Good afternoon and welcome to historic Shea’s Buffalo.
This is an important year in the history of Shea’s. It opened 100 years ago and has stood the test of time as the crown jewel of our theatre district.
This year is not just a celebration of Shea’s past because another 100 years awaits this “Wonder Theatre” after the current $35 million renovation is completed by the end of next year.
Thank you to Brian Higgins for your gracious introduction and already strong stewardship of this important cultural and economic institution for our community.
Erie County is proud to have supported Shea’s through our Cultural Grant process and thanks also goes to Governor Kathy Hochul for her unwavering support and continued belief in Buffalo’s potential and the importance of our cultural institutions as essential drivers of our economy.
Thank you to Msgr. David LiPuma of Our Lady of Victory Basilica for today’s invocation, and for leading OLV through its own massive renovation, which just happens to be the Basilica’s 100th anniversary, as well.
There is a symmetry with both Shea’s and OLV celebrating their 100th birthday this year. Both were built during Buffalo’s heyday, survived difficult periods, and now stand as testaments to the strength of our community, beckoning others to come to this place we call home.
Their history is in many ways a microcosm of Erie County’s history: proud edifices that survived tough times and now shine with the promise of a better future for all.
Thank you to all of you in attendance here or those watching elsewhere. Today I’m pleased to provide this annual update on how our work is going.
In free governments, leaders act in service to the people. You’ve often heard me say that “I have 950,000 bosses,” because I work for all of you.
From our youngest residents to our oldest adults, county government is yours and works for you, representing everyone. And your participation in government is more critical today than ever.
Since my administration’s first day, our goal has been to create the best community we can and to leave the county in better shape than when we started. Not just by providing essential services but by improving people’s lives, our overall quality of life, and providing the programs and services the public wants to create a better, healthier, more cohesive Erie County.
As I will discuss in greater detail, by almost every measure, we have accomplished those goals, and the state of Erie County is strong.
For example, I was first elected comptroller to help clean up the Red-Green fiscal crisis. Back then, our credit rating was just one notch above junk bond status.
When I took over as executive, our rating was better, but still multiple levels lower than today.
I am proud to say Erie County’s AA credit rating is the highest in modern county history.
The increase in our credit rating is significant. We pay less in the long run for any borrowing, resulting in millions of dollars being saved.
It’s not just our credit rating that is better. We now have the lowest tax rate in modern county history, which just happens to be the lowest of all eight counties in western New York.
This did not happen on its own. It happened because of a strong working relationship between my administration and the legislature. I thank Chairman Tim Meyers and all the members of the legislature for working with me and my team to create this strong and financially resilient Erie County. Thank you.
We will continue to be fiscally sound and invest in the programs and services the public not only wants, but deserves, such as high-quality infrastructure, parks, libraries, and cultural institutions.
Infrastructure is the connective tissue of our society, the arteries and bones that conduct commerce, education, healthcare and life in general. When we invest in infrastructure, we are strengthening these connections and creating a more connected community.
Additionally, investing in infrastructure creates jobs and boosts businesses.
Of course, when you think “infrastructure” you think roads. And Erie County has more lane miles of roads than three states, Vermont, Rhode Island and Hawaii, all in this WNY climate that we call home. To say our winter weather can be unforgiving is an understatement, but the rough weather we faced last year now means road work and lots of it.
My administration has annually invested heavily in roads: since 2020, we’ve invested more than a quarter of a billion dollars, 370 million in total since 2016.
This year we will add to those figures by investing more than $50 million in our road and bridge infrastructure countywide, reaching every corner of the county with big and small projects.
We will invest more than twenty million combined in 4 projects to reconstruct McKinley Parkway in Hamburg, William Street in Lancaster, Elmwood Avenue in Tonawanda and Bailey Avenue in Amherst.
Speaking of Amherst, we will invest another three million to complete the renovation of Maple Road from the Flint Road entrance to UB to North Forest Road, including much needed repairs to the bridge over Ellicott Creek.
We will invest another twelve million to rebuild the bridges on Versailles Plank Road in Evans, the Ketchum Road and Bagdad Roads in Collins and Concord Road in Concord.
