State of the City: Mayor Optimistic About Salem`s Future

Janet Taylor took office on January 4th, 2003, and was recently elected to a third term, which will begin on January 2nd.

(SALEM) - Salem Mayor Janet Taylor gave her fifth State of the City address on Wednesday.

The mayor said with Monday's announcement by Delta Airlines to begin service in June, along with the $275 million expansion project underway at Salem Hospital, and the future $56 million Salvation Army Kroc Community Center, shows the city is moving in the right direction.

She said the city must continue to diversify it's job base, and spread the word that Salem is a city with arts, culture, good schools, and fantastic sports and music programs.

Thank you for the introduction. It is wonderful to see all of you, and to have the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments and share some thoughts on our future.

My sincere thanks to the three organizations who have sponsored the State of the City for many years. City Club President, Carla Mikkelson, Chamber CEO, Mike McLaran, and it’s President, Ross Carey, and Rotary President, Lois Mulrooney, plus the many staff members who worked to make this event a success.

I would also like to acknowledge the constant support I receive from my husband, Duane Taylor, who has never complained about my continuing to serve our community – at least not where I can hear him!!!! I am proud to say that last month he received the Marion-Polk Medical Society President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement, a well - deserved honor.

This conference center where we are today, opened two years ago this month, and I remember the strong emotions we all felt on accomplishing this 40 year old dream. Thank you to Steve Johnson and Salem LLC for their great management. This July we will be adding some art pieces to the facility through the Mayor’s Invitational Art Show. I am looking for sponsors and would be happy to talk with you after lunch if you are interested.

In my message today, you will hear that City Government in Salem has become more proactive, willing to take reasonable risks to capture opportunities, persevere even as challenges arise, and make some real progress in positioning our community for a successful future.

Salem City Council had a goal setting session last month that resulted in goals that put emphasis on public safety, infrastructure, economic development, and neighborhoods, with the inclusion of environmental issues and promotion of our community. Your Councilors serve many hours each week in a volunteer capacity, representing a broad spectrum of views and a wide range of skills.

Frank Walker, Ward l –Frank has an extensive understanding of land use, and has made it a point to attend most of the neighborhood association meetings in his ward, always addressing residents concerns and helping to find a reasonable solution.

Laura Tesler, Ward 2, our newest Councilor. Laura works for the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Dept. and has brought solid ideas and solutions to our Council deliberations. She serves on several council committees and we look forward to working with her over the next four years.

Brand Nanke, Ward 3 - Brad is our Council President this year, after having served a year as Budget Committee Chairman. His knowledge of environmental issues, and business has been invaluable, and he chairs the task force on increasing participation in neighborhood associations. T. J. Sullivan, Ward 4, - TJ has his hands full with two little ones, his own business, and one of the fastest growing areas of town. He has used his urban planning education many times in helping us to find good solutions regarding growth issues.

Rick Stucky, Ward 5 - Rick is an advocate for social services, affordable and workforce housing, and brings a passion for the neighborhoods he represents, often serving in many other volunteer capacities to reach good solutions for residents.

Bruce Rogers, Ward 6 - Bruce takes the time to become educated on issues when they arise, works closely with his neighborhood associations, and gives thoughtful input into our deliberations. He serves on the watershed council that protects our pristine water, and chairs the sidewalk task force.

Brent Dehart, Ward 7- Brent owns his own businesses and has brought strong support for good jobs and oversight on regulations that affect business. He has been an advocate for commercial air service and serves on the Sedcor Board in support of economic development.

Dan Clem, Ward 8- Dan represents West Salem, our fastest growing area of the city. He works for the State of Oregon and brings in-depth knowledge of state purchasing contracts and legislative action. He works diligently for a third vehicle bridge across the Willamette River, including building regional support and federal dollars for the current environmental study required by the Federal government.

Thank you Councilors for your dedication to your community. Our progress is a result of your hard work, and I am honored to serve with you.

The Mayor and Council set the policies and goals for our future, but it is the City Manager and his staff and employees who implement the policies. Making eight Councilors, the Mayor, and the public happy is a challenge to say the least. They do an outstanding job, and I would like to introduce each of them.

Thanks to all of you for your professionalism, and for working so well with City Council and the public.

We also owe our appreciation to the administrative employees and those employees who work out in the field, who put gravel on icy streets, clean up downed trees after a storm, manage the events in our parks, address concerns from the public, issue permits, conduct inspections, and keep our city running so smoothly. They are often the only city employees the public sees, and we constantly receive comments on their great customer service.

