Wow, that's a long speech. Here are some parts that may or may not be interesting, if not new:
This year, we will begin construction of the first phase of improvements to Pioneer Park, using a plan authored by community residents and stakeholders. I appreciate the Council?s agreement to finally fund the first phase of the renovation of this severely underutilized park. Given that the Central Business District will have a population of ten thousand, with nearly five thousand housing units by 2010, and that the population of the Gateway District is expected to increase by ten to fifteen thousand over the next ten to twenty years, it is imperative that we devote the same commitment and energy to Pioneer Park as we did to Liberty Park. Much more needs to be done at Pioneer Park in order for its potential to become reality. Residents and businesses in the area surrounding Pioneer Park have taken a leap of faith by locating there, with a vision of what the area can be some day. I urge the Council to demonstrate the same level of courage, vision, and commitment in funding major improvements in Pioneer Park, as the neighboring residents and businesses have vigorously sought. This opportunity poses a choice: Either maintain the unsatisfactory status quo, or support progress toward a world-class park. I beseech the Council: Listen to the community and support this wonderful place in the heart of our city.
Our public spaces are being enlivened and utilized at historic levels. Our City Library, which opened in 2003, was named by Library Journal "Library of the Year" for 2006. The energetic leadership of Nancy Tessman has made all of that possible. We will miss Nancy and wish her the very best. That magnificent place has given patrons access to a wealth of information resources, and has become an invaluable sponsor and partner of community civic, artistic, and cultural events.
Thanks to the efforts of YouthCity, the Center for Documentary Arts, the Utah Science Center, and a devoted Board, under the leadership of Mary Tull, the Leonardo will enter the design phase this year. When completed it will be a major tourist draw, providing exciting art, science, and technology education to thousands of visitors each year. The Leonardo will be one of those places that will attract people from our area of all ages and interests repeatedly, and which visitors to our City will marvel about as they recount to others their experiences in Salt Lake City. Everything about the Leonardo signifies amazing progress for our community.
Our city is currently experiencing an unprecedented period of expansion and growth. Nine major development projects are planned for downtown Salt Lake City, with over $1 billion in new investment in the Central Business District projected over the next five years. The City Creek Center development, which commenced this fall, will add retail opportunities, 600 units of housing, a full-service grocery store, and much-needed commercial space to Downtown. I thank Bishop Burton and the LDS Church for involving City officials and the public in the shaping of this project.
Hamilton Partners will also construct a twenty-two story office tower at 222 South Main, adding 420,000 [square feet] of sorely-needed Class A office space to our downtown. This all spells amazing progress, particularly when we look back seven years, at a time when not one office in what was then known as the American Stores Building was occupied.
After six years of property acquisition, more than one year of negotiations, and many hours of staff time, we eagerly anticipate the development of a neighborhood lifestyle center on the corner of North Temple and Redwood Road. The developers for this project have committed to provide grocery and furniture stores as well as several smaller retail sites. The center will also provide professional and community services as well as a convenient community gathering space. A groundbreaking will be held this spring, with an expected construction period of twelve to eighteen months. This 160,000 square foot center will bring needed retail and community services to our City?s dynamic west side, and create momentum for other retailers to locate along Redwood Road and North Temple.
In our continuing efforts to draw development projects to the diverse and distinctive neighborhoods located west of I-15, we made numerous presentations to real estate agents and developers during 2006. The initiative was designed to inform and educate the development and sales community about the opportunities for commercial, retail, and mixed-use development in Salt Lake City?s west-side neighborhoods. We will expand the West Side Initiative this year by surveying neighborhood groups to identify desired retailers for this rapidly growing, vitally important part of our city.
As a benefit to manufacturing and distribution businesses and Salt Lake City companies that specialize in international markets, Salt Lake City is in the process of reactivating Foreign Trade Zone #30. The Foreign Trade Zone program will be sustained by our remarkable rail, air, and interstate highway systems, and will be a key selling point in our efforts to recruit new businesses.
In close collaboration with Nancy Boskoff and the Salt Lake City Arts Council, we are currently formulating a strategic plan for a dynamic, multifaceted downtown arts district. The plan includes facility assessment, funding options, redevelopment opportunities, and programming strategies for new and existing arts venues. Our administration will work with arts organizations, the business community, governmental partners, and other City stakeholders to ensure Salt Lake City has an arts district to rival any city of our size. In fact, Salt Lake City has already been recognized by American Style magazine as among the top twenty-five arts destinations in the country.
The City?s Redevelopment Agency has augmented and consolidated our economic development successes. Among its many successes, last year the Agency loaned nearly $6.5 million to renovate buildings for residential, office, restaurant and retail uses. Among a great many notable projects, the RDA helped restore the Sugar House Monument and renovate the surrounding plaza, and aided the relocation of Junior?s Tavern, a locally owned business and downtown landmark, to Broadway Boulevard. Thanks to the assistance of the RDA, the City will commence the planned beautification of Broadway Boulevard this spring, adding a raised walkway, planted medians and bollard lighting to 300 South between Main Street and 400 West. These improvements will help create an attractive, charming, identifiable district to complement the many unique specialty shops and residential properties in the area, as well as Pioneer Park. This will spell great progress for our downtown.
