process. From the Smart Park developments to Papa's Dodge, to the new hotel and restaurant on Columbus Boulevard, much has been accomplished. But, there is much more to be done.

Main Street is looking better now that the old Greenfield's has been demolished.

We have plans in the works for a new police station in the center of town to provide a state of the art home for our public safety professionals who serve this city so well.

There is a new market opening right next door to this building to serve the people who live and work downtown.

The future of our downtown is brighter with a pending contract with a firm that is experienced in urban planning and revival to develop a plan of action for the rebuilding and revitalizing of our central city.

And we have plans for many other developments in the near future including upgrading the gateway to our city on South Main Street with new commercial buildings; a major land swap with the State of Connecticut on Hartford Road which will enable us to work with developers looking for prime land in New Britain; and we intend to market the Smart Park properties aggressively in the coming months in order to bring additional business and development to our city.

Above all, we have a commitment from the State of Connecticut to transfer 60 acres of land from the Pinnacle Heights housing project to use for economic development. This will represent the largest economic development opportunity for the city since the development of the John Downey Drive industrial park more than 30 years ago.

As far as education is concerned, I pledge today my commitment to work closely with the Board of Education and the administration to enhance the educational opportunities that New Britain offers its students.

Already we have plans in the works for a major expansion to New Britain High School aimed at relieving the overcrowding that our students and faculty must confront every day.

We have plans for opening an alternative behavior center designed to move problem students to a new environment that should offer them the kind of guidance, counseling and tutoring that they require while providing the mainstream students a more stable learning environment.

In addition, I intend to work closely with President Miller and the administration at Central Connecticut State University to help increase the university's presence in our community. CCSU is one of our community's greatest assets and my administration will work to enhance the impact that the university has on the quality of life in New Britain.

As it was in my first term as mayor, the issue of taxes and spending will be my prime concern. Yes, we did cut taxes two years in a row, but we can do more.

We can do more to control city spending and, toward that objective, I intend to propose reorganizing and consolidating city departments to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our city government. Services can be provided in a more cost-effective manner, meaning lower costs to New Britain taxpayers and I intend to make that a priority of my second term.

As I said earlier in my remarks, we have accomplished a great deal in a short time, but much remains to be done. But, with the help and support of the people of New Britain and, with the cooperation of the Common Council, we can and we will make New Britain an even better place.

It is my hope that, in my second term, there can be more cooperation with the Common Council.

At times, it was lonely with no one from my party to speak on the issues. This term will be a little different with three veteran Republican alderman having been elected.

But, I would also offer those from the other party the following: let's try something a little different this time around and put partisanship aside and all work together for the betterment of the community. Maybe then we can make even more progress during the next two years.

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you and to all the citizens of New Britain.

May God bless all of you and may God bless the City of New Britain.

Thank you.