City of Monrovia

Mayor Mary Ann Lutz's 2010 State of the City Address
January 12, 2010

Click here to watch the full speech on video

This is our chance each year to look back on the 12 months that have just passed, and ahead at the year to come, and to reflect on what we've hopefully accomplished and where we still need to go as a community.

It's a time for reflection, for putting things in context; a time for stock-taking and goal-setting and re-commitment.

I had the honor and privilege this past year to be elected Mayor, but I'm still just one member of a team that not only shares a vision for this community, but works together cohesively and cooperatively to make that vision come true.

It's a team that includes many of the people you've already met tonight - my colleagues on the City Council, the City Clerk and City Treasurer - but also the City Staff; more than 250 public employees who tend to the welfare of this community 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

It includes 27 City Commissioners and Board Members, and 35 MAP Leadership graduates; and it includes our many, many partners at the Monrovia Unified School District and the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce...at the YMCA...and Boys and Girls Club...and the Ministerial Association...and Santa Anita Family Service...and Community Media of the Foothills...and the American Legion...and the VFW...and the Schools Foundation...and the Historic Preservation Group...and a whole host of others.

These partnerships are the glue that holds this community together and they're the reason Monrovia has been able to make such remarkably steady progress for so many years.

Together, we are Team Monrovia.

Monrovians have learned more than once in our 124-year history that when things get rough and times get tough, we need to pull together to get through it and to prosper.

These partnerships were forged in tough times and have lasted and grown over the years to become the bedrock of Monrovia's success; the foundation for the work that has shaped and improved the lives of so many of our citizens.

The Monrovia way of doing things has stood the many tests of time.

Today, Monrovia is being tested yet again...times are tough, yet again. But I can stand here this evening and proudly report to you that...

• Despite the worst economic downturn in 80 years;

• Despite a State government that has stolen millions of this community's dollars over the past decade;

• Despite violent crime, contentious labor negotiations, a sometimes hostile press...and threats from both fire and flu;

• And, despite the pressures and demands of change and growth and environmental challenges...

Despite all that, I can report tonight that Monrovia is fiscally sound, politically stable and moving forward aggressively and successfully!

We have slowed down in these troubles times, but we have not stopped.

We have changed leadership, cut staff and programs, economized, re-organized and re-prioritized.

But we've never stopped!

Ironically, there is a benefit to an economic crisis.

It forces you to focus on your priorities.

When all you can do is what you can afford to do - and you can't afford much - then what you do must be important, it must be done well, and it must succeed.

The City of Monrovia is caught in the current recession just like everyone else, but it's not as if we didn't see it coming. This Council and staff have been on top of this economic crisis since it began.

You'll remember that all through 2007 and 2008 we warned that times were about to get tough; that large raises and expensive new programs were going to have to wait.

We have been re-thinking, re-budgeting and re-prioritizing for three years now - cutting staff and programs whenever possible, postponing hiring and programs when necessary, and then forging ahead whenever and wherever we see the opportunities.

2009 - in particular - was a year of cutbacks, setbacks and painful losses. But, ironically, it was also a year filled with success and progress.

We're going to talk about all of those things tonight, along with the challenges we still face in 2010, and why we will succeed in spite of them.

To maintain Monrovia's momentum during these difficult times, the City Council and Staff have focused on five "pillars" of city governance - the five things that we must do as elected officials and professionals to bring our community successfully through the current financial crisis.

I offer them to the community tonight - not only as the guidelines by which you may judge our work during these hard times - but as our pledge to the people and businesses that we serve.

• We will respect and preserve Monrovia's historical character and quality of life.

• We will keep Monrovia safe.

• We will keep Monrovia's infrastructure strong.

• We will maintain Monrovia's financial footing and stability.

• We will do the job efficiently and effectively.

These are the goals and values that guide the City of Monrovia today...the five pillars...each of equal value, all of which must be in place for the community to succeed in 2010.

Let's take those pillars one at a time and reflect on them and what they mean.

We will respect and preserve Monrovia's historical character and quality of life.

You know, in the middle of 2009...right in the middle of one of the worst years in recent economic history...we surveyed Monrovia's residents and businesses and asked them how they felt about their lives here...what they liked and what they didn't like...what they needed...

They told us some remarkable things.

They told us, for instance, that 95% of them are either satisfied or very satisfied with City services...that 81% feel the community is heading in the right direction...that 79% rate the community as an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10...that 93% feel safe in their homes and on their streets...