It is all part of a very large road bridge program that will impact much of Erie County. However, infrastructure in 2026 is more than roads.
Perhaps no pieces of infrastructure are more necessary to sustainable growth than modern, efficient sewers and access to reliable, fast internet.
In 2026, Erie County will begin work on the Transit Road Sewer Upgrades with nearly $30 million in New York State grants to improve and expand lines along Transit Road. This follows Erie County’s prior investment of $3 million to do design work.
Sewers aren’t sexy. However, if we are to spur further economic development, we must invest in these critical improvements.
For example, the state and county’s investments are laying the essential groundwork for Uniland Development’s $250 million plus proposed 100-acre mixed-use town center at the old Eastern Hills Mall site. This project will turn the abandoned mall into an incredible live, work and play home for 4,000 future residents.
Once again, thank you to Governor Kathy Hochul for your commitment to this project, as well as our partners at Uniland and the Town of Clarence for your dedication to seeing this project through. It will be a gamechanger for the area.
Likewise, we will begin the design of the Elma Industrial Corridor Sanitary Sewer Upgrades with $500,000 in investment from New York State. These infrastructure improvements are expected to more than double the wastewater capacity for the corridor and spur further growth by Moog and Steuben Foods, two of the largest employers in our region.
And last but certainly not least, the Southtowns Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility Expansion Project has moved into Phase 2, with a projected investment of 100+ million dollars to complete the project and to modernize the facilities and its expand capacities. This is very important for the growth of our region and because I’ve heard there is a new two billion dollar project opening up not far from the facility.
These clean water investments help to protect our most precious natural resource, a clean Lake Erie, but they are not the only investments we must make.
In today’s information age, reliable Internet service is essential to all. Strong, reliable Internet fosters equality, eliminates information gaps, and levels all playing fields.
The countywide ErieNet open access network is now entering its next stage, with contracts being negotiated with end-users throughout the county. While the work has been methodical and painstaking at times, the need for world class digital infrastructure enabling people to reliably and quickly access services is undiminished.
One of the reasons it has taken longer to construct than we expected is we are required to clean up poles that look like this. That’s the power pole outside my house. It is a lineman’s nightmare. Through the years, quick fixes after storms have left it a Frankenstein monster of a pole.
Unfortunately, we are required to cleanup poles like this before we can string our lines. It has slowed down the process, but I am glad to say the work will be done this year.
Moreover, I am proud to announce Go Net Speed, one of the largest independent internet providers in the Northeast, and Cogent, a national telecom carrier, have each agreed to tap into the ErieNet system to deliver final miles services.
This is what we hoped would happen when we proposed ErieNet: it would increase competition, thereby offering high speed service to more communities, and drive down prices.
ErieNet is a significant part of the digital infrastructure that gives small businesses the tools to grow, students the ability to succeed, and families access to critical services. My administration is proud to have invested in the digital infrastructure that will help all county residents far into the future.
Another key to the growth of our county is ensuring the strength of the city of Buffalo, especially its downtown. As I have said throughout my tenure, you cannot have a strong county if you have a weak city.
That is why we have invested $64 million in projects and infrastructure in Buffalo since 2020.
Look around downtown Buffalo and everywhere you’ll see buildings, establishments, theatres, and facilities that Erie County has invested in through our cultural grant programs, storefront revitalization programs, and capital projects. We have invested in Shea’s, the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, the Colored Musicians Club, the Buffalo Convention Center, and many more downtown sites.
The City of Buffalo is central to much of what the County does. Now we all know the city is facing a significant budget shortfall. This issue did not develop overnight.
I sit on the Buffalo Control Board. For years we have been noting the looming fiscal storm, and now the storm is here.
I commend Mayor Sean Ryan and his team for taking the actions necessary to right the city’s fiscal ship. They may not be popular but are necessary after years of mismanagement and disinvestment have taken their toll. We all deserve a city we can be proud of, not a city being held together by duct tape and band-aids.
Erie County once went through a similar financial crisis and proved you can rebuild from rock bottom. Now it’s the city’s turn to do the same.
However, even if the city fixes its financial house, we are still facing a significant problem downtown because less people working downtown means less business for restaurants, bars and our entertainment district.