Of special note, is that our City employees have generously chosen to give up vacation and holiday pay to fellow employees who are on military duty at much lower pay.

This is the fifth State of The City address that I have had the honor to prepare, and I find that I am increasingly optimistic about our community.

The last few days have presented evidence of our progress – and we are literally “flying high”. Delta Airlines announced that they will begin commercial air service from Salem to Salt Lake City on June 7th. Many individuals and organizations worked very hard over the last two years to make this a reality including the Chamber of Commerce, City staff, and especially the support of City Council. Our special thanks to Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith who worked closely with TSA Western Regional Director, Mike Irwin, to obtain security screeners, and to Congresswoman, Darlene Hooley, for her assistance in obtaining a large federal grant.

I intend to be on the first flight out of Salem, and on arrival in Salt Lake City we look forward to a joint celebration with the Mayor and Chamber of Commerce to encourage their visit to Salem. As Councilor Nanke said, they can be our U. S. Sister City. Remember, this service will prosper only if you use it – it is in your hands now. Our region must support this service to encourage it to grow and expand to serve other destinations.

When I look at the statistics, it is apparent that we must continue to diversify our job base. Our local economy contains about 80,000 jobs, of which about 25,000 work for government - Federal, State, County, City, Transit, and School District. Many commute from cities as far away as Eugene and Portland. Would the employees reconsider the cost in fuel and family time as a result of commuting? Would it help Salem businesses to capture more of that disposable income related to the employment base? I believe we must spread the word that Salem is a city with arts, culture, good schools, and fantastic sports and music programs. The mutual benefit of reducing long distance commuting should be on the front burner for both the city and state.

This issue becomes more prominent with the announcement today that the study on the State Mental Hospital indicates that the current location on Center Street is the #1 choice for the new 620 bed hospital. We are pleased to keep the family wage jobs associated with this rating, but with a caveat.

The larger impact for Salem is in the release policy and the group homes. Consistently for many, many years, more patients are placed into group homes or released into our community than are admitted from our community. Escapes from the forensic unit have become more prevalent.

The resulting social service demands and criminal activity are no longer a burden we can bear. It is time for a change. Now is when we talk to our legislators to make this upcoming decision on a new facility a positive for Salem. Keep the jobs, alter the release and group home policy.

Other job creation efforts are led by Ray Burstedt, the President of Sedcor. After nearly one year in his position, he has proven his abilities are just what we need. In November I attended the CoreNet Global Summit with Ray and he has just returned from a recruitment trip to California where he developed strong prospects for companies interested in relocation. Locally, he is helping the City and area colleges form a cohesive effort to develop mutually beneficial educational and economic opportunities.

Another success in 2006 is the expansion of Garmin AT. This manufacturer of airplane navigation equipment will be adding up to 110 engineers over the next 3 years. Our competition with their Kansas location for this expansion was successful due to some innovative solutions by our City Public Works department and the Oregon Economic Development Dept.

On the Mill Creek Industrial Park site, we continue to partner with the State to turn 650 acres into productive use. The complicated process is in final negotiations with Wal Mart for a distribution center at Site 1-B at a cost in excess of $100 million to be completed by 2010, and employing over 600 hundred workers. Additional letters of intent from 2 other parties, could bring another $25 million in development at site 1-C.

For site 1-A, a Master Developer will be selected by late March for 160 acres. Our City commitment is to obtain family wage jobs and higher value development to make this signature location a true success.

A state of the art storm water treatment system at the industrial park will use a natural process to clean the water, a first of its’ kind in the State. The 110 acres of wetlands and bioswales will become a new City of Salem park with trails, benefiting the employees and general public with new recreational opportunities.

Salem is a leader in other environmental protections. In December of 2006, we became the first state capital city in the nation to be named a Green Power Community by the EPA. We achieved this honor by committing to the purchase of renewable energy for 3% of our city use, and challenging and achieving our goal of 3,000 residential customers purchasing sustainable power. Thank you to Portland General Electric for helping us with this project.

I must take a moment to address our water and sewer system as it relates to the economy. Last May a regional industry competition resulted in Salem being judged the #1 Best Tasting Water in the West. Our water is clean, and we have lots of it. It is a large factor in attracting good jobs and the ability to provide housing.