That extremely high level of citizen satisfaction doesn't exist in a vacuum.

It comes in great part from the wide scope of City services and programs specifically designed to improve and maintain our community's quality of life and to protect and preserve our history, our architectural heritage, our values and our traditions.

From neighborhood preservation to neighborhood improvement...from managing our new Wilderness Preserve to becoming a greener community...to opening a new Public Library...Monrovia paid a lot of attention to quality of life issues in 2009, and we will again in 2010.

Last year, we dedicated our first Historic District along Wildrose Avenue, preserving the unique character of a beautiful street lined with period Craftsman homes.

And in the process, Monrovia won itself a Governor's Historic Preservation Award - one of just 12 in the state this past year and one of just 200 in the past 20 years.

The number of individual Monrovia homes declared Historic Landmarks reached an impressive 125 last year and we will continue that program enthusiastically through 2010.

A lot of the credit for these successes goes to Councilmember Garcia, who has been a leader in Monrovia's preservation efforts for decades.

MAP, our national-award-winning Monrovia Area Partnership, expanded into new neighborhoods in 2009...and won more awards, too, by the way...bringing home improvement assistance, individual development opportunities and neighborhood organization and empowerment to large portions of the community.

This issue of "neighborhood empowerment" is critically important. After all, what good does it do to identify issues, offer solutions and monitor progress if those residents who are directly impacted do not own any of this process or its success?

Thus, MAP also expanded its programs last year to include a Leadership Training and Development Class that graduated 35 new community leaders in its first year.

These are people who are already starting to make a difference in their neighborhoods, in the community and in the region.

More of the Leadership classes are planned in 2010, along with continuing education classes to keep the graduates up to date on local issues.

Also planned for 2010 are programs that will extend our neighborhood preservation and improvement resources into every corner of the community.

We will hold a Neighborhood Conference in the spring for all of Monrovia, with workshops and booths and activities and information for everyone.

Before the year is out, we hope to inaugurate a new and separate web site dedicated to Monrovia's Neighborhood Services, featuring a wealth of resources to promote healthy, attractive and crime-free neighborhoods.

We will also inaugurate a new Neighborhood Grant program that will help groups of residents pay for neighborhood cleanup projects, block parties, youth projects and the like.

And we are putting together a new program featuring Community Beautification Crews to clean up neighborhoods, doing weed abatement and curb painting and landscaping and alley cleanup - and at the same time providing good, paying jobs for at-risk youths.

Like the MAP program before it, this will also mean working in partnership with local and regional groups - the Workforce Investment Board and LA Works, for instance, with whom we have had collaborative arrangements in the past.

Among the federal stimulus dollars that Monrovia picked up in 2009 were $112,000 for energy-efficiency projects. We put those funds to work as grants to help low-income residents weatherize their homes and make other energy-efficient improvements.

That program tied in very well with Year Two of our 21 Environmental Accords - a set of both long-term and short-term environmental goals that we adopted two years ago to create a greener and more sustainable community.

I'm happy to report that we continued to make steady progress toward those goals all last year - and our efforts picked up awards from the Governor's Office, the County Board of Supervisors and the Air Quality management District along the way.

Neighborhood improvement and preservation were enhanced, too, by our ongoing emphasis on Code Enforcement.

We faced some new challenges last year brought on by home foreclosures in our neighborhoods. There were now vacant homes in the community owned by absentee banks, and that meant unkempt lawns, broken windows and dangerous, dirty swimming pools...conditions that demanded new tools and new tactics to keep our neighborhoods clean and safe.

So, in 2009 we began a program of administrative fines, hoping that it would speed up resolution of the kind of blight and disputes that can be so damaging to neighborhoods.

I'm happy to report that the new system is working and compliance has improved considerably.

We had to issue 117 citations last year to get people and banks to clean up their residential properties, but those citations resulted in cleaner, safer and happier neighborhoods.

And they helped clean up the court calendar, too. Quick administrative action reduced Monrovia's blight-related court cases from 72 in 2008 to just 1 last year.

Thanks to Mayor Pro Tem Adams, the City also began a new prescription drug discount program last year, and made it available free of charge to all Monrovia residents. It didn't cost us anything, so why not? It's in place now and nearly 1,000 Monrovians are today saving money on their prescription medications as a result.

Participation in the program is both free and easy, by the way. To sign up, just visit the City's website at www.cityofmonrovia.org.

