Thank you and good evening. I would like to begin my message by congratulating Council President Michael Cox and welcoming all those present this evening.

2009 certainly was a challenging economic year across our nation and our globe. Commercial growth – at least in the U.S. – slowed significantly due to the tightening of credit and the excess of retail and office space, but more importantly, the commercial sector continues to be transformed by the Internet. Fifteen years ago, most of us thought that Amazon.com had something to do with South America, eBay was an exotic body of water and the iPhone a strongly possessive form of telecommunications. We really don’t know for sure where we will be buying our goods and services ten years from now, but I am betting on a few trends that Rahway is positioning itself to take advantage of.

Demographics certainly have changed since the nostalgic scenes portrayed in some of our favorite Lloyd Garrison paintings. In 1970, the city’s population was approximately 30,000 people, the Internet was a scientific curiosity used by a few dozen government researchers and Woodbridge Center Mall wouldn’t open for another year. Even though the number of housing units has remained relatively constant over the past four decades, our population has shrunk to 26,500 due to smaller family sizes and the subsiding of the postwar baby boom. What the 2010 Census holds for Rahway remains to be seen, but I expect that trend to continue.

With many white-collar services becoming downsized and with retail sales moving more and more to the Internet, what can Rahway do to create a vibrant commercial and residential atmosphere that also preserves our sense of community that makes a small town so appealing?

As I have emphasized in years past, our rehabilitated train station will be a continued economic driver for our central business district and our entire city. The impact of the recent housing downturn has been more acutely felt in exurbs and places with poor mass transit options – Phoenix, Las Vegas and the like. Communities like ours that already have the infrastructure in place to move people, goods and information have been affected less by the current real estate bust. And gasoline may be relatively inexpensive now, but as soon as the global economy starts heating up again, I expect gasoline prices to rise, encouraging more people to eschew their cars in favor of transit or more environmentally-friendly transportation alternatives.

The blue-collar jobs enjoyed by the Greatest Generation are no longer with us. Just as our manufacturing economy was abruptly transformed into a consumption economy 30 years ago, our retail economy is facing a similar metamorphosis. Now that consumers are shopping online and becoming more environmentally-conscious, where does that leave the future of our central business district?

A few years back, my administration began a long-term push to make Rahway a regional destination for the arts. We founded the Arts Guild of Rahway on Irving Street in 1999 and created the Rahway Arts District a few years later.

The arts sector is a $1.5 billion annual industry that supports 17,000 arts-related businesses and employs or supports over 80,000 New Jerseyans. Over 50,000 professional artists call the Garden State home and it is estimated that our nonprofit arts industry will produce over 10,000 public events and draw audiences of over 18 million people. Those patrons will spend more than twice the cost of their tickets in the local economy. The arts make good business sense and artists are powerful creative capital. In 2007, New Jersey ranked eighth out of 50 states in the number of arts-related employment and business. Jobs in the arts are growing at rates two to three times greater than those in other traditional industries.

In addition to the economic benefits, the arts enhance other areas of life. A recent Harris Poll stated that 93% of Americans believe that the arts are crucial to a well-rounded education. Students who study the arts perform better in other subjects, excel in student activities and become more actively engaged in public affairs after graduation. Between 1996 and 2005, the number of high school seniors who said they planned to major in the visual and performing arts increased by 44 percent. If you are familiar with the fantastic stage and music productions put on by the students at Rahway High School, or the performances of the All-City Band, you probably know that our schools are serious about the value of the arts.

These are all powerful statistics. Rahway is positioning itself to take full advantage of the visual and performing arts that will provide long-term employment and economic development as well as sustain an enviable quality-of-life that will benefit all of our residents and visitors. Laying the groundwork for a sustainable arts industry in Rahway will be our own "economic stimulus plan."

There will be new energies devoted towards the performing arts. The renovated Union County Performing Arts Center, already home to the Westfield Symphony and the Alliance Reparatory Theatre Company, will continue to draw top talent from around the globe and will be better organized to meet the demands of its changing patrons. Thanks to the efforts of the Redevelopment Agency and City Council, we took action last year towards the development of an outdoor amphitheatre and "black box" theater on the site of the former Hamilton Laundry and adjacent New Jersey Bell building. The Bell property will also include dance and performance space and will be open to a renowned dance troupe, theater company and comedy performances. The environmental work is in its final stages and I expect to break ground on this exciting development later this year.

2010 will also mark the prospective arrival of the Klavierhaus Piano Conservatory. This Manhattan-based piano restoration company is known worldwide for its exacting care for some of the world’s finest pianos. Klavierhaus plans to establish the Klavierhaus Piano Conservatory at UCPAC in property adjacent to the Performing Arts Center this year. It plans to offer a wide variety of recitals, lessons, performances and more with special emphasis given to our young people. Using some of America’s finest classical faculty from schools such as Julliard, Mannes, Peabody and Curtis, the conservatory is designed to make music accessible, affordable and within reach of Rahway families.

The visual arts, already well-represented by the Arts Guild of Rahway and many of the galleries featured during our First Thursday festivities in the Rahway Arts District, will continue to grow in 2010. The handsome red-brick structure across from the Union County Performing Arts Center that once housed Elizabethtown Gas will play a role in our arts-centered redevelopment. We will be marketing the property as the home of a future art school and cooperative gallery and would like to explore the possibility of using part of the property as a live-work space for professional artists. The Rahway Branch YMCA, which has seen three floors of its building on Irving Street lay vacant following a fire some 30 years ago, is negotiating with the City and RSI Bank to take 6,000 square feet of vacant space and convert it into additional work space for artists. All of this will address some of the City’s redevelopment needs in the neighborhood while creating a permanent arts presence downtown.

I anticipate hosting an "arts conclave" in the spring to bring all of these elements together and to make a coordinated, cooperative plan a reality in 2010 and beyond.

All of this is designed to become self-sustaining vehicles that will create rather then rely upon property taxes in the long-term. Since it will become self-sustaining it will give people greater incentives to live and work here.

Perhaps our slogan for 2010 can be summed up as "Rahway: It’s All About the Arts." I’m optimistic that the creative economy is one that will provide sustainable, stable, long-term growth for our city and improve our financial bottom line and the health and well-being of our entire community.

On behalf of my family, the City Council and all of the City employees, I would like to wish everyone health, happiness and success in 2010!