Thank you very much Brian!

My friends and family know just how excited I am right now. The closest I came to a professional sports career was playing basketball in the driveway with my friends and staff, and while those games got pretty intense, rising to the level of professional athleticism – they did not.

In the community, we are proud of all our Anaheim sports teams. The Olympic qualifying USA Men’s Volleyball team, The Anaheim Arsenal, and of course, the Western Division Champion Angels.

But the Ducks are first among equals. The Pringle family are huge fans. So for me to be introduced by Brian Burke, General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks is really, really a great honor.

And how about that video! Every year, our team does a fantastic job putting together a video that highlights all the great things that we are doing here in Anaheim, and it is one of my favorite things about this event.

But before I go any further, I have to make an admission.

I have already screwed this up.

Brian, could you stand up again?

I said that we are huge fans. And that it is an honor for me to be introduced by Brian Burke, General Manager – let me get this part right - of the REIGNING STANLEY CUP CHAMPION Anaheim Ducks.

Now that sounds much better!

Now that is a fantastic applause line – “Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks,” and I hope you’ll join me in applauding our champions all season and all day long.

Once again we are privileged to have Phillip Palmer with KABC-TV as our MC. Philip thanks again for being here and doing such a great job – but would you all join me in congratulating Phillip on his marriage earlier this month.

Also this is a good time to ask if you would recognize and welcome my wife Alexis, who is here today.

Also, would you join me in recognizing my council colleague Lorri Galloway? Today is Lorri’s birthday, Happy Birthday Lorri – I hope you have a good year.

This will also be a big year for all of my council colleagues: Bob Hernandez will be serving as Mayor Pro Tem, Harry Sidhu is running for the State Senate and Lucille Kring will be opening up her new business later this spring. Will you join me in welcoming them all here today?

I know that there are many special guests here, including some important state and local government leaders…I welcome you. But I would like to take a brief moment to thank our City Manager Dave Morgan, his leadership team, our department heads and our fantastic city staff – thank you for another great year.

Anaheim is a fantastic city to be Mayor of. There is a lot going on in Anaheim, and as you know, that is how we like it. 2007 was a very busy year for us, and a special one at that.

In 2007, we celebrated our 150th birthday as a city, our sesquicentennial. And it was a year long party, capped off by celebrating with our Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks! (That was the applause line.)

There are a lot of reasons why Anaheim is so strong. First and foremost, we have the best residents of any city around, I truly believe that. We’re diverse, we’re dynamic, and we are driven and ambitious. We’re not shy in saying that we aim to be the best city in America.

We have great families, wonderful neighborhoods, and a business community that I will stack up against a competitive world economy and bet, every time that we will come out on top. And that business community is represented by the best Chamber of Commerce around, our hosts and partners today. Will you join with me in thanking them, Todd Ament the president and Bruce Solari, the Chairman of the board of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.

I know you share with me the pride in another great year for Anaheim in 2007, a very special anniversary year for us, and share with me the confidence that in 2008, the state of our Anaheim, is very strong.

Still of course, while we accomplished a lot in 2007, and your City Council worked together on many projects to make last year a success, you all know that there were some issues in which we all did not agree.

We have five strong, opinionated members on this City Council. We are all passionate about our beliefs, and passionate about Anaheim. But while I never doubt that we all share the same goal, to make Anaheim the best it can possibly be for our citizens, neighborhoods, businesses, and visitors - how we set out to achieve these goals this past year it seemed, was open to interpretation.

As you know during 2007 there was much debate over the issue of the Anaheim Resort Area, and whether that is an appropriate part of our city to locate a development that is 100% residential housing.

There were strong feelings on that issue in our Council, and in our city, and across the community.

It was a big issue last year, we know that. We got a lot done in 2007, but that issue took a lot of time and energy.

Is that a bad thing? … No, not at all.

In fact, a lot of good came out of the debate over housing in the Resort Area.