This asset is not without cost to the users. Our water and sewer rates have been steadily rising to provide the revenue to pay over $300 million dollars for upgrading both our water and sewer systems. Salem faces the same challenges as cities across the U.S. in meeting the requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act. After three more years of rate increases, they should level off. The result will be a water/sewer system that meets Federal and State requirements and will handle our housing and job growth for at least 50 years.

Every effort is being made to find ways to save money on these large Public Works projects. Barbara Bauer in the Finance Dept. identified that by using a credit line, Public Works could delay the large bond sales. By taking this reasonable risk, $612,000.00 in interest costs were saved on the Geren Island water line. The Public Works engineering team then recommended using available cash from SDC’s on Willow Lake treatment plant projects, saving $5.4 million in interest over the life of the bond. Strong management is bringing these projects in on time and under budget.

Other proactive economic efforts also involved attendance at the International Conference of Shopping Centers last May where we got an earful!!!! Retail and commercial companies were accessing our city web site but finding it in need of a major upgrade, with updated demographics, and a more “hip” image - a strong reminder of how technology rules!!! With IT staff and Linda Norris, our Assistant City Manager tackling the problem, we can now compete with any other city. If you haven’t checked out this impressive web site, go to www.cityofsalem.net

Technology has even become an important part of our library. With the addition of computers, they have over 100,000 internet sessions per year by patrons. The first class entertainment in the Loucks auditorium added to the newly remodeled Anderson meeting rooms, funded jointly by the City and the Library Foundation, keeps the library an invaluable asset to our community.

Another area of progress across the street from the library is last week’s groundbreaking for the long-awaited Meridian project at the corner of Mission and Commercial Streets. This $54 million dollar mixed-use building with 89 condos and offices will be a signature piece – the first new, major condo project in our core downtown. Other projects have also experienced delays, as up until now we have had no comparables for banks to use when deciding on large, mixed-use loans. Thank you to First Regional Bank in Irvine, California, and to Dan Berrey of Commercial Concepts for taking a reasonable risk. We wish you much success.

Recently an interesting story was relayed to me about a visit from a very successful Eugene developer who stated that for 15 years he had always used Salem as an example of “what a city does wrong in its’ downtown”. He was here to find out what the heck we were doing “so right” now, to make it such a beautiful, historic, and successful downtown.

The Conference Center, the Toolbox Loan and Grant program, and the proactive outreach we use to help projects get off the ground, has attracted private investors who have purchased all of the vacant buildings and are either currently remodeling or about to begin. The result is new retail/office options and over 100 units of housing in our historic downtown.

A remaining challenge is the desire of the Council to have downtown businesses and property owners manage the downtown. A Downtown Improvement District task force is working towards the formation of a non-profit entity to manage the downtown issues, elect a Board of Directors, and hire a Downtown Manager.

The City is proposing some initial financial assistance to kick-start some marketing if, in addition to the business parking tax, that the property owners also pay a small tax so that all parties are sharing in the cost of downtown services.

To further assist the transition, the street furniture will be upgraded with a combination of new hanging and stationary planters, new trash receptacles with a place for cigarette butts, plus a new kiosk for flyers. It will bring a fresh, but historic appearance to compliment the shopping, dining, and entertainment, and provide an attractive setting for First Wednesday, and the Farmers Market. We have to move quickly on these changes as we are already behind the curve in competing with other regional choices for shopping and dining.

With this increased activity has come the inevitable issue of “parking”. We have four free parking garages that have been underused for years due to unlimited on-street parking. The change to two hour limits on-street, has resulted in an increased use of the free long-term garages by moviegoers, employees with permits, jurors, and Riverfront Park users, allowing short-term spaces on the street to be more available.

Several of our important neighbors adjacent to downtown have ambitious expansion plans. This area is becoming a vital, exciting, urban area, but it is also becoming very land-locked. The City has worked closely with Willamette University to assemble a master site on the west end of their campus for a multi-million dollar performing arts center.

One piece is accomplished by moving the City IT department to Church and Trade Streets, adding in a new CCTV facility plus 27 condos on the top three floors. Can you imagine how thrilling it would be to live right in the middle of all the art, culture, and educational opportunities? Our thanks to Cascadia Development LLC for working with us on this very complicated project.

Just two blocks East, Salem Hospital is undergoing their $275 million dollar expansion for a new patient tower, and recruitment for 150 new physicians. With their designation as the #1 hospital in Oregon for cardiac surgery, they have become a premiere component of our core area, and continue to be our largest private employer with over 3,500 full and part-time employees.

