In stark contrast to his somber address last year, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster delivered an uplifting message for the future in his 2010 State of the City speech, delivered before a large crowd in the Terrace Theater of downtown’s Long Beach Performing Arts Center last night.
Photos by Matt Barnett.
The event was the second consecutive State of the City address that was made available to the public, free of charge. Out in the entrance lobby, several local non-profit organizations such as We Love Long Beach held informational booths for community-minded attendees.
Inside the theater, Foster spoke repeatedly of the recession and economic struggles that characterized 2009, and how the city of Long Beach had learned and grown from those lessons. He predicted a year of steady – if not complete – recovery and said that all City departments had learned to do more with restricted budgets.
“The pre-recession prosperity will not return quickly,” Foster said, “But unlike last year, the prospects are brighter.”
The mayor did acknowledge, however, that the city is not yet out of the financial woods.
“I can tell you that we will continue to have economic and budget challenges, but we will manage our way through them,” he said. “We will work harder at being more efficient and continue to do more with less.”
The mayor also took the public opportunity to criticize California politicians for their difficulty in crafting a much-delayed state budget that slashed drastically from services and raided local government funds.
“On this point let me be very clear: the most immediate threat to the financial stability of this City is raids on our general fund by Sacramento,” Foster said, announcing that he will support a probable state ballot measure that will prevent California from raiding local government budgets.
Foster also praised the City’s creation of a $9 million “rainy day” fund and criticized the State for not taking similar financially prudent steps.
“The mercurial revenue swings and spending are part of what wreaks havoc on our State Budget,” he said. “It’s time to put the State’s fiscal house in order rather than make it a contest for survival.”
Foster also praised the city for Enterprise Zones that led to Long Beach being named the Most Business Friendly City in Los Angeles County, the long-awaited expansion of Miller’s Children’s Hospital and the Port of Long Beach’s Clean Trucks Program. Foster also said that next week he will encourage leaders in Washington D.C. to invest in infrastructure that will promote a green economy.
He also poked fun at the rumors of bringing Long Beach Studios or Tesla Motors to fill a vacant Boeing production facility. Regardless, he said, a good business will come to the facility.
“One day soon, it will be home to a movie studio. Maybe an electric car plant,” he said. “Maybe a movie studio. Maybe an electric car plant.”
Oddly enough, earlier in the day Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk told a crowd at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit that his company was nearing a final decision on whether their new car will be produced in Long Beach or Downey.
Foster ended his speech with cautioned optimism that put his somewhat-rosy predictions into perspective.
“I presented this speech last year amid turmoil, fear, and an anxious doubt that our best days were behind us. Things look much brighter today,” he said.
“I believe we have a bright and prosperous future and the state of our City is healthy and sustainable. I am proud of the kind of people we are and how we live together. I would choose to live in no other place.”