First of all, it is never a bad thing when the residents of this city pay attention to what is happening at City Hall, and sometimes it takes controversy for that interest to be piqued.

2007 saw an awakening of a great number of residents, neighborhoods and community groups getting involved in civic affairs in Anaheim. Attendance at City Council meetings was as high as it has ever been. We don’t get Nielsen ratings on the city council airings on cable, but I know I was stopped countless times in the last year by people who watched council meetings from their home or online.

Tens of thousands of citizens signed petitions, walked precincts, debated and discussed with their neighbors, and participated in the process.

I think…well, I know…that is a good thing. Regardless of where you stood on this issue or any other issue, it was a good reminder to us all that the power lies ultimately with the people.

I encourage everyone who got involved in civic affairs this last year, whether you are a long time activist and leader, or involved for the first time, to stay engaged. Come to City Council meetings, or, if you can’t, watch us on TV or streaming on the Internet.

All five of us on the Council have always known that housing, and especially workforce housing, is an important issue. There are lots of ideas on how to address this issue, and we’ll continue to discuss and debate ways to address it.

But thanks to the good work of Lucy Dunn and the Orange County Business Council, along with Todd Ament and the Anaheim Chamber, we know that, regardless of where you stand on this one issue, the evidence is clear that Anaheim is doing more than any other city in Orange County to provide a large range of housing availability and options. From high end single family homes to market rate condos and rentals, to subsidized ownership and rental housing, no one can argue with the fact that Anaheim is the most progressive city in Orange County--if not all of California--in making a nice place to live more accessible.

Another important benefit that came out of the Resort debate is that it focused our attention on the Resort, and the tremendous asset we have here in Anaheim.

It is only normal sometimes to take what we have here for granted. But the debate in 2007 helped all us take a fresh look at the unbridled success story that the Anaheim Resort Area has been. It truly is an economic marvel. From the Disneyland Resort to the Convention Center, from the hotels, big and small, to the new Garden Walk, our four star restaurants and all the tourist-serving businesses, the Anaheim Resort is an amazing creation. Partially planned and partially the result of good old fashioned entrepreneurial spirit, there is no denying how big a piece of the pie this relatively small land area of our city really is.

And it is still growing, with thousands of new hotel rooms, hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space, and even more restaurant offerings on the books.

In 2008, we can all look to ways to continue to improve the resort area, and connect it better to our city.

That will be one of my priorities this year.

Across the state, there is a renewed focus on building public infrastructure facilities through public-private partnerships. I want to maintain Anaheim’s leadership here.

One of the strongest examples is the progress we’re making with ARTIC, the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center. A few months ago, the City and OCTA hosted over 200 potential partners to explore ways to creatively finance and construct this future transit hub. And later this year, we will select the private partners who will take the next step with the city and OCTA in the development of this facility. I am confident we are on the right path to make ARTIC, long a vision for Anaheim, into a reality.

But while ARTIC, located in the Platinum Triangle and near Honda Center and Angels Stadium of Anaheim, will do a great job moving people into and out of that part of Anaheim, we must make sure it does more.

We need to connect ARTIC and the Platinum Triangle, our sports complexes, and other destinations around the city with the Anaheim Resort Area.

That is why this year, I want to focus on the development of a transit system that provides this connection. And I want this new transit connection to be a product of public AND private investment.

Just last month, the Anaheim City Council voted to submit our proposal for an “elevated, fixed guideway transit system” to OCTA for consideration for local Measure M transit funds.

“Elevated, fixed guideway transit system” is a fancy name for what I hope will be a public monorail system, which would symbolically and technologically bring Walt Disney’s iconic vision of 50 years ago alive today and bring a physical connection to the various destinations in our city.

Such a system, connecting ARTIC and our sports venues to the tens of thousands of new residents and jobs in the Platinum Triangle, and to the Anaheim Resort and its 25,000 jobs and 23 million annual visitors, would make it one of the most efficient and well-utilized local transit systems in the world.