It's nice when you can do things like that. It hurts, though, when you have to take things away.

Our budget crisis took its toll on community events last year and we had to cancel a few - the Food, Wine and Jazz Festival, the Old Town Independence Day fireworks show, the Haunted Hike and the Halloween Carnival.

Cutting budgets means cutting people, and we can't do everything we want to do when we don't have the staff or the funds - or for that matter the sponsors, because times are tough for them, too.

So some things had to go.

But let me assure you, the City's events calendar remains full throughout 2010, with the Monrovia Days and Holiday Parades...the Spring Egg Hunt...more Old Town Movie Nights...and more community celebrations still to come.

But we'll also see more neighborhood-centered events this year...more block parties throughout the community.

Here are a few of what we call "Quality of Life statistics" for 2009:

32,667 adult and 69,839 children's books were checked out from the our brand new Public Library this past year.

Our Librarians answered 6,777 adult reference questions and 10,511 children's reference questions.

10,602 children attended 220 Library programs...and the Library's Summer Reading Club saw 2,654 participants read 22,570 books!

2,858 people registered to use Library computers...and those computers were used more than 14,297 times.

827 youths and 1,964 adults participated in City-sponsored specialty classes.

8,310 Monrovians participated in the Halloween events, the Holiday Parade and the Spring Egg Hunt.

240 youths participated in after-school youth sports, including 82 scholar athletes.

243 low-income children participated in the Summer Extravaganza Day Camp and Sports Camp programs.

And 86 Youth Commissioners provided volunteer support for 21 community events....AND won this year's Iris Award for the service they give year in and year out.

All this happened in 2009 despite the worst economic downturn in 80 years......despite the pressures and demands of change and growth and environmental challenges.

"We will respect and preserve Monrovia's historical character and quality of life."

We will also keep Monrovia safe.

This second pillar, no less important than any other, gets our constant attention - and this past year we saw the tangible results of our efforts.

Remember, a full 93% of Monrovians say they feel safe both in their homes and on the community's streets.

That is because public safety always has been and always will be a top priority in Monrovia.

All City departments - not simply Police and Fire - participate in this overriding priority...from Public Works crews to Community Services staff... from financial and administrative personnel to building inspectors and systems managers and communications specialists...

Working with them is large group of community volunteers...the CERT emergency response teams...our Neighborhood Watch groups...Police and Fire Department volunteers...Canyon Park volunteers...MAP leadership graduates...the senior and teen volunteers who helped staff the emergency flu clinics last year...

These partnerships between the City and its Citizens assure the community a trained and organized response whenever and wherever needs arise.

And needs certainly did arise in 2009.

Serious crime dropped 6% last year, and that's good, but that's just a statistic; that's just one year.

Our planning is much more strategic than that and takes a much longer view of success.

Despite a 6% drop in crime, we didn't slow down for one minute last year in our fight against gangs and violence.

Monrovia stayed on the offensive every minute of every day.

And so I can report to you tonight that several suspects in the terrible gang violence of 2008 are currently on trial.

Neighborhoods in our community that once lived with the threat of sudden violence are today calmer and safer.

Yes, violence and crime continue. But the community is winning this fight. We are winning this fight!

Don't just take my word for it. Let me read to you from an email...an unsolicited email...that we recently received from one of our residents:

"With joy and hope I report to you that my neighborhood has become quiet and safer..."

"Now the kids come out to play and my neighbors sit with family in their front yards."

"Some neighbors started walking around the block in the morning or afternoons. Little by little the fear is fading and the sad moments from the past are being forgotten."

Or this email from yet another resident:

"I am writing to do a bit of gloating about my neighborhood."

"My wife and I moved into (our home) almost six years ago and in that time we have been witness to the changes first hand...the highs and the lows...but this year we really see a neighborhood that has changed."

"No more nonsense in our streets."

"And the biggest change is what everyone can see...when we moved in that first year there were no Halloween Trick-or-Treaters and barely any Christmas lights...now I invite everyone to drive through and take a look."

"It is bright and festive...exactly how it should be!"

"So, I just wanted to drop a line and say ‘thank you' to you and the rest of the City's Police, Fire and others for the hard work and not just giving up on this section of the city."

We certainly aren't giving up on any section of our community. Not for a minute.

Late in 2009, working closely with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, we obtained a court injunction against more than three dozen members of two local gangs.

