Seriously, I do appreciate this opportunity. It requires us to take a serious look at the past year and focus on goals for the new year. And, that is a critical exercise for your city.

Now, I have frequently been referred to as the city's number one cheerleader. I enjoy that reference, for there is always much to cheer about. At the same time, I want to be candid about our issues and concerns.

And, in that context, I am certainly mindful of negative forecasts coming out of Washington and Nashville about our immediate economic prospects.

Our new president-elect and Chairman Greenspan don't paint a pretty picture about the nation's economy, and the plummeting stock market is just one indicator of the accuracy of their forecast.

At the same time, a recent headline in The Tennessee Journal read, "State's revenue experts agree: We're in a world of trouble." That headline was a good summary of most of the news about the state's economic prospects.

Indeed, we're seeing local signs of an economic slowdown. For example, revenue in our building department is down about 20 percent from last year. The number of permits issued by that department last year was down by more than 1200.

The number and value of permits for new construction in the year 2000 was lower than any year since 1995.

Our state and local sales tax collections normally grow by more than 5 percent and in some years by as much as 10 percent. Last year the growth was less than 3 percent.

It is clear that another bad year for farmers, declining auto sales and lower than hoped for retail sales during the holiday season are impacting both the state and Jackson-Madison County.

In past speeches, I have cautioned against undue euphoria over successes because of the historical inevitability that the economic cycle will go both up and down. But, I have said that our broad-based, diverse industrial community and our status as the center of commerce for West Tennessee would insulate us more than most during the down times. I think we are about to see the truth of both those assertions.

So, today am I a cheerleader or the real grinch who stole Christmas? I guess some of both.

Let me talk about some good stuff.

For the 16th year in a row last year, the City of Jackson did not raise taxes. We spent more than $2 million less than budgeted and paid almost $4 million dollars of debt.

We narrowed the gap between revenue and expenditures at our public buildings by about $750,000.

Our building inspectors were cross-trained in multiple trades to give faster service to the building community.

A Revenue Finance Corporation was approved by the City Council to give downtown property owners tax relief to encourage new construction.

A series of diversity training sessions were given to 157 city employees as we continue to honor our commitment to improved race relations.

We aided the continuing war on drugs with a program to place drug counselors in two high schools.

We became the first city in Tennessee to allow payment of property taxes and parking tickets via the internet and are committed to be at the forefront of electronic government.

We rescued the Jackson Arts Council from its financial difficulties by paying off the debt and assuming the operation of the McWherter Regional Arts Center.

We engaged in serious planning sessions both internally and with the Chamber of Commerce and the Madison County Commission to establish reachable goals and to reaffirm our commitment to the "Team Madison County" concept for industrial recruitment.
 

We took steps to make your government and its employees more efficient and productive. This year, we will join 10 other cities in a project sponsored by the University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service to establish performance measurements for the services we render. Hopefully, it will help us decide what we can do better and even what we shouldn't be doing at all.

Our employee bonus program is working. We expect to end the year considerably under budget, and our employees will receive substantial rewards.

Our Diamond Jaxx drew more than 300,000 fans last year and won the Southern League championship.

Three years ago, we knew our baseball team would be successful for at least three years because the community had stepped up to the plate with guaranteed season tickets.

We had our fingers crossed about the fourth year. Well, let me tell you, it looks great. More than 1500 people have bought season tickets and that is more than any other team in the Southern League.

Incidentally, the efforts of Bobby Carter and Matt Kisber mean we are receiving more than $200,000 per year in state sales tax money from baseball.

We changed the name of the building we're in today from the Jackson Civic Center to the Carl Perkins Civic Center.

While I didn't have anything to do with it, as a cheerleader, I want to rejoice with the community in celebrating the agreement reached by the school board for a long-range plan which will insure building five new schools and bring us closer to unitary status.

I also want to specifically commend Gary Deaton and the County Commission for their willingness to fund the long-range plan. I have personal knowledge of the enormous efforts undertaken by Gary to understand the need for the plan and to lobby for its approval.

As many of you may recall, Jackson has joined much of the nation in recent years in enjoying a reduction in crime.

Last year was another good year. In seven of the eight major categories, crime went down.

We've had six homicides this year, and that is six too many. But, it is two less than the year before and it is the lowest number in the last ten years.

There were fewer rapes, aggravated assaults, robberies, arsons, burglaries and auto thefts last year than the year before. The only crime category in which we suffered an increase was theft of property, which increased seven percent over the previous year.

Incidentally, I am pleased to report that violent crimes now occur at a rate of 40 percent less than 1993. As you may recall, that was the year we called a crime summit to address our increasing crime rate that peaked in that year.

The police department has been particularly effective in addressing the gang problem. 41 people believed to be gang members have been sent to jail by the federal court.

We believe it is often what might seem to be the little things that have a major deterrent to crime. So, we will keep cross-training employees who are not police officers to spot suspicious activity; we will step up our traffic enforcement; we will continue to attend neighborhood meetings; and we will otherwise adhere to the principles of community-oriented policing.

Your city's various departments are trying harder than ever to work with each other and for each other. For example, with the help of the engineering department, the police department conducted a traffic study at the intersection of Old Humboldt Rd and West University Parkway. As a result, a traffic light will be installed at that intersection instead of a four way stop.