Preliminary estimates are that up to 2.6 million passengers a year would utilize the ARTIC-Platinum Triangle-Resort Connector. Think about that. 2.6 million people and surely over a million car trips a year taken off of Katella and other surface streets between our gateway at ARTIC and destinations in our city. Far greater capacity to allow more residents and visitors to travel to stops within our city, allowing for continuing expansion and growth in the Resort with less impact on traffic.

And as we anticipate a significant amount of funding from Anaheim’s share of the Measure M “Go Local” transit funds, we also understand that the entire price tag, an estimated $250 million in construction—plus on-going operational costs--may not be fully-funded by OCTA. We must find funding resources that will bring these big ideas like ARTIC and a monorail connector from dreams to reality.

I believe that this is another public private partnership opportunity. With Disney’s plans for their fantastic expansion of their facilities, particularly at California Adventure, and with numerous other hotel and resort serving retail developments growing in the Resort Area in 2008, we need to offer these businesses the opportunity to invest in this public transit system.

By partnering with Disney and others in the Resort business community, I am confident we can move forward this year in planning for the Anaheim Monorail Connector. And as the Resort Area expands, and the Platinum Triangle vision is realized, we will have no problem accommodating our new residents, visitors, and workers.

I believe that public private partnerships will play a great role in Anaheim this year - the ARTIC development, a monorail transit system, and the potential expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center. These projects will make Anaheim a leader in using and cooperating with private partners to expand public infrastructure for the broader benefit of our community.

But in planning for the future economic growth of jobs and business opportunities in Anaheim, we are reminded that while the Resort and other tourist-related businesses are our most important industry, it is not the only business sector in the vibrant and diverse Anaheim economy.

Another major employment center is the Canyon Business Center, Orange County’s largest for premier manufacturing and office properties. Home to over 50,000 jobs, the Canyon has been known for decades as a leader in the defense, aerospace and manufacturing industries.

Because of its incredible assets – access to multiple transportation options, and all the benefits of low taxes, a business-friendly city government, and lower water and power rates, the Canyon will remain the premier place in Orange County to locate your business.

However, the Canyon is, slowly but surely, undergoing a transformation. The businesses in the Canyon are changing, echoing larger trends in our economy. The staples of the 20th Century, large manufacturing and defense, are being replaced by the industries of the 21st Century. Health care. Custom manufacturing and proto-typing. More diverse business interests with less dependency on government contracts.

As we all know, our good friend and long time economic partner, Boeing, is consolidating operations outside of Anaheim. Boeing will still be there for as many as three or four more years before they will complete their move out of Anaheim, but the transition has already begun. Panattoni Development Company has purchased roughly 60 acres of the Boeing property, and has an option and first right of refusal on the remaining 40 acres of Boeing land.

Panattoni is a leading office, commercial and industrial developer that is headquartered in Northern California but has offices around the world. They are excited to be doing business in Anaheim, and we are just as excited to have them here.

The company paid a premium for this land, a reflection of their long term positive view of the Anaheim and Orange County economy. They see us as a prime area in which to take advantage of trends in the national and global economies.

On the Boeing site, they contemplate high end office buildings suitable for corporate headquarters and locations for knowledge economy workers. I am excited about the preliminary plans we have seen so far, I am confident that Panattoni will be one of our next great partners, and I can’t wait to see their vision develop.

In other parts of the Canyon, we’ll soon see the new Kaiser Hospital and Medical Center as well as almost a mile of private investment that will bring residential, live/work, office and commercial development and thousands of new jobs, all with access to the Anaheim Canyon Metrolink station.