That is more good news for our neighborhoods.

The injunction will be a major new tool for us. It is not the answer to the gang problem, but it is one of many answers - and it's a good one.

We have a lot of tools like this at our disposal and we're using all of them.

The City and its many partners use an entire arsenal of anti-gang programs that combine strong enforcement with citizen involvement and dozens of prevention and intervention programs and instruments.

The anti-gang injunction is just one more...actually, it's one of four more, because we also added three other new programs in 2009, all from our own Police Department.

There is now the Formative Years, a unique program designed to teach healthy and safe life skills to children in the first, second and third grades. Both the children and their parents participate, and last year 15 families went through the first round of classes.

And there's MAGIC, the Monrovia Anti-Gang Intervention Committee, that combines School District counselors with Community Policing officers and our Special Enforcement Team to help divert at-risk youths.

And there's the new Chaplains for At-Risk Youth program that is helping build relational bridges between youngsters and their parents.

Our Fire Department, too, reached into the community again last year and carried fire prevention and response training to many hundreds of local youths and seniors, as well as neighborhood groups and business employees.

We added still another layer of community defense in 2009 when the Rio Hondo Fire Academy's specialist Wildland Fire Team moved into our Wilderness Fire Station and began training and brush clearance exercises right on our own hillsides.

Monrovia's disaster management and response system got tested unintentionally last year when the largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history threatened our community from two directions for more than three weeks.

Not only did we have crews fighting the fire, one of our battalion chiefs was actually at the table strategizing, and planning and keeping Monrovia safe. And, we were able to keep our citizens informed of the fire's progress and help them assess the danger to their homes with daily updates by both automated phone calls and website notices.

Hundreds of our residents - and I was one of them - watched and listened to those updates intensely, and we all got through the ordeal safely and calmly.

Residents of Monrovia had better information, and had it faster, than just about any other community in the foothills. We learned a lot from that exercise and we've used it to build a whole new community emergency communications system .

I can tell you, if that fire had gotten any closer, we were ready.

And then, just a few weeks later, the system was tested yet again when a pair of major H1N1 vaccination clinics brought thousands of regional residents to Monrovia and we found ourselves with a crowd-control situation that once more challenged the community's readiness.

But we did that job well enough that Monrovia is now looked to as a "best practices" example for other cities in handling mass public health events.

In both of those real-life exercises...the fire and the public health clinic...our City staff and our volunteers demonstrated that the preparations, training and planning that go on all year, every year, are paying off and keeping Monrovia safe, secure and functioning.

That was good to know. Because that's our pledge:

We will keep Monrovia safe.

And we will keep Monrovia's infrastructure strong.

It doesn't matter what the state of the economy is, our day-to-day lives rely on water flowing, traffic lights functioning and public facilities being open and operating.

A lot went into maintaining and improving that civic infrastructure in 2009.

Let's take the big one first - our new 28,000-square-foot Public Library opened in Library Park last spring, right on schedule, less than two years after Monrovia voters approved nearly $16 million in bonds to pay for it.

It's twice the size of the old Library and so far it's being used by twice as many people. The new Community Room has already been used numerous times.

And to make things even better, the project came in so far under budget that we were able to give $280,000 back to our taxpayers last year!

The new Library - really a new Community Information Center - sits in the middle of what is now a new Library Park, too, with its rolling lawns and pathways, its formal entrance and Memorial Garden...it's new playground and monument...and what is becoming Monrovia's newest icon...the beautiful new Library Park fountain.

This Library and the new park that surrounds it may well be the finest public space in any community in the San Gabriel Valley.

The park has always been the focal point of the community's events and activities. It will be all the more so now.

I would be remiss if I didn't single out our Public Works Department for the truly superb job that they did in bringing us this wonderful new resource.

The Park Project was administered by our Public Works staff and crews who provided engineering services, installed the new irrigation systems, constructed the entrance walkway and stairs and decomposed granite walkways and the drains and the patio area, and installed the conduits and wiring to supply the new power and lighting systems and did the landscaping and the exterior lighting...and they're still out there today keeping everything working and looking just great.

Our crews did a whole lot more in 2009, too:

• They pumped about 2.49 billion gallons of water to Monrovia's homes and businesses.

• They planted 120 trees and trimmed and maintained more than 4,000 others.

• They cleaned nearly a half-million feet of sewer mains, repaired 14,293 square feet of concrete sidewalks, painted 27,480 feet of red curbs and maintained 100 miles of streets.