Those of you who might have seen an accident or been close to being in one yourself in the curve on Carriage House Drive near the Holiday Inn should know of another instance of the police and engineering departments working together. During repaving, that curve was elevated on one side. Rumble strips and more warning signs will also be placed in that area.

Of course, Chief Staples and the police department are neither comfortable nor complacent. They know that crime has been

down across the nation for several years, but there are ominous signs that that trend might reverse itself. A Dec. 19, 2000 headline in USA Today said, "Party is over, as decline in crime hits bottom." So, the police department will work even harder this year to keep your community safe.

The news from the fire department last year was not so good. There were seven fire-related deaths in the city last year, five of them in one home. So far as I know, that is a record.

There is a distressing pattern in these fires. They usually involve children or the elderly, and they usually occur in homes without smoke detectors.

The fire department has installed thousands of smoke detectors in years past and spent countless hours trying to educate the public about their importance. They will continue to do that. But, they will also join with the District Attorney General's office to vigorously enforce laws which require landlords to install smoke detectors and which require tenants to maintain the detectors. They will also install a free smoke detector in the home of anyone who says they can't afford to buy one themselves.

Now, there are literally dozens of things we'd like to see in the year 2001 and beyond.

We want real response and real action from the state of Tennessee on a bypass around the bypass. The state's transportation department promised last July to study the feasibility of beginning work on the eastern portion of a bypass.

We think the eastern link should be the first part of a new bypass for several reasons. There is an eastern shift to our industrial, commercial and residential development which we think will continue; there is not an acceptable north-south roadway to serve east Jackson and Madison County; a western bypass is less feasible and more costly because of the heavy development in that area; and, to the east, there is still opportunity to establish a bypass alignment that would not have a tremendously adverse effect on existing development.

We also will prod the state to expedite the widening of Hollywood Drive and extend that project so that it ends at the bypass instead of Miller Drive. And, we want quicker completion of the Highland Avenue project, including the second phase that would widen Highland from downtown to Westwood Avenue.

We want to continue to support public education in all the ways we can, and we will continue to lobby for fuller use of school facilities on a year-round basis, particularly on evenings and weekends.

The city applauds and joins with the school system in their efforts to. build character in the community by adopting values of the month. We'll read the value of the month at City Council meetings and display posters promoting those values in all city facilities.

We'll continue to be perhaps a lonely voice urging metro government; and, if not, at least a member of the chorus singing the tune of consolidated services.

Our planning department, along with JUD and others, will try to more clearly quantify the costs and benefits of annexation to insure that our growth is controlled and that our existing infrastructure neither crumbles from misplaced priorities nor that our new areas receive less than the full services to which they are entitled. For your information, by annexation, the city's land size has increased 21 percent since 1989.

We will continue to narrow the gap between revenue and expense at our public facilities. Some of the proposed ideas are to add a facility fee on tickets instead of charging for parking, adopt a nominal voluntary fee to create a capital fund to repair and replace facilities, and look at a number of other ideas new to us but common across the country. It is important that Jackson be where people from all over West Tennessee come for entertainment.

Drainage, new roads and street resurfacing have always been and will continue to be top priorities. Our drainage work has had a major impact on reduced flooding. Completion of Ridgecrest Rd. will give us a major east-west artery. Campbell St. will be widened from Ridgecrest to 1-40 in conjunction with the new Campbell St. interchange. Muse St. will be widened and get curbs and gutters.

We will enforce tougher standards for street repairs and we will require better streets in new developments.

City Court will make its first move in more than 30 years. The court's new space in the old Dollar General building on E. Lafayette will be more than twice the present size and it will be much more accommodating to the public.

We will be a full partner of Lambuth University as they implement a long-range plan to distinguish the Lambuth community and to enhance the identity of the LANA area.

I want to briefly comment on a few major concerns as we begin the new year.

First, I think it is imperative that we keep a wary eye on Nashville as the Legislature reconvenes.

There can be no real dispute that the state will experience a budget shortfall and that many of the state's needs, particularly in the area of health care and education, will go unmet without new revenue.

And, there is no reasonable expectation of tax reform. That means legislators will be looking in all the wrong places for all the wrong reasons for new money. One of the places they'll look, just like last year, is the state-shared money now going to cities and counties. We absolutely cannot let the state shift their burden to us. The city and county must join together in sending that message to Nashville loud and clear.

Second, I am concerned about redistricting that must take place this year. We will have new County Commission districts and City Council districts before the next elections. How they are shaped could have a major impact on race relations.

Third, I am disappointed at the little response to calls for consolidated services. Last year, we couldn't even get the county's recreation board to agree to a joint study of whether the city's and county's recreation departments could be combined.
 

Finally, I am exceedingly concerned that we not let how far we have come by approval of the school system's long-range plan blind us to how far we have to go.

For the reality, ladies and gentlemen, is that the long-range plan does not pave the road to the future. It simply fills some of the potholes in the road we've traveled on way too long. We still have miles to go.

And so, in conclusion and as a final thought, I would issue this challenge to the community:

Let's have another education summit.

When the first summit was held in 1999, many thought it was simply for political purposes and would achieve no results.

But, I sincerely believe, and Superintendent Weaver has told me he agrees with this, that the summit was the necessary prod to move the school board to commission the superintendent and his staff to develop the long-range plan.

Now we need the same parents and school children and other members of the community to again show their support of public education and to help the school board to take advantage of our current enthusiasm about where we're going.

Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today.