Late last year, some of you attended a conference sponsored by the Anaheim Chamber and the City that we called the Next Generation of Emerging Business Sectors conference. That conference, which I proposed in last year’s State of the City address, was meant to examine our City’s economic development strategy. We wanted to think about how a city like Anaheim can market itself, as well as put policies into place to make sure we attract the high-paying jobs of the “New Economy.” In addition, we wanted to look at the departure of Boeing as an opportunity to remake our economy to reflect the changing times.

At the Conference, we heard a keynote address from Dr. Richard Florida, author of the best-selling book “Rise of the Creative Class” and the soon-to-be-published “Who’s Your City?”

We also heard from Lucy Dunn, Ben Seybold from CBRE, our own Todd Ament, Jack Stewart of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, the University of Oregon chair of the economics department Dr. Phil Romero, and John Jacobsen who helped bring the Muzeo to Anaheim.

I learned a lot at the conference, and if you attended, I hope you did too.

Despite what you might think about Dr. Florida’s theories based on the title of his book, he is not simply saying that the high-paying jobs of the 21st Century are artists and entertainers. That’s not what he means by the creative class. The creative class is much broader than that. It is entrepreneurs. Software programmers. Prototypers. Researchers. Innovators. Custom manufacturers rather than assembly line workers. Value added jobs where the creative knowledge applied rather the physical labor are the measure.

So while there was a time when the gadgets of the world were invented, created, designed AND built in Anaheim, the building part is largely being done in many other countries with emerging economies now. We can bemoan that, but it is a fact in the global economy. Yes, there will always be some high end manufacturing jobs that require the most skilled workers in the world – American workers.

But the jobs that we want to locate in Anaheim, if we are to stay ahead of the curve, will not be jobs where we are competing with a workforce in Malaysia, China, the Philippines, or Mexico on basic assembly.

Instead, we want to attract the innovators, inventors, designers, and thinkers who create these next big things, regardless of where they end up getting built. These are the high end jobs of the 21st Century that Anaheim can and will compete for.

From Dr. Florida’s talk, and the panel discussion that followed, a few themes kept emerging. And the most prevalent was, again and again, these are Knowledge Economy workers. For a city to thrive and remain economically viable, it must have a smart, creative workforce.

And so I will continue to work with all of the public and private sector entities that focus on work force training programs to ensure that taxpayers and businesses that invest in these programs, as well as the community at large, get a return on the time and money spent.

I am still not satisfied that these programs work as well as they need to, and I will continue to work on ways to improve them.

I will also look for ways in which the City can partner with our local school districts to ensure our children are getting the education they need to be successful in the workplaces of tomorrow.

You see, we all have a stake in whether or not prospective businesses looking to locate in Anaheim can say with confidence that they know they will find the highly intelligent and skilled workforce here that they need.

But nurturing an educated workforce doesn’t stop at working with K-12 educators. Higher education is also critically important. One of the most successful trends in promoting and attracting creative, knowledge economy workers is where there is a business, economic development bridge to a strong university.

The symbiotic relationship between new technology businesses, growth industries, and universities is well-established. This relationship creates a clustering effect, where the smart young people with their new ideas come out of college, invent their “new thing,” locate nearby, and create their business. As their business grows and succeeds, other related businesses want to locate nearby, taking advantage of business opportunities and the pool of talented workers coming from the university.

This effect led to great job centers such as the Silicon Valley, the Research Triangle in North Carolina, and other such technology job/university clusters – including the technology connection between UCI, the Spectrum and the University Research Park.

Anaheim may not have a major university in town. But we do have a world class university, the most populous California public university, right nearby in California State University, Fullerton, ….just a short distance north of Anaheim’s border, and nearly directly connected to the Anaheim Canyon Business Center.

We don’t need to move Cal State Fullerton to Anaheim, but I think we should make a closer connection with our city and this world class education center.

Here is another fact. What is one of the largest and fastest growing fields in attracting venture capital in California, the nation, and the world today?

If you guessed something related to computers, communications, or the Internet, you are about 20 years too late.