That is why my administration is working with business, not-for-profit, and other governmental leaders to create a more vibrant downtown – a place where people want to come.
It is why I am so excited to welcome Ingram Micro to downtown, and finally see our Buffalo Sabres back in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Nothing is as exciting as playoff hockey, both on and off the ice. Downtown is abuzz with activity and we need to keep it that way.
So, to our Sabres, continued good luck to you on your march to the Cup, and to the rest of us, let’s keep up the work to ensure when people think of having a fun time, they think downtown first.
Buffalo is the beating heart of our county. Investing in its future makes sense for all of Erie County, and that’s what we will do.
Erie County’s industrial development arm has been flexing its muscle as well, to the benefit of all county residents. In 2025, the ECIDA actions incentivized 14 projects that will create $728 million in private investment, more than double the prior year’s $314 million in investment.
Those 14 projects will create a combined 562 new full-time jobs, retain another 2,111 jobs, and result in 2,157 construction jobs along the way.
For example, Big Heart Pet Brands, a division of the Smuckers Company, is investing $52.7 million to modernize and expand their 550,000 square foot facility in Buffalo.
Eaton Mission Systems, a subsidiary of Irish global conglomerate Eaton, will invest $21 million to expand its Orchard Park facility, ensuring the future of 453 full-time jobs, while adding another 77.
Pfannenberg, a German company, will invest $15.8 million to keep their North American headquarters here in Alden, creating 23 new jobs in the process.
IMA Life, an Italian company, was so pleased with the construction of its new $33 million North American headquarters facility in Tonawanda, that it invested another $12.5 million to expand it, adding another 40 jobs on top of the 30 that were recently created, and the original 120 it had here.
Finally, Abnex, a subsidiary of German company Niedex, broke ground on a $15 million renovation and addition to their advanced manufacturing plant in Buffalo, and they did it without tax breaks.
These are all examples of the growth of our region, and in many ways, the last four projects are an example of the promise of America.
Foreign companies, like people, want to be here.
Michael Shea’s family immigrated here for a better life, drawn by the promise of America, and we are all better for it.
Eaton, Pfannenberg, IMA, and Abnex could be anywhere else, but they chose our county, attracted by our talent, work ethic, and the promise of a better future.
The history of Erie County is but a sample of the promise of America. The Erie Canal brought millions of people to our community, many passing through, but all with aspirations of a better future for themselves: the American Dream.
The grain and steel mills, harnessed by the new power of electricity, built our region into an economic powerhouse. While our local economy has taken its blows, it has changed for the better by diversifying its economic sectors such that a blow to one does not bring down the entire region.
The proof is in the pudding: the gross domestic product of Erie County was $81 billion in 2024.
That is greater than the individual GDP for the states of Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Montana and Alaska. Our GDP is also greater than countries such as Tunisia, Jordan, Latvia, Estonia, Bolivia, Iceland and dozens more.
That is what we have built in Erie County and will continue to grow during these final twenty months of my administration.
One way we will do that is by restructuring our Department of Environment and Planning. DEP, as we call it, was created in the 1970s when Erie County was at the forefront of environmental movement, enforcing actions against those who would pollute our environment, as well as to be the location of regional planning entity for our community.
Since the enforcement power now lies with New York’s DEC, we no longer do environmental compliance. Additionally, though we tried to create a regional planning board, one was never created, though it still should be, meaning the department really doesn’t do a lot of traditional planning.
That’s why I propose restructuring the department to focus on what it really does well: promote community and economic development.
As such, I will work with the legislature to pass a local law to amend our charter and code to rename DEP to the Department of Economic Development, and rename and restructure its divisions of planning, environmental compliance and sewerage management to the more appropriate divisions of Economic Development, Climate Resiliency and Clean Water, respectively.
The division of economic development will focus on growing our economy, as well as our community by overseeing all programs related to housing, mapping, agriculture, arts and cultural organizations, and more.
The division of climate resiliency will focus on just that, making sure our county is ready to handle the many changes we are already seeing from climate change.
The division of clean water will continue its core mission of ensuring our most precious natural resource – Lake Erie – continues to be a clean and safe source of drinking water and a driver of economic development.
