Thank you.  Thanks for coming today.  And thank you Phillip Palmer for your contribution to this event each year.  And to Todd Ament and the Anaheim Chamber for another great event.

I have to tell you, that introduction from Aubrey was very special. 

Aubrey, as you heard her tell you firsthand, is a fifth grade student at St. Anthony Claret School, a Catholic School on La Palma.   She has been participating in a private school voucher program that, with the help of many very generous people, I was able to set up five years ago.

Over 170 low-income children from throughout Anaheim have been able to take advantage of this program and attend a private elementary school of their family’s choice.  And these children are excelling – Aubrey is a great example –.  -as a very serious--and smart--young lady.

 So thank you Aubrey, for being here.

I do want to pause right here to tell you that I gladly assist in raising money for many private not-for-profit programs that operate in our city.  Most of you know that first hand!

With your generosity, we have had great success in building community support for such programs as the MUZEO, the Anaheim Boys and Girls Club, the Anaheim YMCA and countless others.

But for too long the local Children’s Scholarship Fund program – known as the Anaheim Challenge for Education – has not had a large public presence.  We have quietly raised money and without taking ANY overhead for operation, the New York –based Children’s Scholarship Fund office has provided scholarships to many Anaheim children.  So I thought it appropriate today, to bring this to all of your attention.

And that is why, you will see a message and even a fundraising envelope in your state of the city program.  Every dollar will advance the education of a wonderful student here in our city.

I am so pleased to be introduced by Aubrey, because she represents Anaheim so well.  A young lady, who wants to work hard, who captures the opportunities that are before her and who seriously focuses on future success.

That not only describes our city, but captures her and tens of thousands of wonderful children in our community in both public and private schools, who are getting a great education and preparing for their future.

This past year at an event called the Gift of History, we distributed over 4000 books, titled Anna’s home by the River, authored by Gail Eastman and Chris Lowe.  This book is a third grade chapter book on the history of Anaheim.

In October, 3rd grade students from all the schools in our city converged on the Anaheim Convention Center and celebrated Anaheim, our history and left with this book in a book bag donated by the Office Depot Foundation.

But in the midst of the cheering voices, I couldn’t help but think of these children’s future place in our society.  Many will be pillars of this community - as business owners, as Mayor, as a Governor or President, as doctors or scientists or teachers or city workers, or whatever they want if they are given the chance and work hard.

And it really is the job of all of us to provide those chances – those opportunities. 
Last week, we saw the inauguration of a new President.  Now most of you may know my politics well enough to know that the new President was not my choice.  I supported Rudy Giuliani in the early Republican primary, and then Senator McCain as he became the Republican nominee.

But regardless of who we may have individually supported for President, for the period of time after a new President places his hand on that Bible and takes the oath of office, there is a unique optimism in the land. 

The inauguration of a new President is a classically American tradition.  It is a renewal of the Founding Vision. 

The time for disagreement over policies, petty and grand, will come.  But for this period of time, we all wish our new leader well, as the embodiment of a hope-filled future in this great nation.

We know that America is facing challenging times.  But closer to home, there is still much we can be proud of in what we continue to accomplish here in Anaheim. 

And I know that there are many people looking out for the future of Anaheim.  Joining me on the City Council are my colleagues, Mayor pro Tem Bob Hernandez, and Council members Lorri Galloway, Harry Sidhu, and Lucille Kring.  Please join me in welcoming them.

And of course, I want to honor our great city staff, led by City Manager Dave Morgan.  To Dave and the Anaheim City family, thank you.

There were many proud moments for Anaheim last year, not the least of which was the bravery with which our firefighters fought the Triangle and Freeway Complex fires.  The devastation was great, but would have been so much worse without our firefighters, under the direction of Fire Chief Roger Smith and the support from neighboring departments who helped us.  Please join me in thanking them.

Like any larger city, Anaheim depends on a police force to maintain the peace and public safety.  Too often, we only hear about the police when something has gone wrong, but they are there for us every day, taking risks we’d never take ourselves, and the people of Anaheim do understand and deeply appreciate the service and professionalism of our Police Department, led by a great Police Chief, John Welter.

