However, the historic significance of this occasion is not our vision, the time for talking vision has passed, it is time for action and that action begins in earnest here and now.

The presentation here today is a Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, which is probably the most comprehensive and exciting neighborhood investment and growth strategy ever attempted in an American city.  It will embrace every neighborhood in the city.   It will require meaningful citizen participation and partnership as well as profound change. I have seen nothing comparable to it in my more than 25 years in public life.

Today I want to extend a personal invitation to everyone in this room and to every citizen in this great city to join me in the defining challenge of my administration.  We shall be resolute and unwavering in the implementation of this initiative.  With your prayers and active partnership, I am confident that we will create neighborhoods that are vibrant and dynamic.  Neighborhoods that are anchored by stable homes, strengthened by clean streets, decorated by open, green space, and brought to life by thriving commercial and retail centers.  Neighborhoods with a waiting list of families looking for homes and where the voices of children are their most identifying characteristic.

Membership in this crusade is free but the service will not be easy.  Active and responsible participation will require a commitment to real change in both our aspirations and our business practices.  And it will require that we exercise discipline and political courage when attempts are made to undermine our work.  Without such vigilance and strict adherence to the plan, we will lose this last best chance to protect the integrity of our city and future generations legitimately will question our commitment to this great city.

Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods.  We hear our elected officials (including me) say it all the time.  We see it in the advertising that encourages tourists and conventioneers to visit Philadelphia.   Having campaigned and traveled throughout this city since becoming Mayor, I have witnessed first-hand the traditions and culture that motivate the pride people feel for their community.  The unique personal experiences I have enjoyed in so many homes, community centers and churches have taught me our neighborhoods are the soul, the chutzpah, and the character that identifies and distinguishes us among the great cities of America and the world.  I will not let it be said that on my watch the battle for neighborhood preservation in Philadelphia was lost. 

Most of you know that I am not an alarmist.  I am not a novice when it comes to difficult decisions and hard challenges.  But I tell you today that unless we change our priorities and the way we do business, unless we change the way we assemble and distribute vacant land for local development purposes, unless we create a stronger environment for market rate development, and unless we accept the idea that government has an active role to play in every neighborhood in our city (both in the delivery of services and the expenditure of public dollars), including in Chestnut Hill, Center City, East Oak Lane and the Northeast, we are destined to continue the spiral toward a declining quality of life rather than accelerating into a bright future.

In a few minutes, as part of our larger presentation, Jeremy Nowak will show you three slides that graphically compare the current number of vacant residential structures in Philadelphia to the number that existed 25 years ago, and our reasonable expectations in the year 2020 if we continue on our current course.   They are compelling and powerful evidence that despite our best efforts and our well-documented successes in developments like Norris Square, Jefferson Manor, Poplar Homes and the Left Bank, that by the year 2020, our neighborhoods will be beyond help.  There will be no hope.

Let me hasten to add that I do not question the  dedication of those who have committed their personal and professional lives to improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods, but all of us should be sobered; no, maybe frightened that the deterioration over the last 25 years occurred in spite of the billions of dollars spent on neighborhood development in Philadelphia. 

Because we have understood the enormity of this challenge from the beginning of this administration and the consequences of a false start, we have refused to be stampeded into a flawed "demolition first" program.  We have taken our time.  But today, we draw a line in the sand.  Today, every neighborhood in Philadelphia gets a new lease on life and the potential for long term prosperity.  The Neighborhood Transformation Initiative we are about to share with you is "the real deal."  It should give all of Philadelphia cause for optimism, hope, enthusiasm, and an expectation of better days ahead.

For many of you who yearn to see contentment in the eyes of our senior citizens and unbridled enthusiasm in the eyes of our children, this strategy will be music to your ears.  You have been waiting for a generation for Philadelphia to have what Patti Labelle calls "A New Attitude."  Well, we are about to show you a new way and a new attitude.

Starting today, we move from planning to full scale implementation.  Tomorrow, we will transmit to City Council legislation which authorizes this city to borrow $250,000,000 to jump-start our war against vacant structures and begin the important process of assembling land for market rate and affordable housing development.  We also will begin to reorganize our housing agencies -- to reduce the amount of money we spend on administrative and soft costs to support our development activities -- to lower the cost of building a house in Philadelphia – to attract new developers and resources into the battle to redefine our neighborhoods -- and to develop more market rate rental and for sale properties.  Do not be daunted by the scope of this revolution.  WE WILL SUCCEED, because the alternative is to condemn every neighborhood in Philadelphia to an unacceptable level of blight and abandoned structures.  It is a fate that neither this city, this region or this state can tolerate.

In the movie, "Rudy" before an undersized football player was allowed to run out of the tunnel onto the hallowed ground of Notre Dame's Football Stadium, he was asked " was he ready?"  He responded by saying he had been ready for that moment all of his life.