The leading venture capital firm in the Silicon Valley, Kleiner Perkins, this year alone will invest over $200 million, not in computer technology, but in new technologies related to energy production and green and sustainable living. Altogether, venture capital funds are estimated to have put nearly two-and-a-half billion in these industries last year.

I have said before and I still believe, government and politicians should never fool themselves into thinking they are smarter than the market, or try to pick winners and losers in the economy. The forces that drive our economy are too complicated and subtle to be chosen by government and politics. Every time governments have tried, they have failed, or at best succeeded only by luck, despite themselves.

But in this case, the market is already speaking, and we should listen. The smart bets are already pointing us to the new industries of the future, and we know that more times than not, the happy combination of a university and private technology investment creates the cluster from which the new job centers spring up.

A few weeks ago, I met with Dr. Milt Gordon, the President of Cal State University Fullerton, and today I am pleased to propose that we develop, in partnership between the City of Anaheim and California State University Fullerton, the Anaheim Center for New Energy Technologies.

This new organization would be known as - AC-NET.

Joining in this partnership will be our Anaheim Public Utility and our economic development division, along with our Chamber and private industry groups.

Located in the Anaheim Canyon Business Center, Cal State Fullerton’s engineering, environmental sciences, and business students and staff would be intimately involved with the research and development of new energy technologies. This new brain trust would reap plenty of new opportunity for business, education and government.

For example, our public utility could begin to train students in energy service functions, particularly in conjunction with the new electrical power plant we will be building in the Canyon.

This whole partnership concept emerged this past year as our electric utility worked with some start up technologies, offering support and technical experience.

One recent start up in particular stands out as a great example of how AC-NET could work. A couple of years ago, I was introduced to an up-and-coming company called Ice Energy. This company had developed an award-winning product, an air conditioning unit that uses ice-or thermal energy storage technology. By making ice at night and circulating air over that ice during the day, this company had developed a way for smaller businesses to save money on their energy bills while providing a greater societal good by shifting electric demand from the day to the night.

Excited by the promise of this product, the Anaheim Public Utilities helped Ice Energy by testing their product in extensive field trials--seeing how it worked in practical application. They applied for grants together, successfully receiving a grant from the American Public Power Association and the U.S. Department of Energy.

When the field tests results showed that the technology worked, our utility department was able to offer its customers rebates and lower rates. By the end of 2007, this creative partnership resulted in the installation of 13 new thermal energy storage systems, with 11 more applications pending. In addition, this partnership has inspired other new companies to spring up to compete with Ice Energy-competition I heartily welcome---for their share of this new, emerging market.

By leveraging public assets, we can encourage economic opportunity. I believe that by working with such a significant partner as Cal State Fullerton, we will spur exciting, new, cutting-edge economic activity.

A partnership between the city, our utility, and Cal State Fullerton to create AC-NET – will bring enormous benefits by providing a renewed base of jobs and entrepreneurial spirit in the Canyon for decades to come.

Cal State Fullerton will benefit by becoming a leader in this emerging field of clean energy technology, offering exciting opportunities to their students and resident research team.

Anaheim will benefit from the job clustering effect that these campuses and entrepreneurs tend to create.

Our public utility will benefit by participating in the development of new energy technologies, and providing a real world opportunity to test these new concepts.

I think that the potential of this partnership is tremendous. I see Anaheim being the home of one of the world’s leading centers for the research and development of new energy technologies. I believe that AC-NET will establish the Canyon and our city as the place for new energy businesses to locate, and will create a new force for driving economic growth in our city on par with what defense electronics and aerospace once meant.

But the Canyon is not Anaheim’s only successful economic development story. Even while some Platinum Triangle residential projects wait out the downturn in the housing market, while affirming their commitment to building when market conditions are right, the office tower market in Anaheim and the Platinum Triangle is taking off. We have given the go ahead for the Platinum Towers, a 20-story office tower with over 600,000 square feet. And it not insignificant that Platinum Towers will be Silver LEED-certified, meeting high standards for energy and resource efficiency

The Council will soon be considering the final terms of the restoration and redevelopment of the historic Packing House. Located in downtown Anaheim just south of City Hall in a boutique retail and restaurant space, this is expected to become a central gathering place for all the residents, old and new, in our historic downtown and colony areas.

