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VII. Special Presentation Mayor Piercy recognized outgoing Mayor Torrey for his many contributions to the community. VIII. State of the City Address The following is Mayor Kitty Piercy's State of the City Address: I am honored and enormously pleased to be here with you today, full of pride in our community and optimism for the future. On behalf of each of us who take office today, thank you for giving us this opportunity. Thank you for voting and participating in our civic process. For our outgoing officials, I want to add my thanks for your contributions to Eugene and wish you the very best in the future. For those of you who are city employees, I want to thank you for your service and tell you how much I look forward to working with you in the months ahead to achieve the goals of this community. Since the election, all over town people have come up to me, even those who did not vote for me, to express their great hopes for Eugene. If one place in this country is going to do it right, they hope it will be here. I can tell you that I am excited and hopeful as well. This State of the City speech is an opportunity for me to talk with the community about the current status of our city and to make proposals for future direction. My proposals today will be focused in large part on moving my six-point economic plan forward. These proposals are intended to recognize the work that has been done and to build on our city's strengths and assets. These proposals are premised on a strong belief that we are a remarkable community capable of meeting challenges and carving out an exciting and responsible future for generations to come. These proposals indicate my emphasis on supporting our families, strengthening our economy, and protecting our natural resources as the core elements of a sustainable community. As David Gottfried, founder of the U.S. World Green Building Council, has asked, ~How can we af- ford not to understand and embody standard practices that provide good air quality, energy and wa- ter efficiency, and health and comfort for all?' Adoption of these natural principles," he suggests, "will improve your firm's bottom line, ensure the survival of the planet, and contribute toward your own personal contentment.' Before I go into economic proposals, I would like to spend a few moments talking about both the strengths we have as a community and our public process. Understanding our strengths and using our public processes well are key to the success of any proposal. Our Community Strengths I know we have great strength as a community. We have families that have lived here for generations, and who have invested in our development and employed our people; newer residents who bring fresh commit- ment and ideas to this city and stay here because they love it. We have hundreds of neighbors who volunteer, serve on committees and join organizations to work on behalf of our community. We have the MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 3, 2005 Page 2 State of the City