Well, I have been ready and planning for this moment all of my adult life and like Rudy, for me, failure is not an option.  Today, is not about being Mayor of Philadelphia, the fifth largest city in America, though it is as your Mayor that I accept this challenge and responsibility.  It is not about 19 years of Council membership.  Neighborhood Transformation is about actualizing the hopes, dreams, and aspirations that my brother Milton and I had for North Philadelphia and other struggling neighborhoods when we began our journey in public life together over 30 years ago.  Today, we honor the memory of so many urban pioneers who devoted their lives to improving the opportunities for the every day citizens who live, work and raise their families in our neighborhoods.  People like Vernon Marks, Amanda Coleman, Goldie Watson, Herb Arlene, Cecil B. Moore and John Anderson .  People who I greatly respected and admired.  People whose memories we will dishonor if we fail. 

So, staring into the face of one of the greatest challenge this city has confronted in the last 50 years,  I will take this Neighborhood Transformation Initiative and the strategies it recommends on the road.  I will go from  community to community -- block to block -- political constituency to political constituency -- from Harrisburg to Washington -- the Governor to the President -- and from the business community to my friends in the labor movement.  At every stop I will extend an invitation to join the team that rebuilds Philadelphia for the future. 

I do not expect this initiative to be embraced without some concerns.  We will remain open to constructive criticism and thoughtful recommendations, however, it should be noted that my commitment to Neighborhood Transformation is stronger than the sum total of  the rest of the issues I have worked on in my entire political career.  I will provide the political leadership and courage required to win a great victory for all Philadelphians, who want nothing more than a clean, safe place to live, work and raise their children.  THAT IS NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK!

Whoever said the "best things in life are free" was wrong.  I have learned through my faith and life experiences that the achievements we value most come with a cost.  That said, too often the embarrassing and depressing conditions that exist in our neighborhoods are at least in part self-inflicted.  Although the ravages of time and the negligence of absentee owners create much of the structural decay in our neighborhoods, too often it is our residents and their friends who are responsible for the trash  on our streets, the graffiti on public and private property and the unsightly conditions all too prevalent throughout the city.  This government, for the first time, will clean each and every one of the 31,000 vacant trash strewn lots in this city.

Your local government is about to take a very large  step in the war to protect our neighborhoods.  But whether our work launches Philadelphia into a sustained period of growth and prosperity or simply begins another "Bell Curve" experience, where we achieve relative prosperity  followed too quickly by decline, depends on whether the overwhelming majority of  Philadelphians are willing to assume the cost and make the personal sacrifice required to achieve and sustain prosperity.  WE MUST EXPECT AND DEMAND MORE OF EACH OTHER.

 Starting today, your local government will be about the business of creating the fabric for change and the  framework for success.  But as usual, there can be no soup without the cooks.

WE CAN NOT GET THERE WITHOUT YOU!

Finally, let me assure you and the partners we need in Harrisburg and Washington, in the executive offices of  foundations and corporations and among the developers poised to come into Philadelphia that we understand fully the concurrent challenges we must conquer before the goals and objectives of Neighborhood Transformation can become a reality.  Today is not the time to discuss these issues in detail.  But we know that college students, families with children or businesses with jobs will not stay in Philadelphia or pick Philadelphia as the place to call home, unless we improve public education and provide responsible alternatives like Charter Schools.  We have begun this important work.  We also must deliver the social services required to allow our children and families to reach their fullest potential while we minimize the disruptive influences that plague them.  Through the $150 million of sustainable funding my administration has committed to raise, we will attack this problem.  We must improve the job preparedness of our citizens,  and we are working with state officials and local leaders in our workforce development community to respond to these important needs.  We also understand that vibrant and stable neighborhoods require successful commercial corridors and business activities.  As part of NTI, we will adopt strategies that allow us to assemble parcels of land to encourage and stimulate complementary and job friendly commercial activity in and around our neighborhoods. 

The time is now!  We can not afford to hesitate!  The plan you see and hear today is a comprehensive city-wide strategy designed to protect, improve and/or reclaim every neighborhood in Philadelphia.  To succeed, we will go block by block and if necessary door to door, but no one will be left behind.  We will overcome class conflicts.  We will overcome neighborhood tensions.  We will not be deterred by the naysayers nor stumble over predictable political opposition.  We are energized by the challenge before us, and we are ready to rumble to make it work.

I am proud of the work that has been done in developing this plan.  Time and time again, when faced with apparently insurmountable problems, the men and women of this administration have risen to the occasion.  And, time and time again they developed practical solutions to otherwise intractable problems!

When faced with the challenge of removing more than 40,000 abandoned vehicles on our streets, the men and women of this Administration devised a plan (40,000 cars in 40 days – 1,000 cars a day).   And we moved the cars.

When faced with the challenge to plow snow off side streets in our neighborhoods, the men and women of this Administration devised a plan.  Now we plow almost 100 miles of streets never before plowed in this city.

Implementing this Neighborhood Transformation Initiative may be our biggest challenge to date.  I'm not worried!  It will work!

Change is traveling from the old to the new; we must summon the courage to leave yesterday behind in exchange for a bright new tomorrow! 

Let us begin today, together!