With all of the opportunity created by AC-NET, the Panattoni investment in the Canyon, the growing office market in the Platinum Triangle, and the expansion on tap in the Resort, there is no doubt that Anaheim will remain at the forefront of economic development in Orange County and the Southland.

While jobs and development are critical, we, as people, also need to nourish our hearts and minds. That’s why it is so exciting to see the growth in our city’s arts and culture community.

Last year’s accomplishments in this area were capped by the tremendously successful grand opening of the Muzeo. And Sunday, we opened a new nationally-acclaimed exhibit, “Chicano Art and Soul”, presented by American cultural icon, Cheech Marin at the Muzeo. And we’re not stopping there.

For example, the city has invited the Anaheim Performing Arts Foundation to present ideas on how to finance and build a new performing arts center here. We are in the process of looking at several sites, and expect nothing but great success.

So you can think of Anaheim in many ways. Tourist destination. Job Center. Great neighborhoods. Growing cultural hub.

And we can all think of ourselves in different ways too. I know I do. I think of myself as husband, father, business owner, friend, Ducks fan, and even Mayor. And while the term is not always a positive one in the times we live in, I suppose I even meet the definition of being…a politician.

And because of that, I do things that politicians sometimes do…like take a public opinion poll. You see, we like to know what the people think of how things are going.

Because I have, on occasion, conducted polls in Anaheim, I know that the people of Anaheim are generally happy with the job we are doing. We’re not perfect, and they tell us when we screw up, but they are excited about the big things happening in our city—the Platinum Triangle, downtown Anaheim’s revitalization, the expansion of the Resort District.

They even give City Hall some credit for all these.

Still, even though most are happy with the job city government is doing, I believe the burden on government agencies is to go above and beyond to ensure we are treating our residents, and people doing business with us, in the best and most respectful manner possible.

You will sometimes hear the expression, “government should be run like a business.” And usually, what is meant by that is that government should be more efficient, and more prudent with the taxpayer’s dollars, and in that I certainly agree.

So you might be surprised to hear me say that I don’t always agree with that statement, government should be run like a business.

A business can do many things, but at their core, they normally exist to make money, and to maximize profits. But they do that in the context of competition. And there again, governments’ role differs from business. I do not believe, as many cities do, that our job is to maximize government revenues. I don’t mind at all – in fact I celebrate it - that this Council has passed a city ordinance just this past month to eliminate the cable franchise fee, what I call the cable TV tax, from Time Warner Cable customers. So as Time Warner is awarded a new statewide cable TV franchise, Anaheim residents will say goodbye to the 5% fee on their monthly bill.

In fact, it is the pursuit of more tax revenue that causes some governments to use and abuse eminent domain powers, particularly when they use the power of condemnation to take property from one private land owner, not to build public infrastructure, but to give it to another private landowner for him to build something that might generate more tax dollars.

All businesses face competition. And it is that competition that drives businesses to focus on customer satisfaction. But because government generally does not face competition, customer satisfaction is not always a priority for government.

I have been thinking a lot about government services and customer satisfaction lately.

It is natural that elected officials bring life’s experiences into our roles as government decision makers. And this year, I had a new experience: my wife, Alexis and I decided to redesign our pool and backyard.

This was an interesting and expensive exercise. We love our backyard - NOW.

But, in all honesty, the process was not all that positive.

As Mayor, I walk a very fine line. I would never ask for any different treatment than the other 350,000 Anaheim residents who are not Mayor, and yet, I know, that our city staff would provide me, just because of who I am, a highly-attentive level of service.

