Inaugural Address of Mayor R.T. Rybak of the City of Minneapolis

Monday, January 4, 2010

On the wall outside my office there is a large photo of the first time I stood in this spot.  It was eight years ago at my first swearing-in. The atrium looks pretty much like it does today: The Father of Waters was comfortably resting on his side, surrounded by people in all directions, spread out over all four floors. If you look hard you can see that sitting right up there were Sen. Paul and Sheila Wellstone. The new mayor at the podium looked a little different than he does today: he didn't have a single grey hair. Our kids Charlie and Grace — who today are grown up and back from college — were little kids back then.

I pass that picture every time I walk in or out of my office — maybe a hundred times a week.  But I have to say that from time to time it catches my eye and I try to remember what we were all thinking back then, a rookie mayor, a mostly new city council, and a building full of City employees who didn't really know much about this new crowd in charge. 

 They didn't know what was coming next and, on a lot of levels, neither did we.

 Four years later, we came back to this same spot. The Father of Waters was still here — though tragically, Paul and Sheila Wellstone were not. Those of us being sworn in on that day had been tempered by experience, and had become perhaps a little bruised along the way. We had made some progress, and we could have chosen that time to congratulate ourselves for navigating some very tough waters.   

On that day four years ago, I said that we should be proud of what we accomplished together, but I warned that it wasn't enough — because Minneapolis is not a good city, it is a great city. We needed to reach higher, to take our rightful place as the Great American City of our time.

Then I said:

 "Imagine a city where we can walk safely down every single street and where prosperity reaches every corner. Where you can take a streetcar or a bike or even walk to great jobs and stores nearby. Imagine a city where every kid grows up knowing they can succeed."

So let’s take each of these ideas and ask ourselves: How far have we come in four years? And how much further do we have to go?

"Imagine a city where we can walk safely down every single street…"

Today, we can say that by every measure, Minneapolis is a far safer city than it was four years ago. We have seen dramatic decreases in crime in virtually every category. As many of you know, last year there were fewer homicides in our city than in any year since 1983. But over the last four years, there have been dramatic decreases in every single category of violent crime, including:

This enormous community achievement has involved every police officer, every arm of city government, foundations, businesses, block clubs and hundreds of community volunteers. We should be proud that an entire community has made an entire community far safer.

But we must remember that no level of crime is acceptable. Our challenge will continue to be to mix tough enforcement when necessary with more innovation, such as:

"Imagine a city where prosperity reaches every corner."

For too long, people thought it was just a normal state of affairs that a core city would face greater economic challenges than the suburbs and state that surround it. Well, we just don't buy that in Minneapolis — and we’ve done something about it. 

Four years ago, in the recognition that North Minneapolis was one of the, if not THE, most economically challenged parts of the state, we launched North Force. We focused every part of City government, along with the foundation and business communities, on making North Minneapolis stronger. And today, millions of dollars in new investment are bringing new life onto Broadway and Lowry Avenues.

Four years ago, the unemployment rate was one percentage point higher in the city than in the city. Today, most months of the year Minneapolis is one of the only big cities in America that can boast that unemployment in the core city is lower than in the suburbs — or, for that matter, in the rest of the state.

It’s not an accident. We have trained thousands of people and helped create and place people in thousands of new jobs, from Coloplast to the Global Market, from expansions of long-standing businesses like Standard Heating and Air Conditioning to promising new once like the Holy Land Hummus factory on Central Avenue.

Most city governments are only passive players in job creation. We chose to be an active player, well before the recession. We are creating prosperity — but we are doing it on shifting sands. We are in the middle of an economic meltdown that is only now beginning to turn around … very, very slowly. Creating jobs has always been an important part of our work — but now, jobs has become our most important job.

Our challenge will be to:

"Imagine a city where you can take a streetcar or bike or even walk to great jobs and stores nearby."

We are implementing Access Minneapolis, the most sweeping remake of the way Minneapolis moves — and the way Minneapolis is connected — in more than a generation.

Marquette and Second Avenues have been remade into transit corridors. The Hiawatha light rail line, with two new stations, now connects to the new Northstar Line. Minneapolis is already the second-ranked city in the country for bicycles and we are finally doing comprehensive planning to make Minneapolis a better city for pedestrians.

Along with that visionary work we are investing in the common ground with the Infrastructure Acceleration Program, which over the next four years will resurface or sealcoat one-third of all City-owned arterial streets.

That's a lot. And the temptation is to stop planning for more transportation innovation. But none of that work would have happened if we had listened to those who said we were spending too much time planning for the future.

So let's keep going. Let’s:

And over these four years, let’s put a special focus on the the area around 35W and Lake Street — to create seamless, pedestrian-friendly links between the freeway, Lake Street and the Greenway, and to fix the greatest planning mistake in Minneapolis history by finally reopening Nicollet Avenue.

"A city where every kid grows up knowing they can succeed."

Eight years ago the common way to talk about the kids in Minneapolis was to say: "They are the most diverse generation we have ever raised, they speak 100 languages, they come from all over the world — and that creates tremendous challenges."

But today when we talk about our kids we say: "They are the most diverse generation we have ever raised, they speak 100 languages, they come from all over the world — and that makes them the most valuable generation we have ever raised. In a global world, where the most important asset is to cross cultural barriers, the young people coming out of our schools are our secret weapon. They are the key to our competitiveness."

The change in the way we view our kids has taken place because of the Minneapolis Promise.  This compact has brought together the city and the Minneapolis schools, our foundations, some of our top non-profits — especially Achieve Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and so many Minneapolis businesses.            

The results of the Minneapolis Promise are extraordinary. Since we started:

One of those students is the remarkable young woman, Addisalem Tesfaye, whom we just heard from. She is one of a kind — but she is not alone. There are literally thousands of other young people in this city who are showing that because of the Minneapolis promise, Minneapolis can be a city where every kid grows up knowing they can succeed — and just as importantly, where every kid is expected to succeed.

But the Minneapolis Promise — which is changing thousands of lives and has attracted attention from around the country — faces serious challenges. Our challenge will be to:

We also need to do an even better job of reaching our kids earlier. They face challenges and an uncertain world, so let's give them a head start by better coordinating work like:

The Minneapolis community, which has already done so much to help this next generation, now needs to take the next step —to weave together all these efforts so our entire community supports our young people from the time they are born to the time they are ready for a career.

Four years ago I stood here and asked us to:

"Imagine a city where we can walk safely down every single street and where prosperity reaches every corner. Where you can take a streetcar or a bike or even walk to great jobs and stores nearby. Imagine a city where every kid grows up knowing they can succeed."

A lot has happened since I said those words four years ago.  We survived the collapse of a bridge and the collapse of an economy, and still delivered real results that have made thousands of lives better. Minneapolis is a great city that has proven that we can do great things in spite of a crisis — and sometimes because of one. 

 Some critics will say that an economic crisis is no time to think big, no time to invest, no time to plan for the future. But we have proven them wrong before and it's time to do so again. It’s time to expect more of our work, of ourselves and each other. 

You learn a lot about people when they are in a crisis — and you learn even more about communities.

We have weathered many crises, and each time we came out stronger and reached higher.

Now it’s time to raise the bar again.

We have imagined a great city. Now let’s build one — together.

Last updated Sep. 27, 2011