And city workers provide great service in departments throughout the City--from the Anaheim Public Utilities, to Community Services, from the convention center to planning and building.  Our team throughout Anaheim is very good--- and I would like to show you my personal appreciation.

As the Mayor of this community and as any leader, you know how good your team is, not from seeing how they respond during the good times, but in seeing what they do in the tough times.

Our state and national economy have slowed down greatly.  And businesses, large and small are feeling a severe pinch.  Many residents of Anaheim have lost their jobs, and over a thousand families were confronted with the real prospect of foreclosure on their home this past year.

Long standing businesses in our city have closed up – and some may never re-open.  And others face a drop in sales and lay-offs or bankruptcy. 

And with this, our city will have reduced revenues.  Our largest revenue provider, the hotel tax, will see at least a 5% drop, sales tax will drop as much as 10%, and property taxes coming in to the city will certainly not grow this year.

Our budget is being squeezed, and so we have cut back, and will continue to reduce our city expenditures.  We will tap into our city’s general fund reserve, which was built up in the good times for just this reason.  This upcoming fiscal year we draw upon nearly a third of the funds in our rainy day reserves, which we set aside for such challenging times.

It is times like these that test leaders and communities.  But when you plan well, you are able to come through the toughest of times.  You must prepare for good moments and bad; you must have a team of professionals willing to make the sacrifices;  your policy leaders mustn’t look to grandstand- but instead look to solve problems.  And that is what we’ve done here in Anaheim and why our city is not facing the same economic calamities troubling many major California cities.

During hard times, it is important to maintain perspective.  We should not just look at the last few months of economic challenges and uncertainty, but to the previous years of growth and prosperity.  Growth that came because of visionary planning and a commitment to economic freedom.  We can address the immediate crisis – and let me assure you that we are – but we cannot ignore the importance of looking at the future opportunities.

Therefore, I can assure you, that in looking at the complete picture of Anaheim today, the State of the City is good, and we will successfully navigate these turbulent waters and will be prepared for the great successes ahead!

Even as the economy worsened this past year and we took immediate action to address the slow down, we did still move forward.

November’s election brought big change.  Along with selecting a new President, the voters continued to invest in infrastructure here in California with the passage of Proposition 1A.  Transportation, one of the bedrocks of our state’s success, was a big winner as the people approved $ 9 billion to launch a High Speed Rail system.  The first spur of which will be a high speed connection from Anaheim to downtown Los Angeles.

As I promised last year at this time, we moved forward in planning for ARTIC, the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center.  Time and time again, we learn the lesson that the swift movement of people and goods is a cornerstone of economic growth, and the investment in our Anaheim station, in expanding metrolink service and high speed rail will continue to place Anaheim at the forefront of this movement.

Last January I also called for the creation of the Anaheim Center for New Energy Technologies, AC-NET, to create a public-private partnership between venture capital, technology leaders, the city, and Cal State Fullerton, to make Anaheim a leader in the development and deployment of an emerging growth industry, clean and efficient energy technologies. 

We indeed launched AC-NET last year, and let this be a foreshadowing moment, I’ll have more to say about that in a few minutes. 

In the opening video, you heard our City Manager Dave Morgan highlight some great progress on many projects within our city, whether with our parks or fire stations, and others.  And there is much progress to celebrate in every corner of our city.  The Resort continues to grow, with the on-going expansion plans for Disney’s California Adventure, new hotels in the planning and entitlement phases, our thriving restaurants and bowling center in the new Anaheim Garden Walk. 

In the Canyon Business Center, we have residential units under construction, bringing a new vibrancy to one of the region’s major employment centers.  The new Kaiser Hospital and medical center complex started construction this year and will certainly be a high-paying jobs center for decades to come. 

And the Platinum Triangle will see over a thousand new residential units open this year, and new retail and restaurants to boot.  In our Downtown area, new Anaheim residents are moving into a number of beautiful new residential projects.  Did you know that nearly 100 homes were sold at Brookfield Homes’ Colony Park project in 2008?  They had more sales of new homes in Orange County than any other new residential project last year.  Along with that, new retail has opened in the CIM project, meeting the needs of the employers and residents living there. 

And finally, who can say that there was not a more proud moment for Anaheim in the last year than the performance of our U.S. Men’s Olympic Volleyball team?