But I must confide in you, we were not all that satisfied with the permit process of this project…and we were frustrated at many points along the way.

The process itself had some flaws: we needed multiple permits and had to visit different customer service locations at City Hall to obtain them.

City building codes and the building department’s interpretation of these codes were not always that clear.

Our contractor did not feel that city staff clearly communicated what needed to be accomplished in order to get approvals on our various inspections.

So through my experience, I realized that I have not done a good enough job as Mayor and haven’t put a high enough focus and priority on customer service within our city government.

And I want to change that.

When businesses talk about customer satisfaction, they often look to outside experts to assess and score customer satisfaction, provide them with competitive rankings and even suggest ways to improve.

I think this government of Anaheim should do the same thing.

Over the last few months, I have been in contact with JD Power and Associates, the world’s leading business source for customer satisfaction measurement, and have begun to explore how they could help us create a model for local government and develop a customer satisfaction survey and report.

Today, I am pleased to introduce Mr. Dave Power, the founder of JD Power and Associates, who has joined us today.

I am very excited that he has been willing to work with me on developing a way in which Anaheim can improve our customer service and even be scored against a future measurement of excellent constomer service in our public sector arena.

We should all be proud that, according to polls, most people believe we are doing a good job. But I believe that in those areas where our residents and business people have more direct interaction with the City and our employees, we need to rededicate ourselves to raising our customers’ level of satisfaction.

The burden is especially on us in those areas where there is no private sector counterpart to a government service, where we have a monopoly.

I am not talking about a feel good slogan or a pep rally. I mean real, measurable results on whether we are doing a good job interacting with the people who come into contact with our city—whether on a regular basis or just occasionally.

As a start, I would like to look at three areas in our city government that have direct customer interaction. Our planning and building department deals with developers and homeowners alike who have major developments or small swimming pool remodels. I want to make sure that these individuals’ interactions with our city government are good and that they are satisfied with the services they receive.

The Anaheim Public Utility is essentially a city run power and water utility business. This department should provide the highest level of customer satisfaction to the residents and businesses of Anaheim.

And our police department, we should insure that victims reporting crime or even those who receive traffic or other violations are all treated with respect.

And after these three cutting edge departments, I think we should work through all city departments that interact with the public, to insure that our customers receive the highest level of service and that our residents, businesses, and visitors, are satisfied with the city services they pay for.

As an elected official in this city, I take great pride in our city workers. We have a fantastic team here. But every team – even our Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks – always strives to improve their performance.

Working with a partner like JD Power & Associates, we can accomplish just that and I am excited to begin to work with them to bring a private sector customer satisfaction model to our city government.

This is my sixth year as your Mayor and I hope to advance many important policy goals this year, including:

• utilizing public private partnership opportunities to establish a monorail connection between the new ARTIC station, the Platinum Triangle and the Anaheim Resort;
• working with Cal State Fullerton to establish the Anaheim Center for New Energy Technologies, and
• working with JD Power and Associates to develop a public sector customer satisfaction report, which would help us provide even better customer service here in Anaheim.

This year, like the five previous will stand out in the constant evolution of our city. We are a dynamic city…not only because we have to be, but because of who we are.

You’ve heard me say that stagnation is really nothing more than slow decline, and that is not Anaheim. Every year, Anaheim is reborn.

We pause momentarily to reflect on past successes, and put behind us old problems, and then we move forward. We set new goals for ourselves. We confront new challenges.

On the City of Anaheim’s Rose Parade float this January 1, the Stanley Cup and Anaheim Ducks left winger, Brad May were standing tall for the world to see. When the press asked Brad May about his feelings about riding on the Anaheim float he said proudly, "I'm representing the best city in America."

Ladies and Gentlemen, in past years, we have achieved much together. Today, together, we move forward to continue to make Anaheim the greatest city in America.

Thanks so much for spending some time with us. I wish you a prosperous 2008 and a good day!