Changing names and restructuring a department may not seem like much, but when out-of-area business leaders and site selectors want to meet with us, they seek out our department of economic development. They don’t understand why we call nor set up the department as we do. That’s why we will restructure it to bring it into the 21st century and meet the future needs of our community.
All of the actions I just discussed, from foreign direct investment to strategic local investments, to restructuring how we help grow our economy, will strengthen our ability to compete internationally.
And to be the best community possible, we also need to focus on quality of life issues. My administration has shown how even small investments can make a big difference to our quality of life. An example of that is how we addressed a problem that has plagued mankind for a millennium: rats.
This program was eliminated by my predecessor in this office, a shortsighted move that only benefited the county’s rat population.
By the time I took office in 2012, rats were enjoying a field day moving from municipality to municipality, as there was no overall entity in place to address the situation.
Homeowners were left footing the bill for getting rid of the pests, which soon came back if their neighbor did not do the same.
With our own Pied Piper of Hamelin Pete Tripi at the helm, and a strong team of public health sanitarians around him, we created a new robust Rodent Control Program that left rats nowhere to turn, brought them under control, and showed how government can solve a community problem.
Even if you haven’t needed our rat control services, our sanitarians are working with community partners to conduct free rabies vaccination clinics each year, vaccinating thousands of dogs, cats and ferrets annually for free.
Our Rodent Control team is so good, they were recently recognized by the US Department of Agriculture for their efforts. I ask all the members of the program here today to stand up so we can thank you for the work you do. Thanks!
When it comes to quality of life, our incredible Parks system is truly one of the best in the country. As we say, there are more than 10,000 acres for you to enjoy in your Erie County parks.
Last year we announced an addition to that inventory with the new Willowdale Park in Amherst, which will fill a hole in our system by being the first county park in our largest town.
Today I am proud to announce we are engaged in conversations with the NFTA to take ownership of 24 acres of land adjacent to Red Jacket Park in Buffalo. This will more than double the size of Red Jacket, adding to the natural beauty of this park along the Buffalo River.
When it comes to our traditional parks, our four-legged best friends are always welcome, as long as they are on a leash, but that has not been the case for our golf courses. Dogs have been welcomed on golf courses in Scotland for centuries, that doggie seems very happy at the Home of Golf in St. Andrews, and elsewhere, these two seem pretty content on a local course.
That’s why this year we will do a one-year pilot to allow dogs on leashes at Grover Cleveland Golf Course for those who walk the course.
Whether it’s the new Willowdale Park, the addition to Red Jacket Park, or enjoying a stroll with your dog at Grover Cleveland, these are all examples of how we are working each day to improve your quality of life.
County investments, both big and small, have had a tremendous impact on the lives of so many people, and because of the dedicated work of many, we have created a stronger, more equitable, and better Erie County.
One of the most rewarding results of our efforts has been the significant reduction in people living in poverty in our County.
In 2014, I dedicated my state of the county to how we must address the growing level of poverty in our community. I was criticized by some for focusing on poverty, saying county government couldn’t make a difference. However, ignoring the naysayers, we made a concerted effort to improve people’s lives, and isn’t that what a caring, compassionate government should strive for: improving the lives of its citizens.
I am happy to report, by almost every metric, we have succeeded in that goal for thousands of our neighbors.
According to the Census bureau, 15.6% of the population lived in poverty in 2015. That was 140,000 Erie County residents, 47,000 of whom were children.
Because of the work of many, those living in poverty in the county has been reduced to 12.6% as of 2024, meaning there are 23,000 less people living in poverty countywide today, thousands of whom are children.
That’s not all. We saw a nearly forty percent decrease in poverty for African Americans and a nearly ten percent decrease for Asians.
We see these changes within the county social services department because the number of temporary assistance clients it helps has dropped by more than one-third, from 32,000 to 19,000.
While these decreases are a positive sign, we know poverty remains a reality for too many of our neighbors.
That is why my administration, and especially the Department of Social Services, remains steadfast in our commitment to find ways to lift people out of poverty and is proud to partner with the Community Action Organization of WNY to implement a 12.5-million-dollar grant from New York State to reduce poverty in Buffalo: the HOPE Initiative.