As you know, the City pursued the Olympic volleyball team a few years ago, as they looked to move from Colorado Springs so they could train on the west coast and at sea level.  They felt they were building a great team, and in the right training environment, they thought they might have a shot at the Gold in Beijing.

Talk about foreshadowing!  After moving to Anaheim, the men’s team flourished.  The great training facilities at the American Sports Center, the tremendous support from the community and business leaders in sponsoring the team, and of course, the proximity to home for so many of the great Southern California volleyball athletes, all came together for this team.

And with the victory, even though touched by tragedy, a great coach and his team stood tall and will be Olympic-size role models for all of us.  This coach has become a leader in this community as the team became part of our fabric, and this New Year, he represented his team, our country and our City as the sole rider on the City’s float in the Rose parade.  Please join me in welcoming Hugh McCutcheon! (And his wife Elizabeth.)

Now if you haven’t heard, Hugh has taken on a new role.  He has left the Men’s team – and has taken on the challenge of coaching the USA Women’s National team as they look to the 2012 Olympics.

But there’s just one problem.  Just about all the ingredients for a 2012 London Gold Medal recipe are in place, save one.  You see, the Women’s team is still based in Colorado Springs. 

Hugh, if we get everyone in this room committed to moving the Women’s team to Anaheim this year, would you be up for it?

Will all of you help us make this happen?

I would love to make that happen!  So let’s get on that, ok?

So between the community pride in our volleyball team, the continued policy innovations from our leaders, and people, neighborhoods, and a business community that is always looking to be the best, we indeed have a lot to be proud of here in Anaheim.  We continue to get things done, we continue to lead. 

Last year in Anaheim, we did something very innovative.

Something innovative in Anaheim.  Actually, that’s like saying, yesterday in Anaheim, the sun rose in the east. 

You see folks, I hope the hallmark of these last few years in Anaheim has been policy innovation.  We can all be proud that Anaheim is known as a policy leader and innovator, not afraid to shake up the status quo of how cities and governments do things. 

That’s why last year, we commissioned J.D. Power & Associates to perform a customer satisfaction survey in the city.  Not a poll of what people think about the city generically, but an actual customer satisfaction survey.

You all know J.D. Power, of course.  They do thousands of studies every year, and survey millions of people on all manner of topics.

But until 2008, in Anaheim, they had never done a customer satisfaction survey to this level in and for a city.

In our survey, we measured three departments that have direct interaction with residents and businesses in the City on a customer basis.  We talked to people who interacted with our police department, our public utilities department, and our planning and building department. 

There is a stereotype about interacting with government.  And it is not always a positive one.  Often times people see that experience as bureaucratic and frustrating.  No doubt, some times, that reputation is deserved.  But the findings of the survey were fascinating, and reported in great detail how our customers view us. 

Satisfaction with our public utilities department was very high.  Reported outages were few, and over 70% of residential and business users were delighted or very pleased with their service.  One area of concern was that more wanted to be able to receive and pay bills electronically.

The police department also received generally high marks, with most feeling that officers were very professional and the department easy to contact.  In the instances where response time was slow for non-emergency calls, some residents cited this as an area for improvement, and I know the Chief is already working to address that.

But the point of the survey was not just to collect the data, but to see what we do well, and to provide specific ways that we can do better.

We now have a roadmap on where and how we can improve, and we have established a benchmark against which we can measure how we do in the future, and whether or not we are progressing.

I know some in government, and I have heard elected officials tell me this directly, that we shouldn’t spend money of surveying our residents because people can’t shop for alternative providers of government services.  Or that spending 100 or 200,000 dollars to find out what our residents think is too much money, even when we spend over $200 million a year in our city budget.

But I disagree.  I believe the fundamental responsibility of elected officials is to serve the public and find the best way to deliver limited government services.  And if you don’t ask people – how you are doing – you will never know!

I know that in response to this year’s survey, we will implement some changes in how we do business to serve our customers and we will conduct future surveys, to see if we are indeed, improving.