A special energy-efficient roof, and energy- efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning units were installed on the Police Station along with tank-less water heaters and an energy management system.

We will keep Monrovia's infrastructure strong.

And we will maintain Monrovia's financial footing and stability.

Despite the seriously deteriorated economy and what has become a dysfunctional State government, Monrovia made it through 2009 with a balanced budget and adequate reserves.

But it came at a price.

I've already mentioned staff and program cuts. But I can also report that your municipal government still maintains appropriate service levels in all of its critical missions...including infrastructure and public safety...and continues to shape and improve an already high quality of life for its residents.

The impact of our cutbacks on residents and businesses has been minimal so far. That hasn't been easy to achieve.

We were faced last year with an historic drop in sales tax revenue and a serious loss of property tax revenue - the two largest sources of revenue to our General Fund.

It meant we had no choice but to cut $2.6 million from the City's programs and appropriations.

And that was after three consecutive years of similar cuts and freezes, so cutting again this past year was no easy task.

If there was ever any fat in the City budget, let me assure you, it was long gone before we started cutting.

Everyone in your City government - elected officials, administrators and employees - worked closely to find solutions, and we put together a blend of cost-cutting strategies...early retirements...work furloughs...hiring freezes... and we were able to save enough to balance our budget.

But we also lost more than 10% of our workforce this past year alone.

I'm sorry to report tonight that we don't expect the national or regional economies to significantly improve anytime soon.

The State is still billions of dollars in the red and threatening to grab our revenues yet again.

Sales taxe evenue remains flat at best and property taxe revenues are not going to increase substantially in the near future.

From a financial standpoint, we expect 2010 to look a lot like 2009. Does that mean more cutbacks in staff and programs?

Hopefully not. But nothing is off the table yet. This financial crisis is not yet played out and we are remaining as flexible as we can as we do our jobs in these difficult times.

The City Council and staff carry out a formal budget review every six months so that we can stay on top of trends as they develop. That way, we're able to react quickly to either new problems or new opportunities.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that Monrovia is simply waiting to respond to whatever problems or solutions come our way. Monrovia is the most pro-active community you'll find when it comes to taking care of its future.

We lost some large revenue producers in this economic crisis - stores whose sales paid for a lot of the services our citizens enjoy.

Mervyn's is gone. Circuit City is gone. Expo is gone. And Sun Microsystems has downsized drastically, opening up thousands of square feet of office space...

But Kohl's opened last year, and Henry's Market and Living Spaces and Paul's TV and Merengue Bakery and Café.

And the City of Hope has just signed to sub-lease 80,000 square feet of Sun Microsystem's space here to expand their services.

Those businesses and institutions are coming here because we went out and got them.

We don't sit back and wait for fate to decide our future. Monrovia makes it happen.

So in the next year watch for more good news about new businesses.

Walgreen's will be opening a new store soon next to Henry's Market soon, and they'll have a new Sarku Japanese Grill and a new Jersey Mike's Subs for neighbors.

T Phillips and London bar and grille are getting ready to open in Old Town.

And I guess I can tell you now, because it's going to be public knowledge pretty soon anyway...Monrovia is getting an In and Out Burger.

It's going into the Home Depot parking lot off of Evergreen and will be opening sometime this next year.

The beautiful new mixed-use apartment complex on Myrtle and Olive - the Paragon at Old Town - will begin leasing next month and will bring hundreds of new shoppers and dinners to Old Town's stores and restaurants every single day of the week.

By the way, Colorado Commons, the other mixed-use development in Old Town, has been occupied for more than a year now and it, too, is putting scores of customers on Old Town's street every night.

And then there's the Gold Line.

The Gold Line light rail system should begin construction in about six months and we can expect service to Monrovia to by 2014.

Monrovia gets a lot of the credit for making that happen, and it's going to reap a lot of the benefits when its done.

It took years of hard work by our whole team to get this project where it is today...years of work by previous Mayors such as Bob Bartlett, Lara Laramendi and Rob Hammond along with every single member of this City Council, past and present...and a good number of our professional staff.

And every single one of them can be proud of their contribution.

Not only did Monrovia play a major role in finally moving the project along, but we could well become the home of the Gold Line's Maintenance and Operations Yard and bring hundreds of new jobs to town along with the trains.