This cutting edge initiative supports upward mobility for eligible families. Program components include life coaches, career coaches, financial literacy services, linkage to support and resources, and direct cash incentives.
I thank our Social Services Department team and our partner CAO of WNY for their important work, and Governor Kathy Hochul for prioritizing reducing poverty, which will improve people’s lives, especially children. Thank you.
Reducing poverty among families and children helps them on a path to a better life. And a significant part of that process is ensuring access to an education tailored to a 21st century economy.
Some of the most effective education begins early in childhood. Encouraging reading in children provides an opportunity to unlock their potential, stimulate their minds and change their lives.
With our partners the New York State’s Office of Children and Family Services, the United Way and Read to Succeed Buffalo, we brought Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library initiative to Erie County.
This program sends a book each month to every enrolled child from birth to five years old. We’ve been able to provide books to more than seven thousand children countywide.
The impact of early childhood reading programs cannot be overstated. Multiple studies show that children who have more access to books and one-on-one reading with an adult do better in school and are more likely to graduate.
According to an Institute of Education Services study, students who do not reach reading proficiency by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers.
This is a compounding issue as the rates of poverty for those who do not have an education and have not graduated high school continue to rise, up nearly 5% from 2013.
That is why investing in a program like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is so important.
Education, specifically accessible public education, is the primary source of economic mobility for all.
While the traditional college route may not be for everyone, trades and specialized skills are just as viable in creating a promising future.
It is why my administration continues to work collaboratively with the Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Investment Board to build upon the success of the Erie County Healthcare Careers Grant Program, as well as Erie 1 BOCES and SUNY Erie.
This approach is working, as poverty rates for those with some college or technical experience decreased by nearly 3% as well, falling below 10% in total.
While there is more work to do to ensure all boats rise with the tide, especially at this time where the cost of goods affects everyone, I want to thank our great team in Erie County and our partners for all that you have done to improve the lives of thousands of people. Thank you.
And we’re not done yet.
While we have reduced the number of residents living in poverty, there are still too many people living paycheck to paycheck.
Sadly, while overall poverty has decreased countywide, one of the few groups that experienced an increase in poverty this past decade was seniors. We also know that too many seniors are not enrolled in programs that can help them.
We can alleviate many of their issues if we just enroll more seniors in the home energy assistance program, or HEAP, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
AARP estimated that 59 percent of SNAP eligible seniors are not enrolled in the program. A similar high percentage of senior eligible residents don’t participate in the HEAP program.
We will address this by doubling our efforts to reach seniors across our community. While we have a strong local program administered by the Department for the Aging, we can and will do better.
We will hold more outreach sessions where older adults are, senior and community centers, as well as invest in advertising to reach the seniors who do not go to these centers. Investing a few dollars will go a long way to reducing an older adult’s costs associated with food and utilities.
But we know that even those who live above the poverty line are feeling the pinch due to the affordability crisis. There is no section of our country that is immune to the affordability crisis. It is everywhere.
One of the driving factors of it is the increasing cost of housing.
For decades, Erie County was known as a very affordable market to purchase or rent a home. While we are still affordable compared to many of our peer markets, there is no doubt the increasing cost of housing is preventing many young people from purchasing their first home.
Add higher mortgage rates to the equation, and the average age of first-time homebuyers nationwide is now 40. In 1991 it was 28.
Erie County can help promote first-time homebuying by making the purchase more affordable for the buyers.
I propose that we use two million dollars from our 2025 surplus to help first-time homebuyers pay down interest points on their mortgage. Paying down points can drastically reduce a monthly mortgage and save tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the mortgage.
Typically, at closing, if you pay 1 percent of an expected mortgage loan, you can reduce the interest rate by a quarter of a percent. Paying 2 percent reduces the interest rate by half of a point, and so on.
If the legislature approves, we can reduce the cost of purchasing a home for hundreds of first-time home buyers, making the dream of being a homeowner a reality for many. I ask my legislative partners for your support of this worthy initiative.
There is another way we as a community can address the housing shortage driving the affordability crisis: build more multi-unit housing.