As I mentioned, we generally got good marks from the customers.  And even while J.D. Power cautions that the sample size for survey of interactions with building and planning are not enough for strong conclusions, we can clearly do better in how our planning and building department interacts with their customers.  We have a great planning department, but that interaction will always be challenging.  People want to build things on their property and the city must make sure it is done safely and without impacting neighbors.  This can be an adversarial relationship.  Yet even in this, our city customers rightfully expect to be treated with respect.  Building inspectors should arrive on time and give understandable and attainable feedback for people trying to move a business expansion, home improvement, or development forward.

We often do well at this now but we can do better.  We are already taking steps to improve, and I am confident we WILL do better in years ahead with what we’ve learned from the survey.

Another area where we can clearly do better is the use of technology to improve customer service, across city departments.  In the era we live in, people expect that they can do business online.  They pay their bills on line, track packages at their computers, buy just about whatever they want, and so much more. 

 Cities shouldn’t just join that revolution – we should lead it.  Anaheim has taken many steps in providing services on-line but we have not yet become fully connected in all of our departments and in providing all of our services.  This is certainly a goal of mine.

And with that, I challenge every department to allow every bill or charge for service to be paid on-line by the end of 2009.  And where bills are recurring, to ensure that every Anaheim resident and business, can sign up to be billed for services with an on-line notice, just like is available with nearly every private sector company.

Late last year, my personal business received a letter from city hall, asking me to renew my business license.  I couldn’t help thinking of the great inefficiencies of this method – printing a bill, putting it in an envelope, paying for postage, receiving an envelope in return, opening the envelope, depositing my check.  Those are very inefficient functions in this day and age. 

So, again, my goal is that by the end of this year, all city billings and city service transactions will be available to Anaheim customers on-line.

In past years in this forum, I have called for some new ways to use technology to serve our people better.  I have talked about a Neighborhood Toolbox where neighbors, in part by organizing online, can customize how they receive certain city services.  This system is progressing but still incomplete.

I’ve talked about Anaheim Anytime, a 24 hour virtual city hall where citizens can go to city hall online just as easily as in person, and perform the same functions.  We’ve made progress on this, but can do better.

I am proud that we were among the very first cities to stream our council meetings live and online, and archive these meetings on our website, with the video linked to the agenda so people can find exactly the part of a council meeting they want to view with the click of a mouse.  But the same access to all city records and public documents is not available.  It should be.

So, I have to say, it is not good enough.  I am frustrated that businesses cannot pay their business license online, when they can buy and pay for everything else online.  Or that you can’t register and pay for a park and recreation class on the same day, without prior day approvals.

I see the Fed-Ex or UPS guy track my packages with hand held devices, and get up to the minute delivery schedules, but we do not record building inspection information online, nor give clear next steps to customers in that department.

If we could do these and other functions like the private sector, where it has become second nature, our customer satisfaction would increase.  We know this. 

And yet, probably by nature, governments are not good at this.  We all know the stories of city, county, state, and federal agencies that have launched new computer systems to great fanfare, and great failure.  And all too often, at great expense to the taxpayers.

For reasons probably inherent to how government operates, we just are too slow at technology innovation.

So I think we need to continually challenge how we design and implement technology solutions.

This year in Anaheim, we will assemble a Mayor’s Technology Advisory Committee to advise us on how we become the most technologically advanced, innovative, and user-friendly city out there.  I have already begun to invite leaders and pioneers in many fields to join the Committee.  I will explain to them this vision, and ask them to produce a Blueprint for a 21st Century City that uses the latest innovations to make Anaheim a customer-oriented, efficient provider of services. 

I’ve asked innovators and technology leaders to serve on this committee.  I have asked them to make recommendations from simple tasks like redesigning of the city’s website with a focus on customer service and communications to more in-depth concepts on how to provide more efficient government services.  Their report will be due at the end of the summer. 

As we strive to take to heart the lessons learned from our J.D. Power survey, this Advisory Committee will help us incorporate the latest technology into our new customer service initiatives.

And when we get this done…this year…we will go from being good at customer service to being the best.

In these challenging economic times, bringing in the innovators from many fields and creating public-private partnerships is already working for Anaheim. 

At the same time, we need to be honest with ourselves.  Anaheim and its economy, on our own, is not big enough to escape global recession.  But what we can do is to put in place policies that make sure, compared to other communities, Anaheim is last into recession, faces a comparatively shallower slowdown, and most importantly, when the economy turns, we want the investors and builders and dreamers to start to re-invest first in Anaheim.

