Charles Dickens opens the book the Tale of Two Cities with that introduction.

I think we are talking about Escondido.

Five years ago, I quietly, but smugly cruised around the county and thought with pride, my city, Escondido, is one of the highest generators of sales tax per capita in the state.  At that time, there was no end in sight.  People bought cars, paid too much for houses, went to Home Depot and Lowe’s and bought stuff, and our city benefited.  Nearly half of our budget came from sales tax revenue.  This had been the norm for what seemed like forever.  There are no living Councilmembers who can remember our revenue in any other way.  Every city maximizes their unique characteristics, Carlsbad and Coronado benefit from outstanding tourism, Chula Vista and Oceanside are big enough to have a diverse revenue stream, both tourism and sales tax.  Smaller cities throughout the county struggle to maintain a balance between revenues and expenses.  Amazingly, Del Mar a wealthy city, struggles mightily with their ability to meet service expectations.

As a full service city with strong revenues, we took our position seriously.  We generated revenue and we spent those revenues on services in our community, for our residents.  That is not to say that we were extravagant.  We are after all a conservative community.

Our fire department supported fire education to our school children and an individual who provided fire investigation and prevention.

Our library offered extensive programs for our users.  We provided outreach to our schools so that every student would know about their library, have a card to use their library, and how to use the library.  Our library collaborated with our schools on a variety of programs.  Just recently Ray Bradbury spoke at our library; he was completely educated in a library.

Our recreation programs offer many opportunities for outdoor experiences.  Many of the programs are cost recovery.  But some of the programs are the first introduction for a youngster to experience sports and organized games.  Introducing a child to sports and activities is the first step to a healthy and balanced child.  A child engaged in activities and positive experiences is training their mind to hanker for healthy experiences.  A city’s recreation program is even more important for the student who does not have the opportunity to play school sports.  In the old days, you could try out for your high school team every year and probably get on the team.  Today, it is difficult to get on a team if you do not have prior experience.  City recreation offers everyone a chance to exercise and have a team experience.

Our public works department maintains the physical infrastructure that over time we have all acquired and become accustomed to.  We have a senior Center, libraries, parks, medians, trees, fire stations, a police department, as well as over 130 miles of streets, curbs and gutters.

Over time we acquired a full service city offering services our residents used and appreciated.  And we also managed to save money.  I did mention we are a conservative community.  We did not spend everything we had, we saved some.  Some for an economic reserve fund and some for economic investment.

To provide those services, traditionally 80% of our budget goes to pay for our employees.  It is individuals who provide the services we have come to expect.  Based on the revenue we have historically generated, our Council has tried to keep our employees in the top third in terms of pay in comparison to other San Diego County employees.  That is the proper place for a community that generates great sales tax revenue, provides services our residents expect, and saves money in most years.  And, that is where we have been for as long as anyone can remember.

There have been other recessions and we have had a natural shrinking of our revenues, sales tax has been flat.  In 1990 we had a 12% decline, but we quickly recovered.  Today we are on our fifth year of outright decline.  Looking back we thought we were suffering when sales tax was flat.  We didn’t know the meaning of suffering.

Today we do.

For the last five years we have been whittling our budget down.  To see the big picture, our budget has dropped from a high of 86 million dollars in 06/07 to revenues of 66 million today.

We can feel it.

There is a lot of chatter in the media about inflated government salaries and bloated pensions.  We were not paying our employees out of line with the market.  We all compete for employees - private sector as well as public sector.  Several years ago, a three year contract gave 1 – 2 % increases in salary with increased pension benefits when the private sector was giving 5% increases.  Over time, those increases cost less than had we done straight salary increases.  But that is water under the bridge.  No one wants to hear we were smart.  What we talk about today is that the pension costs are strangling the public sector.  Our employees did not receive the same increases in salary that the private sector was awarding to their employees.  They traded for an improved pension.

Now in light of the severe economy we see things differently.  We recognize we cannot afford the employees we have today.  Some adjustments have to be made.  We are between a rock and a hard place.  We have to provide services, and we need employees that are fairly compensated.  Everyone has the choice about where they work.  As a sustainable practice, public employees cannot be too far ahead of the private sector.  Adjustments to pension benefits will have to be made that more accurately reflect society’s needs for retirement.  A two tier system will become the norm for public agencies, but that will not fix our budget woes for this year or the next.

Let's talk about what we have been doing and what we are doing today to contain costs.  We had nearly 1000 full time employees, we are now at 749, or the same level we had in 1991.  We have also reduced our employees' compensation.  This is the second year our employees have experienced a decrease in compensation.  At the same we have to balance reducing employee costs with employee needs.  It is not right to ask an employee to immediately cut their salary in half.  There is a huge difference between the private sector and the public sector.  The private sector won’t cut an employee’s salary in half, because the employee will choose to work somewhere else.  The private sector will just close their business, leaving the employee with no job at all.  We in the city of Escondido have to have a finer balance.  We have a reduced work force, and have frozen and reduced employee salaries.  It is not easy.

