Mayor Leppert's 2009 State of the City Address

MAYOR’S ADDRESS
2009 State of the City Address
September, 15, 2009

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert upbeat in state of the city address
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 16, 2009
By RUDOLPH BUSH / The Dallas Morning News

Mayor Tom Leppert spent Tuesday touting Dallas and the achievements of his administration in two speeches that portrayed the city as an island of economic progress in a time of turmoil.

During a state of the city address before the Dallas Regional Chamber, Leppert urged businesses to come to a growing city that he said had reduced its crime rate, improved its schools and become a leader on environmental concerns during his two years in office.

"While many regions in this country feel that the best is behind them, here in Dallas, the best is ahead," he said.

In the afternoon, Leppert stood at the groundbreaking of the city-owned convention center hotel downtown, and cited it as a measure of how far Dallas has come.

"This is a day, needless to say, that many people never thought would come to pass," Leppert said of the controversial hotel project that was nearly killed in a May referendum.

The hotel was about keeping Dallas competitive with other cities and strengthening its downtown, he said.

Though the hotel plan was attacked as too costly and too risky to taxpayers during a bruising and personal campaign funded by hotelier Harlan Crow, Leppert brushed the criticism aside as an effort to hold the city back.

He praised those who supported the project for vision and commitment, and received praise in turn for leading the effort to build the $550 million hotel with city-issued revenue bonds.

City officials remain confident the hotel will pay for itself. Mike Deitemeyer, president of operator of Omni Hotels, told the crowd at the groundbreaking that the hotel had already generated commitments of $50 million.

Council member Ron Natinsky also hinted that the city soon will announce private development plans for 2 acres at the site that are not needed for the hotel.

The hotel's groundbreaking was just the latest in a series of events that city officials have celebrated.

The opening of DART's Green Line, the groundbreaking of the Woodall Rodgers deck park, the announcement that AT&T will purchase naming rights to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts and plans for a nature and science museum at Victory Park would be major events in and of themselves.

But all have occurred this week, and just in time for Leppert's address to the chamber and his pitch to companies across the country.
During the state of the city speech, the mayor held up one of the many iPhones he plans to send to chief executives across the country, urging them to relocate to Dallas and giving them the personal cellphone numbers of top local executives.

"We have a unique opportunity to build an even stronger economy, deepening our tax base and providing jobs for people," he said.

Leppert said he is committed to not raising taxes in the city because its stable tax rate and low cost of living, coupled with the state's limited regulations, make Dallas attractive for business relocations.

He hinted that other companies, including a Fortune 500 company on the East Coast, are considering relocations based on the good things Dallas has to offer.

His message was warmly received by the crowd at the Sheraton Hotel downtown, even if his enthusiasm at times bordered on hyperbole.

At one point, Leppert said Dallas was home to the nation's best restaurants, something a few other cities would be quick to contest.

He also pledged that the city will overcome all obstacles to complete the Trinity River project and build a controversial toll road.

The road's construction is not in the hands of City Hall, but federal regulators who are concerned about its impact on the city's flood control. Its price tag, meanwhile, is growing.
But Leppert, who is rumored to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate, saw no obstacles too large for Dallas or his agenda Tuesday.

It was confidence and assurance, he told his audiences, that had led the city so far in the last two years.

"Unless we had the belief, the optimism that we could move forward, then we were falling short, both to those that had given so much to build this city but also to the people that would follow," he said.