We’ve already begun to do this.  Two years ago, we lowered business taxes across the board in Anaheim, especially for home-based businesses.

Last year, we were the first city in California to adopt a policy, now pointed to as a model by the Building Industry Association, of deferring all development fees until a certificate of occupancy is granted on a residential projects, meaning developers will not have to spend what can be sometimes millions in fees until the projects are ready to show a return in investment.

(And a quick aside, I also need to thank the Anaheim Union High School district board for following our lead just last week – in becoming the FIRST school district in California to defer their fees on residential construction until a certificate of occupancy is issued. )
But where we can, we must create other partnerships and policies that will make innovators look first to Anaheim when the time is right.

As I mentioned, we are doing this at the Anaheim Center for New Energy Technologies, where our first projects are already moving forward.  We just recently announced the Clean Business Tech Plan competition.  This contest challenges college students and entrepreneurs from around Southern California to submit ideas for new businesses in the area of new energy and water technologies.  The first place winner will receive a $25,000 award, with other prizes to other notable competitors.  I’m excited that some of the nation’s leading venture capitalists in the field of energy efficiency and technology are backing this competition.  The final competition and the selection of winners will take place in conjunction with Cal State Fullerton on April 15.

We are working hard in Anaheim to make sure the green economy and the millions of jobs it will provide find a home here in Orange County.

But in the field of efficient use of natural resources, Anaheim must also lead by example.

As the operator of a municipal utility, Anaheim faces the same pressures as other power providers and power users to meet mandates for greenhouse gasses.  We are responsibly reviewing our entire energy portfolio to meet these mandates in a way that will limit the increase in costs to our customers.  We’re providing incentives and rewards, rather than imposing our own costly and strict mandates, to encourage residents and businesses to use electricity more efficiently.

But along with power generation, another precious natural resource that is becoming increasingly scarce is water.  California is facing its third critically dry year in a row. 

Major reservoirs around the state are at all-time lows and court-ordered restrictions on moving water from Northern California to Central and Southern California mean we have to do more with less.  With new mandates for conservation coming from Sacramento and regional governments, and the lack of political will at the same time to create more storage, a coming water crisis is very real, and not in the distant future.
The pressure in all these new edicts is for water retailers like the City of Anaheim to restrict, to ration, to mandate, and to punish or fine water users.

Up the freeway in Los Angeles, they will ticket their residents who water their lawns at the, quote – wrong time of the day.

This is not the Anaheim way.

We prefer incentives and reward rather than punishment.

And where we can, we must lead by example. 

This year in Anaheim, we will do that.  We will launch a demonstration project here in our own downtown that will showcase the latest in water recycling and water reclamation. 

Normally, investment in a water recycling facility is a massive undertaking, and for a city that is largely built out, like Anaheim, some would say impossible.  But where there is political will – we can achieve.

Near City Hall West, where our Utilities Department is housed, we will build a water recycling demonstration project to serve City Hall and the businesses and parks and public landscaping near the facility.

Just as distributed electricity generation rather than just large generating plants may be the answer to power supply, distributed water recycling rather than large central water plants may be a workable way to address our water needs.

It is true that state or regional edicts may force our hand on various future measures.  But where we can, I want to lead by example, Anaheim should show that efficient use of natural resources need not be dictated by command and control mandates, but by investments in new technology that make it worthwhile.

Necessity is, as they say, the mother of invention, but she gets to pick where to raise her family, and she chooses Anaheim.

At the end of the day, the economy is not about national recessions and global financial crises.  It is about local businesses and our Anaheim residents.  And most importantly, about finding a good job to provide for your family.

During good times, government has the luxury to focus on many issues that address the quality of life for our residents.  During tough times, we need to focus on the basics. 

Now we need to ensure that government assists the private sector in growing jobs and our economy and private individuals in finding jobs so their families are secure.

Funded by state and federal grants, local workforce investment boards have the mission of making sure employers have an available and adequately trained pool of workers.  The Anaheim WIB is, or should be, the largest job clearing house in the city, and probably in all of Orange County.

And yet, I do not believe the WIB—as it is currently structured—meets  the needs of the job seekers or job providers in Anaheim.  The name itself speaks to bureaucracy rather than effective job training and placement.

