During the annual State of the City address Wednesday, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said Madison must work to recover from the current economic recession by restructuring and redefining its economy to make the city both progressive and pro-business in the future.

“For the hundreds of Madisonians who have lost their jobs in the last year, the fact that we are doing better than the rest of the nation means little,” Cieslewicz said. “Madison by no means is immune to economic recession.”

Declaring “economic redevelopment” as the theme of his speech, Cieslewicz said employed Madisonians should be grateful for stability and should channel their energy toward helping those who are unemployed.

As part of his plan to aid the city, Cieslewicz vowed to measure the “health” of more than 70 neighborhoods across Madison through the Neighborhood Indicators Program. With the help of the program, the city will be able to “deploy resources intelligently and early when we see signs of stress.”

After discussing a five-year initiative to improve the quality of city streets, especially in the downtown area, Cieslewicz said public safety is a key component toward improving quality of life.

“I am happy to report that thanks to excellent police work and the cooperative approach launched by the Madison Police Department to address burglaries throughout our community, we have realized a 51 percent decrease in burglaries in the first quarter of 2009 compared to 2008,” Cieslewicz said.

He added the city submitted an application to hire 20 new officers who will be employed over the next three years. According to Cieslewicz, the new officers will enable the city to tackle its “problem-solving capacity” and concentrate on “preventive pubic safety initiatives.”

Even in an economic recession, Cieslewicz said the city is moving to complete major projects, including the redevelopment of University of Wisconsin‘s Union South.

He said UW is Dane County‘s “economic engine,” and many discoveries and ideas formulated from UW researchers are often created at the UW Research Park.

Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, said he is glad to see the city is making progress on important issues to improve life in the campus downtown, especially on the UW campus.

“I think his … point of partnering with the UW will be important,” Eagon said. “Students provide such a boost to the local economy and … are the backbone to (aiding) several economic issues.”

City Council President Tim Bruer, District 14, said many parts of the mayor’s State of the City address were reflective of his legislative agenda with the City Council.

He added the city needs to be in the forefront of progressive action to alleviate growing poverty and further the Madison community.

“I think his State of the City reinforces [his] vision and challenges the city in these difficult times to explore bold initiatives that reinforce our economic development and strive to continue exceptional quality of life as well as recognizing we have thousands of our citizens being victimized by our economy,” Bruer said.