And the State of Oregon is planning another large office building on the yellow parking lot in their Mall area, bringing several hundred more employees. These major expansions and the increased growth of downtown, were the catalyst for my Vision 2020 proposal to plan the future for this core area. Do we need another parking garage, and if so where? As more mixed-use is built, where and how high should the buildings be? What else can we do to attract additional retail and commercial choices? How can we protect the adjacent historic neighborhoods? This Vision 2020 will kick off in March and include public input to formulate a plan for the next dozen years.

To capture the full potential of the employees in the core area as customers, we are proposing a rubber tired circulator trolley. Part of the operation and maintenance costs could be offset by sponsorships of the trolley stops and sharing the cost among core area employers.

It is a marketing opportunity that reaches citywide, and a real asset for tourists and residents alike, much like those I have used in Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida. It is time for a reasonable risk to make this happen, and we hope everyone will “get on board” to make this a reality.

What’s next for the core area – Boise Cascade may be it!!! Needless to say, we worked very diligently to keep the jobs in Salem, and I am sad that their business decision was to close the plant, but pleased that the Boise container operation on Madronna Ave. will continue to operate.

Fortunately, the Urban Land Institute study that was completed last year will facilitate redevelopment by a private developer, and reduce the possibility of a long-term vacant building on 13 acres of valuable waterfront property.

The Salem Audubon Society is interested in building a Nature Center on the property that would include not only interpretive information on birds and wildlife, but other historical information about the waterfront.

The 310 acres Boise Cascade owns that is part of Minto Island is still under negotiation for City access for a trail and bridge across to Riverfront Park, tying together three major urban parks totaling 1,300 acres. How about a Salem Marathon?

The whole project has had outstanding assistance from the Governor’s Economic Revitalization Team, which includes the Directors of eight major departments. They have helped with identifying problems and finding solutions on environmental, transportation, and other issues.

Speaking of bridges – one of my favorite projects is the Union Street Railroad Bridge. With the $1 million dollar ODOT grant, which is funded with federal dollars, we can now complete phase one and open this to the public in 2008 connecting Riverfront Park to Wallace Marine Park. In the event of an auto bridge closure, the RR bridge will have a surface that allows fire and police vehicles to cross into West Salem.

In other areas of town, a major renovation was completed at Lancaster Mall with the addition of Regal Cinema’s 11 screen theater complex, and Westgate Shopping Center on Wallace Road has been redeveloped with anchor tenant, Walgreens Pharmacy, plus the completed expansion of the Roth’s Shopping Center complex. Commercial Street south of Kuebler, continues to offer new retail options, with a proposal for additional stores and a medical clinic on 28 acres on Kuebler Road near the I-5 interchange.

Urban Renewal is an important tool for cities to stimulate private investment in blighted areas. By purchasing parcels in disadvantaged neighborhoods and cleaning up environmental problems, the Agency can attract private investment that transforms neighborhoods.

Over the last four years it has been our focus to put the many parcels the city owned for several years into uses that would be a catalyst for neighborhoods. It has been a long, challenging process, but we are making progress, and Broadway and Market Street may be our poster child.

At the former Eagles site, Dave Glennie and Telos Development will be building 30 market rate townhouses, light retail and offices, and a new three screen Salem Cinema beginning later this year. Across the street, he is already under construction on the new YWCA, 55 affordable housing units, and retail. Across the street, Salem Alliance Church is fund raising for their five story office building with retail and a 400 seat auditorium. Wow!!! Talk about a mixed use center – this will be it. On Portland Road at the old Goodwill property, Hollywood LLC is purchasing part of the site to build 42 housing units along with a 15,000 square foot commercial building. The balance of the site will be separated off for the City to construct a new Salem Senior Center to break ground by late Summer.

The sale of the city owned existing Senior Center to the adjacent medical clinic will facilitate their major expansion, thereby retaining this important amenity in the northeast part of Salem.

Nearby at the State Fair and Expo grounds, with dynamic leadership from Dave Kollermeier, is the plan for redesign of the grounds and the addition of more events during the 50 weeks the fair is not operating. The recent wrestling championships filled hotels and restaurants throughout the city in support of local jobs and hotel/motel taxes. Dave – we are here to help make more of these events a mutual success!!!