Erie County has invested $6.5 million to spur the building of more than 700 multi-family units countywide. We could do even more if many municipalities changed their zoning codes which presently prevent the construction of multi-unit housing.
Too many suburbs allow only single-family housing.
We need to get back to the mentality of building doubles and triples in neighborhoods where now we are only building single family homes. Not only will this help alleviate the lack of housing, but it will also help new home buyers afford their purchase by using the rent generated from the rental to help pay their mortgage.
However, Erie County cannot effectuate this change on its own, the towns must. I call on town leaders, supervisors and board members, to work with the county to change your zoning codes to allow the construction of multi-unit housing where now you only allow single-family units.
If you do, we will help pay for your zoning reform through grants from the Department of Economic Development.
This will help grow our towns’ population and tax base, while helping to alleviate the housing shortage we face. This is truly a win – win for all.
Another leading cause of the affordability crisis is the increasing cost of utility bills. To combat these rising costs, Erie County’s ECLIPSE program can help reduce household electricity costs by 10 percent.
ECLPISE partners you with a solar energy farm resulting in you getting discounts on your monthly electric bill. Because you don’t need rooftop solar panels, even renters can enroll.
First started as a program for low-income individuals, it has been expanded to all regardless of income, providing everyone with the ability to reduce their electric bills, while promoting a clean renewable energy source.
In addition, if you are a low-to-moderate income household, ECLIPSE can be paired with Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) and Empower+ to go even further in helping reduce your electric bill.
Let’s get more people enrolled, thereby saving our constituents upwards of lots of money annually!
We also know that changing to energy efficient LED lightbulbs from older incandescent and halogen bulbs can save a household a significant amount of money, and they last much longer.
That’s why we will be rolling out a program soon where our residents can turn in low efficient bulb for a highly efficient one. There will be no cost for you. We will buy the bulbs in bulk, you get the bulb for free, and then enjoy the long-term savings to. More on this program will be announced soon.
To further help alleviate the affordability crisis facing many of our neighbors, and to address food insecurity, we will strengthen our Find Fresh and Farm to Families programs.
Did you know that residents can text FINDFRESH to 898211 or visit 211 WNY for a database of nearby healthy food options, including mobile markets offering free produce? You can, and we will work harder to ensure more people know of this important program.
And thanks to a $1 million state grant, our Farm to Fresh program has been delivering boxes of locally grown food to 400 families at 23 childcare centers across the county.
But we can do better. I propose the county doubles the amount through its own $1 million contribution to serve another 400 families annually.
These programs are critically important for ensuring families who are most vulnerable to food insecurity have access to nutritious food.
Another bonus of both programs is they benefit our local agricultural producers, who can market directly to an eager local audience.
In this way we are boosting both our agricultural sector and the nutrition of local families, while helping to reduce families’ costs.
Providing nutritious food promotes a person’s health, and when it comes to healthcare, we understand navigating the healthcare system can be a maze. That is why we will build upon our recently commenced Nurse Navigator program to guide patients through the healthcare system and care transitions.
Using dedicated medical professionals, from this past December through March 2026, a total of 1,046, 911 calls were referred by our medical emergency response services team to the Nurse Navigation line.
The Nurse Navigator program successfully moved one third of those cases out of the 911 system. We know we can help thousands more residents address their healthcare needs and take them out of the 911 system.
It’s another service the county provides for residents who need help with their healthcare but are unsure where to turn.
It’s also a good example of how your county government works for you.
To further combat access issues in healthcare, the Erie County Office of Health Equity is proud to announce the “Health to your Home” pilot program to enhance chronic disease education and prevention for more than 2,000 Erie County households.
We do this by providing blood pressure cuffs and pulse oximeters, as well as training, to community members, to help manage their health.
Every individual is their own best advocate when it comes to healthcare, and by providing education and tools to be better monitors of our own health, we are building an overall healthier community.
And yet, even with the good work done by our administration, new challenges and barriers to healthcare access are being created in Washington. As I have said repeatedly since last year, the Big Ugly Bill targets the most vulnerable members of our society with massive cuts to healthcare and Medicaid. Thousands of our neighbors just lost their healthcare, all to give billionaires a tax break.