Led by Louis Zunguze, the Salt Lake City Community Development Department and the Building Services and Licensing Division, with help from Orion Goff and Larry Butcher, is working to ensure our business and development community obtains the most efficient and thorough service possible when requesting permits from the City. The One-Stop Shop for building permits will ensure patrons of Building Services and Licensing, which issued over 2600 permits and performed nearly 2300 plan reviews last year, will benefit from a more collaborative approach among all of the City?s development review entities.
The Salt Lake City International Airport is central to the City?s economic development efforts, and connects our residents to the wider world. We are so fortunate to have a major hub international airport ten minutes away from our downtown. Under the phenomenal leadership of Tim Campbell and Russ Pack, who has generously served twice as Interim Airport Director, the Airport now serves historic numbers of passengers with unsurpassed efficiency and quality. Since 1999, the Airport has experienced an 8% increase in passengers, an 89% increase in scheduled departures, and a 120% increase in non-stop destinations, from 51 to 112. We are grateful to Delta for its extraordinarily beneficial partnership with Salt Lake City, and hope to see it continue for many years into the future.
Our airport, led by a tremendously capable and committed management team, has received numerous distinctions and awards. It was rated the most on-time airport in the nation for departures in 2005, and its concessions management garnered a top ranking from Airport Revenue News in 2006. With the wealth of airport experience our new Airport Director, Maureen Riley, brings to the position, we anticipate the Airport will continue its stellar record of progress. We are very pleased to welcome Maureen to Salt Lake City.
Wise transportation choices can result in greater mobility freedom for everyone, far fewer hours spent driving, significantly less household transportation-related expenses, far less social isolation, preservation of open spaces, cleaner air, fewer emissions of global warming pollutants, and improved business and housing opportunities. Poor transportation choices, particularly those that promote dependence on the automobile, can result in greater social isolation, even more traffic congestion in the future, destruction of open spaces, threats to our climate, poor air quality, assaults upon the public health, tremendous pressures on household budgets, and community divisions. That is why our administration has taken a transit-first approach to all development proposals. Our City?s Transportation Division, under the dedicated, visionary leadership of Tim Harpst, has helped move Salt Lake City away from sprawl-inducing dependence on the automobile that perpetuates our addiction to fossil fuels, and toward transit and greater safety and accessibility for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The University TRAX line project was a model for community involvement and attentiveness to local concerns. As a facilitator for that enormous construction project, Bill Knowles?s leadership, expertise, and wisdom were crucial to the success of that project. The City and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce are fortunate to have him as our construction mitigation coordinator for the exciting development taking place downtown.
Along with our Transportation Division, DJ Baxter and Mary Guy-Sell were instrumental in the design and construction of the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub, the first LEED-certified building constructed by Salt Lake City government. They were also crucial in developing the City?s agreement with UTA earlier this year to extend TRAX from the Delta Center to the Intermodal Hub, a crucial part of connecting the first phase of commuter rail to an expanding light rail system, buses, taxis, cars, and bicycles.
After we added over fifteen miles of bike lanes in the past few years, I issued a complete streets executive order to ensure, to the extent possible, that all Salt Lake City streets are accessible to and safe for bicyclists, pedestrians, motorists, and people with disabilities. We also plan to incorporate safe, segregated bicycle lanes, which have been utilized so effectively in other cities, into our long-term transportation master plans. Segregated bike lanes will allow bicycling to become a safer, more convenient alternative to automotive transportation. The Transportation Division will incorporate these principles into the Downtown Transportation Master Plan, a key focus for 2007. We are moving forward, constantly, with real progress in providing for greater safety and access for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders.
Throughout our administration, our City Planning Division has made historic preservation a priority, adapting buildings from our city?s heritage to fit the present and future needs of our city. The Division shaped a new infill policy, with significant input from neighborhoods throughout our community, to preserve historic districts from "McMansions," "Garage-mahals," and other uses that undermine neighborhoods.
To ensure that future development in our community builds on the successes of the past seven years, City planners have embarked on two simultaneous master planning projects. This year, Planning will complete a Master Plan for the Northwest Quadrant of the city, the last major undeveloped area in Salt Lake City. We will also reexamine and, if needed, update the Downtown Master Plan. This process will take into account downtown development, the extension of light rail to the Intermodal Hub, the construction of commuter rail, and ongoing mixed-use development in the Gateway District. City planners will also seek to secure funding for the preparation of a comprehensive citywide preservation plan, which will begin in early 2007. We are confident George Shaw, our able new Planning Director, will bring his wealth of talents and expertise to these initiatives to serve the best interests of present and future City residents.
...the guy does love to talk...
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I've always like the Cheescake Factory in L.A. I guess that will be coming to the Thanksgiving Point area. It will be interesting to see what opens at the City Creek Center.
. I'm going to have to buy some cheesecake now after school. 
Big-D to build addition to Red Butte Garden
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