“We will help build a city that fosters innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship, because that’s what drives real, long-term growth — not expensive buildings or baseball stadiums,” Mayor Luke Bronin said in his first State of the City address on Monday in City Hall.

Even with the predictably depressing remarks, residents walked out of City Hall with respect for the no bullshit, factual assessment of where Hartford is, how we got here, and what we are going to do about it.

“We are in a state of fiscal emergency,” Bronin said, attributing the damage to “past administrations” that “borrowed liberally,” “promised benefits that Hartford’s tax base cannot support,” and “made promises that are not sustainable.”

The mayor said previous administrations “bought time with one-time revenues — selling parking garages, raiding employee benefit reserves.”

The City of Hartford has no more parking garages left to sell.

“Today, we are in a full-blown crisis and we cannot avoid it, we cannot ignore it, and we cannot solve it unless we all make very difficult, very painful decisions,” he said to an uncharacteristically silent audience in Council Chambers.

Anticipating the complaints some have been waging about resources going toward certain departments, Bronin said “Without painful changes, we will soon face deficits so big that even eliminating our entire police department and our entire fire department would not close the gap.”

The “painful” cuts he is referring to are layoffs, some of which have already begun in the public schools. Labor contracts and pensions were other places changes are likely to be seen.

More than once, the mayor called for “responsibility” to be taken by the tax-exempt institutions and the largest property owners in Hartford.

Looking ahead of the immediate crisis, Bronin urged greater support from the State of Connecticut, regardless of the State’s own financial hardship, and for the federal government to “make real investments” in “in transportation, in infrastructure, in education, in public safety, in research and development, in youth employment” on the local and state levels.

He advised that we “stop talking about regionalism and start regionalizing” if Hartford is to ever grow.

Bronin said:

If we allow Hartford to fall into a cycle of crisis and decline, the impact will be felt not just in Hartford, but in home prices, home sales and unemployment numbers in West Hartford, Simsbury, Windsor, Glastonbury, Bloomfield, and every surrounding town. If, on the other hand, we position ourselves to compete with the Austins, the Pittsburghs, the Louisvilles of America, the entire region will reap the rewards in jobs, in home prices, and in a virtuous cycle of innovation and growth.

There were some parts of the address that did not deal with the City’s financial crisis.

Bronin said he would be seeking private funds to build a Youth Service Corps that would allow young people to earn money in their community.

He vowed to continue to push for criminal justice system reforms, including changing how pre-trial detention works. Bronin said he would lobby “private employers to ‘Ban the Box.'”

Finally, he applauded a few positive changes coming to Hartford in the near future: commuter rail linking New Haven, Springfield, and Hartford, and the UConn campus opening in Downtown.

After the mayor concluded, the City Council began its own meeting, complete with public comment and a presence by some residents opposing the ordinance to implement the City Charter’s provision for the Registrars of Voters to be appointed, rather than elected. That item, sponsored by Councilman Gale, is not due for its hearing until March 21.