Rudy Giuliani in 2008-2011 Mayoral State of the City addresses

On Budget & Economy: Economic development requires maintenance

Economic development is not just building new things. Part of the art of economic development is preserving what you have. Sometimes the City has not done a good job of preserving what it has. Throughout the last century, we have not consistently preserved our subways, our highways, and our bridges. In the last fifteen years, we have paid the price for that in the form of huge capital budgets and expenditures for the cost of finance in our capital budgets. We pulled the money out of maintenance to deal with the financial crisis. That’s one of the big mistakes. We should learn from that mistake and not repeat it. Source: State of the City Address, New York City Jan 13, 2000

On Crime: Home ownership decreases crime

Creating more home ownership in the City would do great things for us. I learned this way back when I was a US Attorney General and I first heard about the Nehemiah program, which did tremendous work during a period of time when the City was enduring a huge crime wave. They understand that the more people who own their own homes and have a real stake in the community, the better off a city is -- not just in terms of crime, but many other things. New York has to increase home ownership. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Crime: Need DNA Lab to Combat Crime

One of the things we need in New York City is a major state of the art DNA Lab. DNA is being used in England to solve crimes in a much higher percentage than here in America, and their example shows how well it can work. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Education: Privatize failing schools

New York should privatize failing schools. The Board of education has been trying to turn them around for five years, and in some cases ten years. It should admit that it’s failed, and it should bring in others to educate the children. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Education: Charter Schools create competition

Charter schools are a great way to create competition. [New Yorkers] should want the competition for the good of our kids. Let’s push for more and more charter schools. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Education: Voucher program for New York City

I am going to continue to fight for a voucher program in New York City. Because I believe the experiment in Milwaukee is something that should be tried in New York. Let me explain my thinking about this: I think our school system is in such bad shape that we do not have room to exclude any experiment that might help our children, and that is proven somewhere else. Our children are entitled to all the good ideas, all the innovative ideas, and every new thing that is helping education elsewhere. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Education: Improve schools by taking on the unions & special interests

You only get one chance to educate a child, and it you screw it up, then it’s very hard to correct it later. [We] should be ashamed of ourselves, that we do not have the political courage to take on the unions, the special interests, and everything else that are holding our children back! The people of this City are saying something to the leadership of this City. But the city is not listening to them. It’s too busy listening to the unions. It should be listening to the people of the City. Source: State of the City Address, New York City Jan 13, 2000

On Families & Children: Child Protection should move toward permanent foster homes

For a child who’s been abused or neglected, and has to be taken away from parent permanently, foster care is not the right answer permanently for that child. The right answer is a permanent home in which the child can have someone that loves and cares for him or her. [The Administration for Children Services] can not protect all children, but [we] are moving in the right direction. Source: State of the City the Address, New York City Jan 13, 2000

On Jobs: Work is a good thing

New York is moving in the direction of reestablishing the work ethnic. Work is a good thing. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s the reason that people have come to America in large, large numbers to work, to create a better opportunity for themselves and their children. It’s what immigration is all about. And work allows you to take care of yourself and your family, and to achieve your dreams. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Technology: No privacy concerns with DNA-like fingerprinting

The opposition to DNA on the theory that it invades privacy, which comes mostly from the ACLU, is no more compelling that the opposition to fingerprinting when it was first introduced. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Welfare & Poverty: Welfare offices as job centers

Hopefully, all welfare offices will be Job Centers, and they all will be finding work for people. When people go into welfare offices, they won’t even recognize them anymore as welfare offices. They will look like employment offices. That’s what they should be. Because that how you empower people. Source: 2000 State of the City Address Jan 13, 2000

On Welfare & Poverty: The homeless need special attention: reach out & help

[Some] people living on the streets have serious problems. These problems include substance abuse, mental illness and serious violent criminality. All of those issues need to be addressed. Letting people lie there so that their problems get worse is not the answer. It’s not compassionate, and it’s not humane. We need to reach out to these people and help them address their problems. That’s what a compassionate society does. Source: State of the City Address, New York City Jan 13, 2000

The above quotations are from 2008-2011 Mayoral State of the City addresses. Click here for other excerpts from 2008-2011 Mayoral State of the City addresses. Click here for other excerpts by Rudy Giuliani. Click here for other excerpts by other Governors.
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Page last updated: Jun 01, 2021