Economic and environmental sustainability were themes of the 5th annual State of the City address given by Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan Tuesday morning.
She announced several new additions to the Gainesville Police Department and Gainesville Fire Rescue, praised the city's environmental friendliness and spoke against an upcoming amendment.
An Intelligence Center will be built behind the GPD's Operations Center, which is being renovated, Hanrahan said. The Intelligence Center will house crime analysts from GPD and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, which will help the agencies share information and expertise.
Hanrahan also addressed GPD's embarrassment over a November scandal in which police officers were arrested for soliciting prostitutes while on duty.
"Our management team is taking strong and unambiguous actions to reinforce core values, code of conduct, professionalism, ethics and integrity," Hanrahan said.
All members of GPD were asked to attend a training in organizational ethics and integrity.
Gainesville Fire Rescue is planning a new fire station and a custom-built fire truck. The completion date for the fire station is May 2010. Both the building and the truck will be built to green standards.
Hanrahan discussed environmentalism, pointing to Gainesville's acceptance of Wild Spaces, Public Places as a sign of Gainesville's commitment to combat climate change.
Gainesville Regional Utilities has also helped make Gainesville more environmentally sound, she said.
GRU's proposed solar feed-in tariff, which would pay citizens for their excess solar power, met praise from environmental organizations around the world.
"I'm very pleased with the environmental issues she brought up," said Kali Blount, a community advocate who attended the address. "That's getting us out of the Stone Age."
After pointing out Gainesville's dedication to diversity, Hanrahan spoke out against an amendment that will be put before the citizens on May 24. The proposed amendment would remove anti-discriminatory protections for public workers.
"[It] would mark Gainesville, wrongly, as a place willing to tolerate intolerance," Hanrahan said.
A complete transcript of the State of the City address, the 2008 Citizen's report, and a pamphlet explaining Gainesville's plan for environmental sustainability are available online at www.cityofgainesville.org.