We're still negotiating the terms of that project, but we fully expect that it will be yet another accomplishment that we'll want to point to in next year's State of the City report.

All of these projects - new retailers, new shoppers, new jobs, new transportation systems - all of these are aimed at keeping Monrovia financially viable and giving it the resources it needs to prosper.

These are all coming. But until they get here, there's still an economic crisis to weather.

And so, financial stability and a balanced budget remain a daily concern.

Keeping Monrovia financially secure is the only way we can keep Monrovia safe...the only way we can continue to preserving Monrovia's quality of life...the only way to keep Monrovia's infrastructure strong.

Better times are surely coming. We'll be ready for them when they get here.

Because we will maintain Monrovia's financial footing and stability.

And we will do our jobs efficiently and effectively.

The fifth and final pillar is every bit as important as its four counterparts.

We must do our jobs efficiently and effectively. We don't have the luxuries of large staffs, extra dollars or lots of time.

What we do is important and we must do it well.

It's ironic, but this economic crisis has actually given us the opportunity to distill and hone our critical missions - to look again at our goals and our programs and make sure our priorities are right.

On Screen: Mission Statement - "We are dedicated to creating and maintaining an environment where the highest quality of life may be achieved through service, innovation and fiscal responsibility. We do this with the best interests of the community at heart and seek its input and partnership in achieving this goal."

By very carefully targeting where cuts and changes were made throughout 2009...and by focusing on our priorities...we were able to keep the everyday impact on Monrovians to an absolute minimum this past year.

Monrovia is still safe. Our police and fire response times are basically unchanged. Our streets, water and sewer systems are still well maintained, and both our residents and our businesses enjoy a safe and high quality of life.

One reason we've been so successful in carrying out our mission is that we have balanced our operational effectiveness with a set of strategic initiatives by establishing, tracking and meeting a series of Key Performance Indicators...average medical response time...number of arrests made...square feet of asphalt paved...things like that.

We check and double check regularly to meet those indicators and keep ourselves on track.

Also, every department in the City, regardless of its primary responsibilities, is committed to our Citywide strategic goals and programs - things as varied and wide-ranging as employee cross-training programs, or the Library Park Public Improvement Project, or even the anti-gang injunction.

Everyone shares the same goals and everyone works toward their accomplishment.

Last year we worked as hard and as smart as we ever have...maybe even a little harder and a little smarter...and with our entire workforce's commitment to our mission and our strategic goals, we were able to do great things.

You've already heard about many of them - our new Library and Library Park...our new Historic District...our neighborhood preservation successes...safer streets...stronger infrastructure...

We also put into place a new and more effective system for running the City's Emergency Operations Center.

There is now a new and better City website and a redesigned City newsletter, giving more and better information to Monrovians.

The YES program...the Youth Employment Service...our 21 Environmental Accords and the MAP program all won regional, statewide and national awards last year.

We put new incentives in place to attract and assist businesses.

I'd like to end this year's State of the City report by going back to the beginning and talking about the team that makes all this success possible.

I mentioned Rob Hammond a few minutes ago. Rob's tenure as Mayor was exceptional and he did some great things for this community during those years. Rob's leadership is evident in many of the things we celebrated here tonight - the Library...the Memorial Garden...the Gold Line...

He is missed on this Council today, as is Dan Kirby who served this community well on the Council and who contributed much, too, to the programs and projects that we are so proud of.

We had an election in 2009 and the personalities on the City Council changed, as they often do.

We have gained two new Councilmembers...Becky Shevlin and Clarence Shaw. Both came to the Council filled with ideas and enthusiasm and both are proving to be important, creative and contributing members of this team.

Every one of us brings our own strengths, sensitivities and insights to the Council - Tom Adams' wisdom and common sense, Joe Garcia's passion and involvement, Becky Shevlin's enthusiasm and drive and Clarence Shaw's analytical skills and fresh perspectives.

Five very distinct personalities - each with his or her own skills and concerns; each adding his or her own strokes to the canvas - but all working together toward the same goals; all painting the same picture...

And each...along with more than 200 City employees and scores of Monrovia's volunteers and partners...each committed to five essential things:

We will respect and preserve Monrovia's historical character and quality of life.

We will keep Monrovia safe.

We will keep Monrovia's infrastructure strong.

We will maintain Monrovia's financial footing and stability.

And we will do our jobs efficiently and effectively.

That's our pledge to you.

And that's the State of the City on January 12, 2010.