Even in this economy, there are thousands of job seekers and jobs to be had, but they have trouble connecting.  I believe we must assist the WIB to make it effective in putting Anaheim back to work. 

Let’s rebrand and rename it for starters.

I propose we rename it, to a name that speaks its purpose, AnaheimJobs.com. 
But the changes needed are more than cosmetic.  It must eliminate the bureaucratic government-speak and talk in the language of workers and employers.  The current leadership must be examined and reformed to bring it in line with the needs of today’s economy.

The current Board is too heavily represented by government representatives.  We must add more employers, especially medium and larger employers, on the Board.  And we must have a wider range of industries represented, including service jobs, manufacturing jobs, and some of our jobs of the future, such as the clean energy technology employers.

To make it effective, AnaheimJobs.com should have a new website that aims to become the central hub connecting job seekers and employers in Anaheim.  We must encourage all Anaheim employers to post job openings on the new site.  And as in other areas, the city must lead by example, posting all city job openings at AnaheimJobs.com.

We have been in discussions with Anaheim’s top 25 employers who have agreed to begin posting their new job listings on our site.  And even our own City of Anaheim postings will appear at this new website address.    I would encourage all of you, and all members of the Anaheim Chamber, to also make this commitment.  And starting TODAY, in fact, the AnaheimJobs.com website is up and active for business this afternoon. 

During tough economic times, and hopefully – even when they are not so tough- helping the private sector to create jobs should be among government’s top priority.  With these changes, we will make it clear that creating Anaheim jobs is our top priority, we will help our businesses grow, and help put our people back to work, and THAT more than anything, will help to keep our local economy strong.

We have much to do in these times we live in.  We’ve built a solid base in Anaheim that will sustain us through times that would sink lesser communities.

The strength of communities like ours comes from many sources.  The people and their values for sure.  The government policies that help create an environment for success.

But over my six years as your Mayor, I have given the definition of community a great deal of thought.  When we first started talking about the Platinum Triangle vision, we talked about how lessening the central planning by government could help create communities with more character and identity.

I have been proud of much of what we’ve accomplished here, but one of many areas in which we have led is in the desire to build, and in fact restore a sense of community.

In the planning world, we’ve been through new urbanism and post-new urbanism and the latest theories of community design.  One interesting trend is the greater realization that, when planning housing and neighborhoods and job centers and the like, we cannot forget community and even sacred spaces.  Space for public squares, churches, and so much more than just the housing-jobs mix is what makes developments become a community in the truest sense of the word.

In that regard, even as we plan to adjourn from this meeting, I would like to invite you to join me in March for a very special conference I am hosting called the Restoring Community Conference.  Held here in Anaheim, this conference will feature some of the leading thinkers in planning and design of communities, including many who have developed the latest thinking of preserving beauty and sacred spaces in community design.  The conference will be on March 13 at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, and it will be a really special day.  I hope you take the conference postcard on your table, return to your office, and register for the conference on the website that is listed for you.

But for now, I want to leave you with these thoughts from today’s event.  The same guiding principles that make Anaheim a great city apply whether the times are booming or not.  We acknowledge that there is clearly a role for government to play in making our community successful, but its main purpose should be in a supporting role.  The true basis for success comes from the innovation and desire to succeed and that pursuit of happiness that comes from our people themselves.

The true definition of the American Dream…is that everyone has their own definition of the American Dream.  We cannot through government action make peoples’ dreams come true.  We can only create an environment in which families and entrepreneurs, children from wealth or from limited means, dream seekers, big and small, can have a shot at success. 

We have much to be proud of in Anaheim, from our sports teams and our fantastic resort to manufacturing and service businesses.  From tract houses to shiny new Platinum Triangle lofts, from historic bungalows and cozy apartments to beautiful custom homes.  From high-end fashion boutiques to small family-owned businesses. It is the tapestry of all of these, and what they represent – each of our residents making their own American Dream – that makes Anaheim the special place that it is.

As your Mayor, I view this annual gathering as my annual recommitment to you that the only reason I hold this position is to focus on a vision of a better Anaheim, and I sincerely thank you for the honor it is to serve you.  Thanks so much for joining me here today.