Other private investors have noticed these large scale redevelopment projects in the Portland Rd. area, and there are now three property transactions about to close that will bring new retail options. This is what urban renewal is all about. But maybe the most significant project off Portland Road is the Salvation Army Kroc Community Center. This facility is going forward with plans for a major aquatic facility, gymnasium, art and crafts, soccer, and other activities. The $56 million dollar grant – split between capital and endowment, requires that we raise an additional $8 million from the community. Fundraising is underway and will continue at full speed the next 30 days so that ground breaking can occur this Fall. We have been so fortunate to have an outstanding Executive Committee under the leadership of Gerry Frank.

Fund raising is a challenge. In addition to the YWCA, the YMCA, the Kroc Center, the Boys and Girls Club, Family Building Blocks, Salem Alliance Church, and United Way, there are many others looking for financial support from the community. We are not a wealthy area, and we don’t have the large corporate headquarters like many cities, but these are very worthy projects – they are all important to Salem, and we need all of them to be successful.

If there was ever a time to dig deep, this is it!!!! It reminds me of 50 years ago when leaders of this City accomplished so much that remains important to our quality of life today. It is time again to capture these rare opportunities.

Continuing to encourage redevelopment projects is necessary to bring people back into living in our core area. We are experiencing 2% growth citywide, moderate compared to the 1990’s, but the reality is that most of our growth is occurring in West and South Salem. These are the last areas that have major tracts of land inside the Urban Growth Boundary for new housing, and for the retail and commercial to service these residents.

As we grow, we are becoming a more diverse community going from 6% minority in 2000 to 22% minority today. Our city hiring practices encourage the representation of minorities to reflect our demographics.

The impact is most evident in our schools, which have gone from 17% minority students in 1996 to 40% today, and nearly half of the new students speak no English. We are fortunate to have our new Salem-Keizer School Superintendent, Sandy Husk, who has had experience in successfully dealing with these challenges to ensure that all students receive a good education.

The city and school district are partnering on a long-term strategy to be certain school facilities are located where the growth is occurring. The City of Salem master plans for water, sewer, storm water, streets, and parks, are some of the best in the Nation. Last November Salem voters approved 67 annexations totaling 815 acres with a value of $27 million dollars. They understood that these master plans allow our city to grow efficiently within our Urban Growth Boundary and that the availability of land can keep our housing prices more affordable.

Referring annexations to the voters is very expensive with staff time, notices that must be mailed, and election fees. Is it time to ask the voters if they want to only vote on large parcels? I am sure we could find some other very productive uses for the dollars not spent on annexing small parcels.

But concerns about growth involve more than land and infrastructure, it is the fear of losing that sense of neighborhood, or a place that has a special “feel” to it. Many neighborhoods have volunteers that dedicate time and energy to hold concerts in their parks, massive cleanup and other activities. But it is time for more support from the City to further reduce crime, solve the lack of sidewalks, especially where children walk to school, take a fresh look at our land use, and deal with traffic calming.

To meet requests for more dedicated open space, we completed the first phase of Geer Community Park on State and Hawthorne by using the SDC’s paid by homebuilders, and we are building three smaller parks in other areas of the city. As we implement solutions, we will build stronger neighborhoods and a stronger city.

I would like to take a moment to thank those who serve on Neighborhood Association Boards and those who are members of our many Advisory Boards and Commissions. We appreciate your input and opinions as we deal with the tremendous variety of issues in our growing city. One consistent theme we hear is focused on our street system and sidewalks.

But, the largest issue is the third auto bridge across the Willamette River. This $200 million dollar project is closer to construction today than it has been in the last 40 years. The completion of the environmental study will bring us a preferred location in 2008. The next steps involve obtaining funding for the design, engineering, and construction. It will require steady lobbying at the federal level by the entire region with an optimistic goal of construction to begin in seven to 10 years. To increase the capacity of the existing bridges, this summer we will expand the off ramps to double lanes.

Salem has not passed a street bond measure since 1995. Gas tax revenues continue to decline, and are impacted by the rise in asphalt prices like the 40% experienced last year. Although we plan to refer a street bond measure to the voters in November of 2008, there are some smaller actions that can be done in the meantime.

The widening of Kuebler Blvd. is at the top of our list to serve this developing area of Salem. Through Congresswoman Darlene Hooley’s efforts we received a $1.5 million dollar federal grant as a match to our system development charges and exactions paid by developers. This important arterial connecting to the I-5 interchange will most likely contain some retail and commercial, and serve not only the existing housing, but also the 3,000 housing units proposed in the area. The plan is to begin construction in late 2008, widening to 5 lanes from I-5 to past Commercial, with a new traffic signal at 27th.