Remember we are a community with great pride.  We expect and have had the benefit of first rate services.  So what does this new budget model look like to the community? How is that working for us? I won’t labor over the details for every department and what that means; I think we all have a pretty good idea.  Less people, means less services.  We have to skinny down nearly everything.  When we complete the current budget process every department will be affected.  It is now a matter of holding on and waiting for the economy to recover enough to recover some of our sales tax losses.

There are two issues we need to address as a society.  We need to analyze our revenue stream and come to some conclusions about what future local revenues will look like.  We need to analyze this last Christmas season, how much shopping was done on line.  What revenues in the future will actually be generated locally? Are we in for a structural change of how our economy works? How do we finance local government? There should be some surety about which taxes are devoted to local government.

We also need to engage in a conversation about how we provide services.  In the five years we have been paring our budget, we have not cut the police department budget at all, until this proposed budget for next year.  Where do we want to invest our scarce resources? We want a safe community.  The question is, can it be delivered more cost effectively.

A well balanced community has opportunities for recreation, access to libraries, a well maintained infrastructure, the arts, and a clean and safe community.  How we define safety is usually by how many officers are on the street.  I believe the community conversation that needs to occur is about who can do what and contribute to our overall safety.

Some changes are already occurring and they need to be more formalized.  In this city we don’t like graffiti and we do something about it.  The process for arresting vandals is much more focused on the use of technology.  We take GPS located photos, accumulate them in a data base, find like examples, put them in a file and support the police officer in the investigation.  We are much more efficient in arrests and restitution.  Other prevalent types of crime that can benefit from technological advances are identity theft and child pornography.  A great deal of work can be done with individuals that don’t actually carry a gun.  Those employees can be less expensive for a police department and still contribute to a safe community.

Safety is not about how many police officers we have.  The question instead should be about how much every department contributes to the overall well being of the community.

I said we are a Tale of Two Cities.  We are.  While we work to survive, we need to lift our heads up and look at our opportunities.  We need to be our own rain maker.

Clare Boothe once remarked that, “There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown helpless about them.” I believe in that! We are not hopeless or hapless here in Escondido.

This past year there has been a great deal of exciting talk about the Chargers coming to Escondido.  Every Councilmember heard from many, many residents, how exciting that would be.  I even heard from people I never expected to be football fans.  Our position is that we are available.  The Chargers like our site, it suits them very well.  They have to first look at any opportunity they may have to locate next to Petco Park.  If that site does not work we stand ready.

For us in Escondido, to talk about the Chargers, is to talk about possibilities.  We have assets, and they are attractive.  We realize we can see ourselves differently.  We can think out of the box.  It will take the concerted effort of the entire Council to really move the ball down the field.

So what are our possibilities? What is our other Tale?

We are currently working on a new General Plan.  It is time for a new vision for our community.  We know what we want for our community.  We like having urban assets, in the midst a rural environment.  We want low density around the city, and in downtown, we want life, activity, music, arts and museums all thriving with people interacting together.

I will focus on three priority areas.

If we focus on our very high value transportation corridor, we know where to focus our efforts.  Our future will rely on a great transportation system.  People will choose where to live work and play based on the availability of a working transportation system.  Escondido is slated to have a Bus Rapid Transit system within our city on Escondido Blvd.  The Sprinter gives us access to Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College as well as the coast.  We have the managed lanes on the I-15 that will be completed in the next two years, and ultimately having a High Speed Rail Stop in Escondido, makes Escondido a very high asset city.

The first area of activity should be focused around what we call the Crossroads; the intersection of I-15 and Hwy 78.  This area has great potential for enhanced job generation.  The Council has talked about it a lot recently.  Through the General Plan process we need to begin the steps to enhance our Crossroads area.  We should design the infrastructure enhancements that will make us attractive to tech related businesses.  We should put policies in place that make us competitive with other business parks.  I have met with industry leaders.  There is tremendous opportunity for us to step in and be a player.  The industry is evolving.  The future will have companies providing outsourcing for research companies trying to get products to market.  Escondido is uniquely situated to take advantage.  We are close enough to the research facilities for over sight.  We aren’t Idaho.  We have access to the labor force these companies need, we are close to Cal State San Marcos – which has expanded tremendously the degrees for bio sciences, and we have the transportation system to support the industry.  It is very much a bottom line industry however, and we need to look at our policies that will attract those businesses, such as floor area ratios, parking requirements, setbacks.  It is possible to use our redevelopment dollars to install foundational infrastructure that will give us an edge.  We need to move these policies through and have them incorporated in the General Plan.  An overlay specifically designed to attract high wage jobs, whether it be bio tech, high tech, clean tech, sport tech, or a mixture of them all.  They have great similarities in their needs.  It could be a pull out section of our general plan.

The second area of focus is our downtown.  There are a couple of things we should be working on.  The first is the continuing expansion of housing opportunities.  We need to design the housing so that it works for our city.  People want to live downtown where the action is.  Our demographics tell us there are more people aging and desiring more compact active living spaces than low density labor intensive homes.

