mayor michael nutter. mayor nutter was out there helping shovel snow. i know any time there s snow, you get to the emergency center and help direct things. you re always on the ground but there s a bigger issue here. you believe these state money problems are making it much more difficult for cities like yours. you came in to philadelphia trying to deal with the budget issue before this whole recession came along, and it has done nothing but get worse. well, ali, thank you. you re absolutely right. we jumped on the economic recession very, very quickly, took strong measures, cut budgets, reduced the size of our workforce, stopped our tax reduction program, and increased some taxes, at least temporarily to get us through a very, very difficult two-year period. we had to fill a $2.5 billion five-year plan gap. but we did it. and we didn t lay off one police officer, not one firefighter, and we maintained our core services here in the city.
sort of hit with a couple different things. so they re just coming out of the effects of the economic recession that they ve felt very hard, and revenues are starting to tick up a little. but two more things loom out there for them. one, the stimulus that came in was helping the states, is going to get pulled back next year and that s going to be a big hit for them. they re not going to have the money that the federal government was funding through stimulus. and second, the federal government has to come up with a plan to balance its own books, which means the money it generally gives to state and local governments is probably on the chopping block. so a lot of changes will have to be made structurally to get that sea of state that s need to improve their finances into better shape. and this is an important discussion. i ll talk about later, which is we agree we need to get the federal budget and financial house in order but it does trickle down to the state level and then the city l
airport is well-sourced, but the fact of the matter is we don t have weather events like this. i think the amount of snow that we re getting is probably a ten-year event for the city of atlanta, so we have the equipment. it s just how often we use it. as opposed to cities in the north that use it all of the time, but we didn t want to make any excuses. that s why we went out and started preparing about two days ago and had multiple meetings as recently as one hour ago. you were in traffic here because the roads are bad. they are tough, yes. do we have enough salt trucks and snow plows out there? we do. i don t ever believe we have enough, but all of our assets are working and coordinating with the state. chris christie, the governor of new jersey, was gone on vacation and got criticized. cory booker out there helping shovel snow. cory did a terrific job.
you were in traffic here because the roads are bad. they are tough, yes. do we have enough salt trucks and snow plows out there? we do. i don t ever believe we have enough, but all of our assets are working and coordinating with the state. fulton county and dekalb county in the way that we re doing. i ask because a few weeks ago, mayor bloomberg tough. he got really criticized about that. the governor of new jersey was gone on vacation and got criticized. cory booker out there helping shovel snow. cory did a terrific job. you know there are political ramifications if it doesn t work out well. you re right, but i m really concerned and focused on people. the message whenever have you an event like this is to be present and do something. people want action, so i ve been at work. i m going stay at work, and we ll be out late until about 1:00 or 2:00 tonight and then be back at about 5:30 in the morning. mayor, thank you. you heard it from the mayor. be present,
fact of the matter is we don t have weather events like this. i think the amount of snow that we re getting is probably a ten-year event for the city of atlanta, so we have the equipment. it s just how often we use it. as opposed to cities in the north that use it all of the time, but we didn t want to make any excuses. that s why we went out and started preparing about two days ago and had multiple meetings as recently as one hour ago. you were in traffic here because the roads are bad. they are tough, yes. do we have enough salt trucks and snow plows out there? we do. i don t ever believe we have enough, but all of our assets are working and coordinating with the state. fulton county and dekalb county in the way that we re doing. i ask because a few weeks ago, mayor bloomberg tough. he got really criticized about that. the governor of new jersey was gone on vacation and got criticized. cory booker out there helping shovel snow. cory did a terrific job. you know th