To help traffic flow in other areas without undertaking major improvements, certain intersections have been identified that would benefit from a turn lane or traffic signal, and short second lanes for stacking of cars side by side. We are also encouraging Public Works to partner with the private sector as development occurs to leverage the developer required street improvements with City planned improvements. Do the job now instead of tearing up the new streets in four or five years to put in traffic signals or turn lanes.

These and other interim measures will take some of the pressure off, but more needs to be done in the near future. We cannot continue to just build more and bigger roads, and we need to accept that mass transit of some type can be a benefit when we are a larger city. Although the transit system has not been able to make major expansions, as our city grows and the density of development occurs, there needs to be community support to expand transit where it is practical.

I have left the #1 Council Goal for my last major topic – Public Safety. This includes fire, police and 911 service. It is the number one responsibility of a City to make it a safe place to work and live. But we can’t afford a Police Officer for each corner, so it is crucial that we all become involved. In the last year the Neighborhood Watch program has grown from 1,900 homes to over 5,000 homes through strong community outreach. Areas with strong neighborhood watch programs are 98% less likely to have burglaries. Adding in the increased efforts of our graffiti abatement program, and our neighborhoods look, and are, much safer.

Over the last two and a half years we have added 14 additional police officers - four of which were dedicated to closing drug houses. The Drug Activity Response Team responded to 704 drug house complaints and continues to be one of the most effective drug investigation teams in the region. The result has been a steady decline in crime and the closing of meth houses where this deadly drug drives major property crime. Our support continues for No Meth – Not in My Neighborhood, and we have established a group to address the homelessness often created by drug use.

But, as we continue to add officers, we also need to provide administrative support, especially as the photo red light system is activated. Record keeping is crucial for an efficient operation, and the more the officers are on the street instead of behind the desk doing paperwork, the better use of these highly trained professionals.

I also strongly support the establishment of a permanent city police presence in areas of the community that experience more than the average crime rate. It has been proven in other cities that this can result in a profound reduction in crime. It also fosters relationships of trust between police and neighbors. But, this expansion of our crime fighting will involve financial investment by the community.

As a long-term businessperson, I know that you have to invest in new equipment and people to achieve your goals. Our goal is to have 1.5 police officers per 1,000 residents, adequate support staff, and the relocation of the department into the community. How do we pay for achieving these goals? The revenue for cities is primarily property taxes, which are barely sufficient for maintaining current services, and give little room for capital improvements. Will our community support a small bond measure for community police facilities? Will we support a five year operating levy? We need to have this conversation with the community – and soon.

We are so fortunate that the voters supported our Fire Bond measure for new, additional fire stations, and the purchase of new equipment to replace aging fire trucks. When added to our decision to contract with Rural Metro to handle our ambulance service, our Fire Department is positioned to handle emergencies within our Salem city limits with highly trained full-time personnel and dependable equipment.

I doubt there is a city anywhere as special as Salem. Volunteerism is strong, and the willingness of diverse groups to work together for a common goal is thriving. It is no one person, no one organization, but rather the collective effort of all that is making our city so vibrant and attractive. We need to get the word out on the amazing positive changes that are occurring.

Three years ago at a national conference I attended to recruit new businesses, I found several people who weren’t sure where Oregon was located and didn’t know of Salem at all. Except one gentleman asked me “Isn’t Salem where they have all those witches?” I replied – “only two or three”.

Why should we care if others know where we are and what a great city we are becoming? Because it makes a difference when a physician is deciding if he wants to move to Salem and join Salem Hospital, it makes a difference to the professor being recruited by our area colleges. And, it sure makes a difference on whether or not a company will choose us for those higher wage jobs. Their employees want an interesting place to live and raise their families. Art, culture, entertainment, good jobs, housing choices, and great schools are what attract the skilled workforce, and keep our own children and grandchildren from moving away. I am meeting more and more new residents who grew up in Salem, moved away, and are now back because they love the changes that are occurring.

In closing, I know I have used the words “reasonable risk” often. There is no gain in life if you don’t reach out and take some risk – whether it is choosing your spouse, taking a new job, investing money, or in the case of a City – taking a chance on new directions.

As we continue to grow and make some of these changes, we need to protect those things that make us special like our history, our environment, our housing choices, our beauty, and our diversity.

We have all it takes to be a great city - right here – right now. We can “fly high” in 2007 and for many years beyond if we continue the partnerships we have in place and support each other as we take those risks.