Places like the future Maple Street Plaza will be very attractive, whether it is a grandparent bringing a grandchild to experience the water feature, or someone my age enjoying a night out at a restaurant with some outdoor music, or younger folks coming to see what’s happening, Maple Street will be an active open space that adds to the great character of our downtown.  Wait till you see it.  Our downtown has been a journey of 120 years.  It has a sense of place.  It takes great diversity to keep it all together.  When you look at other great cities that are exciting to visit you realize they have more people living downtown, they add to the feel of a place.  People want to be with people.  We as a city must do more to strengthen our downtown journey.

We need to work with our library board and figure out how to build a new library.  One that is oriented toward downtown, it is part of our culture and activity.  The library board has been researching extensively the future of libraries.  No matter how much technology changes, the one thing we do know, we still need a physical place for our library.  I look forward to the plans the library board will be bringing forward in the next few weeks.

We should buy the H.  Johnson furniture store.  It is a significant piece of land and has great potential.  Right now, we could support a use that would be a regional draw.  We have to recognize our realities.  There is money out there in the private sector to invest, but that money will go first to bigger environments.  It will take a while before it gets back to the suburban centers.  We are a significant suburban center, but we cannot compete with downtown San Diego, or the UTC area, or even the LA area.  We need to invest in our own home town.  This is our own community, we care the most, and we must invest.  We should work to bring a use that would support the other activities on Grand Ave.  We have a great restaurant identity, artists have come to call Grand Avenue home, and you can shop for some really cool home decorations.  There is a use that can support and strengthen those existing activities.  We can make our own market.

The third area of focus is in our southern boundary.  We have opportunities.  We talked about our transportation advantage.  If we work along that corridor, we see another strength.  We have a regional mall.  While we embrace the internet and do quite a bit of shopping there, we also recognize regional malls are large place holders in a city.  They will change and adapt, people want to go and meet and enjoy each other’s company.  Shopping is a little different.  What do you want to see and touch before you buy it? We want to have an experience.  I call it experiential shopping.

People like to live close to the action.  We should look around North County Fair and think outside of the box.  How can we transform that area? How exciting would it be to have a home or a business right next to Kit Carson Park, near world famous art, Queen Califia, and near a great mall? We should be able to connect to our downtown from North County Fair by going down Escondido Blvd or catch the Sprinter.  If your home or office were close to North County Fair, you could also jump on the managed lanes and have access to our freeway system.

If we look to the future, we can grab it for ourselves, embrace it, and add tremendous value to the experience of living and working in Escondido.  We should look at our opportunity to change what is happening around our mall.

We may not be able to predict the future, but we can assess our values and we can look at the facts as we know them.  A man came to visit Escondido the other day.  He calls himself a little backwards, but he has four advanced degrees and teaches at USC, you can imagine what his definition of being backwards is.  He picked up the Escondido Magazine and the local paper and asked us how do we define ourselves? What do we want to be? If we can define what we want to be, we have a better chance of getting there.  We can tell our story.  All of the people at the meeting could describe the vision and though we may use different words I don’t think our stories are all that different.  If you take Escondido’s assets and historical strengths, you realize where we need to go.  The Council should focus and put some resources to those efforts and we will get there.

These past two years have been difficult for families.  We will remember this time for a long time.  Hopefully we will remember the good that can come from challenging times.  We help each other.  We realize it isn’t someone else that will just do it.  If it is important to get done we each have to pitch in.  Thanks to George Weir for setting the example.  He sees a need and meets it.  I know he does not like his name brought up so often and getting so much credit for what he does.  In his heart he is doing what he believes we should each be doing every day.  No one should be getting extraordinary credit for just doing what you can do.  Many of the Council award winners tonight have indicated they don’t really need an award for what they do, they just do.  They found something they enjoy and pitch in.  That is why I like the awards, it is just a small moment to say thank you for what you do naturally every day.  Someone noticed and because of your efforts the world is a better place.

There is a lot of good going on in this community.  If you look at the flyer there are a lot of employees working very hard on our behalf to build a community we are proud to call home.  We provide the foundation, the people provide the spirit.  I am particularly proud to have added another neighborhood group into our roster.  We build a strong community fabric when we know each other and ask about each other.  One of my neighbors passed away last week.  Mabel Motz a long time resident of Escondido and an observer for many years of our City Council.  She could tell us flat out what is needed to support good neighbors.  She managed a few over her life.

Get involved, touch your neighbor, touch your community. 

I’d like to close with a story – a story about attitude: I don’t know who the author is:

WE HAVE TWO CHOICES:

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate.  He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say.  When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.  The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude.  He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.  Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 'Jerry, you have two choices today.  You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood.  Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it.  I choose to learn from it.  Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life.  I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Jerry said.  "Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people will affect your mood.  You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers.  While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination.  The robbers panicked and shot him.  Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident.  When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins.  Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.  "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied.  "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die.  I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great.  They kept telling me I was going to be fine.  But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.  In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry.  "She asked if I was allergic to anything.'Yes,' I replied.  The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.  I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live.  Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.  I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.  Attitude, after all, is everything.