While it may be cruel and we cannot prevent these changes from occurring, my administration has worked tirelessly to develop programs to help people through these changes.
Central to that work is Live Well Erie. There has never been a more important time for this program.
Since its inception in 2019, Live Well Erie has grown to include over 150 community organizations, spanning every corner of Erie County, to offer programs to improve the lives of children, working families and older adults, as well as develop and collect data to improve health access.
This data will be essential to ensure that we tailor our health initiatives to cover the gaps created by the Big Ugly Bill.
Live Well Erie brings together perspectives and ideas from the public, private, and non-profit sectors to create more agile, better tailored healthcare initiatives to ensure that our communities can continue to thrive, even through adversity.
With the challenges ahead, the work of the Live Well Erie team is more critical than ever. I want to thank Deputy County Executive Lisa Chimera and all the members of the Live Well Erie team to stand so we can thank them for their continued work and dedication to developing solutions at this critical time. Thank you all.
And to achieve even better outcomes, we will take the information we gather from our Envision Erie survey to chart our future course.
As I announced last year, and we began earlier this month, Envision Erie will collect your comments and views to create a better county for all by being responsive to your needs in our future endeavors.
We offer all the programs and initiatives I just discussed because I know a government can solve problems and make people’s lives better. We’ve proved it here in Erie County.
Why is this? Because as I have said in the past, a government is at its essence, its people. It is the manifestation of its better angels, their hopes, dreams and aspirations.
When you say a government cannot solve problems you are saying people cannot solve problems. I reject that notion, just as our founders did.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, our forefathers gathered in Philadelphia to begin a process that altered the course of human events.
They gathered to reject the notion of rule by kings and nobility and instead proposed a revolutionary belief that the power of government is derived from the people themselves.
As Abraham Lincoln later said, they brought forth a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal.
But even in that moment, the standard they set was greater than they themselves could achieve.
They fell short of it then because the American Revolution was never a finished act.
It was the beginning of a story that we, all of us, are still writing.
Our earliest document, the Declaration of Independence, did more than declare independence. It called for the formation of a nation that promised its citizens access to opportunity. A nation free from the tyranny of a ruling class that hoarded power, wealth, and mobility. A nation where your future would not be dictated by your birth but shaped by your effort.
That promise, at its core, was economic, and it became what we now call the American Dream.
The belief that through hard work, grit, and determination, anyone could build a better life for themselves and their children. That opportunity was not reserved for the few, but open to all.
But that promise was not fully realized in 1776. And it has not been fully realized since.
Instead, each generation has taken up the mantle of that unfinished revolution—fighting to extend the ideals of liberty, justice, economic mobility, and full enfranchisement to more of their fellow citizens. Always pushing forward. Always trying to close the gap between our founding ideals and our reality.
To do so also requires a government embracing the concept of assisting our neighbors in need and ensuring a level playing field for all.
It was the government that took deliberate actions during the Great Depression and after World War II to make the American Dream real for our prior generations.
Yet we still have more work to do to make that dream a reality to our fellow citizens today because for too many Americans, the dream feels out of reach. Instead of an attainable dream, it is becoming a mirage.
The pathway to economic mobility feels narrower. The belief that hard work alone is enough to succeed has been tested by realities that too often stand in the way.
And so, the work continues in this generation. The American Revolution remains unfinished.
Progress is not inevitable. We must continue to develop programs and policies at the local level, where government has the most direct impact on the people, to ensure equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, gender, background, or circumstance.
There is a reason why the preamble to the Constitution begins “We, the People, in order to form a more perfect union.” It was not perfect then, is not now, and as such requires all of us to strive towards being more informed and better citizens, working for the benefit of all.
In Erie County, we have seen the incredible impact possible when we invest in programs that support education, housing, and social services, when we invest in our people.
The American Experiment has continued for 250 years, through strife, conflict, and struggle, because we, the people, have remained committed to the ideal that everyone, regardless of their background, can succeed if given the opportunity.
Each generation has faced its moment to carry that responsibility forward. To ensure that the American Dream, the promise of America, does not become something reserved for a chosen few but remains within reach for all. This is our moment.
Let us ensure the promise of America continues for generations to come here in Erie County and nationwide.
Thank you.