Issues

I want to thank Rita, Sandy, Peter and Andy, and all of the elected officials and citizens who are here today.

Today I stand at City Hall to declare my candidacy for Mayor of the City of White Plains.

• As a father of two young children, I understand what a great place W.P. can be to raise a family.  I was born and raised in W.P.  My parents who came here in 1950, immediately became active in the community, and still live here.  I graduated from law school here in the City, and my wife Fumiko and I have two young children Fiona and Celena who are going or will be going to W.P. Schools.

It has been an honor to serve my constituents in and out of White Plains in the State Assembly. However, today the opportunity to lead the City I know and love, during such difficult times is a rare opportunity for a public servant to give back to the City which has provided so much for me and my family.

• The reason people love living in White Plains is because of our neighborhoods, our schools, the proximity to NYC, as well as its own great shopping areas, restaurants, movie theaters.  We must acknowledge and embrace the vibrancy of our downtown.
• But also acknowledge that our residents want good schools, parks, open space, and the last thing they want is to spend more time in traffic, and then pay excessive parking fees and fines.
• People are worried about property taxes – especially seniors on fixed incomes who don’t want to get taxed out of their homes and families, like mine who are trying to save for college and get ahead in a tough economy.  And with the redevelopment that occurred in our downtown there is no reason property tax payers should continue to be paying more and more.

My background has led me to be where I am today;

• First and foremost, I’ve made a career out of fighting for kids – first as an attorney who fought to protect abused children, then as a State Legislator who authored laws to crack down on child sexual predators, and protect child witnesses in criminal proceedings and fought to ensure no child has to go without health care.
• In the Legislature, I’ve fought to preserve and protect open space and our environment authoring laws like the
• Community Preservation Act – to help open space protection
• Laws to protect endangered species
• Introduced The Environmental Access to Justice Act to give citizens the right to challenge environmental determinations and the Environmental sustainability Education Act, which promotes an educational curriculum for school children in environmental sustainability.
• In the Legislature, I’ve been an effective advocate for W.P. schools, W.P. hospital, and other community organizations that improve our quality of life.
• I authored the Parent Teacher Communication Act - to help parents and teachers communicate with each other  over the internet.

2)  This election is about property taxes and fiscal management.

This City must have a professional Budget Director working year round on the complicated fiscal issues facing the City.

** We together will make stabilizing property taxes and restoring sound fiscal management our top priority**

• We don’t need additional tax hikes and continuous fee increases; we need better planning and certainly, better negotiations with developers when new projects are approved.
• It’s time to reject the old choice between higher taxes or fewer services – fiscal reform and restructuring will be the answer to holding the line on taxes.
• Despite the development of downtown, property taxes keep going up.
• A lack of sound fiscal planning has left W.P. in worse shape during this economic crisis – with worse to come if we don’t fix it soon.  When the economy was going well our city was using one shots to balance its budget. Our prior Mayors, Mayor Schulman and Delvechio both whom are here, never balanced our city budget by one shot revenues and always left the cities fiscal condition healthy even during economic downturns.
• In the Legislature, I have been a steady voice for fiscal reform and responsibility.

The next Mayor has to put taxpayers first: when he negotiates with developers.

• He must negotiate better deals
• He must pay more attention to parking and transportation.
• He must make better use of technology
• He must protect open space our special and diverse neighborhoods, and our unique quality of life.
• He must provide leadership that listens

The next Mayor must ensure that there is transparency in our city government and welcome those that seek information and monitor our city actions, watchdogs should be welcomed, and not criticized.

3)In these tough economic times, we need new energy to meet our challenges.

• The redevelopment of downtown wasn’t as well planned as it could have been.  Now, it’ll take new energy to secure better deals for taxpayers.
• As we’re seeing all across the country, the same-old policies won’t do anymore.  We need change now.

The fight to hold the line on property taxes demands an energetic reform-minded approach.

• I will bring a laser-like focus on protecting the taxpayer.
• I have always been a reformer, who first ran for elective office against the leadership of the Assembly. I will be a reform-minded innovative Mayor.
• I have been willing to fight entrenched interests and the status quo.  An example is my leadership very early on in the fight against for profit HMO’s taking advantage of our system of public health. In fact, I authored the first major HMO Reform legislation in 2006.

The time has come for new thinking and new approaches.  These are very difficult times.  We must re-evaluate our strategies and we must protect taxpayers who are struggling in this very difficult economy.  I promise to provide that new type of leadership.

I will fight to protect our quality of life:

• Improve parking downtown; ensure our city is pedestrian friendly.
• Expand parks and open space, and ensure children have safe places to play.
• I will work with White Plains schools to help provide the resources to make sure that our schools continue to offer a world class education for our children.
• I will fight to create affordable housing for seniors, as well as for police, fire fighters, and teachers so that those who hold our community together can afford to live here.
• And one last time – I will fight to strengthen our fiscal condition, so that we can truly do something about our over increasing property taxes.

Once again, I want to thank all of the elected officials, friends, and most importantly the residents of White Plains, who are here today.

I look forward to representing you and all the people of this very special City.

Adam Bradley