Mayor wants to spend $1M more on street cams

Mayor Robert Duffy wants to spend $1 million over the next five years on police surveillance cameras — enough to buy more than 40 additional units, adding to the 25 that should start going up on troubled city streets in June.

The addition to the city's Capital Improvement Program provides a glimpse into the mayor's 2008-09 budget proposal, to be released Friday, and shows an intent to continue beefing up public safety spending despite tough economic times.

Duffy said the budget will be a clear statement of his administration's priorities, of which public safety is one.

"There will be some pain," Duffy said, estimating city government job cuts of between 70 and 100 positions. "There will also be some opportunities. ... The decisions I have to make will probably not endear me to a whole lot of people."

Duffy's third budget will be his "toughest yet," he said. During his first two years in office, the city's former police chief increased police spending more than any city department except public works. Though facing a projected revenue shortfall of more than $17 million in the year ahead, Duffy proposed the largest single-year camera investment, $400,000, for 2008-09.

City Council met in committee this week to review the Capital Improvement Program. Council members will hold a hearing and vote on the program next week, and vote on the budget next month.

The biggest addition to the program is nearly $2 million in the year ahead to put a new roof on the Riverside Convention Center.

"That's the original (roof), 25 years old," said Joseph Floreano, executive director of the convention center.

"It leaks probably in 20 different areas. We have what they call diapers, they are white rubber suspended from the rafters of the main Empire Hall, that goes into a hose to drain barrels."

Other changes in the program rearrange the construction schedule for improvements at the Port of Rochester, moving up infrastructure and delaying development. Reconstruction of Culver Road between Atlantic and Garson avenues, and from Laurelton Road to Clifford Avenue, will take two years instead of one, starting this year.

"This is definitely a juggling act, when we go through these discussions," Deputy Mayor Patty Malgieri told City Council. "When something happens like the roof at the Convention Center, it sort of throws everything up in the air."

The current Capital Improvement Program shows 2008-09 city spending down $4.5 million from earlier projections. More changes are expected next week with the mayor's budget. The city likely will take a one-time, $20 million spin-up from the state and sink the money into capital projects the administration envisions will improve the city.

"I think this city is on a hot streak. I think this city is on the move," Duffy said, adding that he does not want to do anything to derail the momentum. Still, he added, "I would say expect no miracles with this budget."

Looking further out, the city has set aside $1 million for a Brown Square festival site in 2009-10. A good portion of that money will go toward planning, said Julio Vázquez, the city's commissioner for community development. The city advertised for interested planning and design consultants late last year but since then put the project on hold.

BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com

Source: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008805100320