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Lakewood Mayor Steve Burkholder's second-annnual State of the City address will first be broadcast at 11am, Wednesday, March 21, 2007, by KLTV Channel 8, the City's government access cable channel, and will be rebroadcast several times during the following month. Following is the prepared text of the Mayor's remarks, which may not reflect minor variations during the actual televised speech.

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Mayor's 2007 State of the City Address

March 20, 2007:
It's a pleasure to address you once again about the State of the City. Let me start by telling you that services to Lakewood residents have stabilized and the City's future looks positive. We are accomplishing what we said we would do, and this encouraging outlook is a direct result of the dedication and support of Lakewood residents as well as the fortitude of City Council.

Thanks to you, Lakewood has continued to be a safe community, where we endeavor to solve problems before they become a crisis. We have returned to building a more complete community, and I believe this generates an essential sense of hope for Lakewood -- hope that we can look to the future optimistically, hope that we ALL are part of the community, and hope that good times will follow.

Lakewood will face challenges in the future. That simply is the nature of life, whether you are a family, a business or a city government. But we have learned that the difficult decisions we make as a community can restore strength and reliability.

The safety of our community has always been City Council's No. 1 priority. In the Police Department, replenishing the ranks of our police agents stood as the top priority in 2006. The Police Department moved quickly to do this, restoring the School Resource Officers to Lakewood's high schools in January 2006. This year, the officers are back in Lakewood's middle schools. The department also has recreated the Special Enforcement Team with dedicated specialists for gang investigations.

The ranks have been replenished with the hiring of 20 new recruits in 2006. We have added two Police Academies in 2007 for training new agents, and our sworn force now stands at 253 agents.

Our dispatchers will be able to work in the same location as the agents when our work is completed to move the Communication Center here from an outlying location.

We also have increased money for graffiti removal in the 2007 budget, and we are currently examining how to make our response to graffiti issues as efficient as possible.

The City Council also gave the police an added tool to curb prostitution throughout Lakewood by passing a new law that can keep convicted prostitutes out of specific areas of the city.

Transportation issues are another major priority. One step in sustaining the community literally meant taking the work to the streets. In 2006, the City undertook the largest street-paving program in the City's history. We spent more than $10 million on street maintenance and repair. Some of Lakewood's major roads such as West Alameda Avenue were given a fresh layer of asphalt. In all, 80 miles of Lakewood's streets received a face-lift.

Not only did this work catch us up on street maintenance that had been delayed during the years of budget cutting, it helped the City save money. As gasoline prices began to rise in early 2006, the price of asphalt also started to increase. In response, Lakewood extended its 2006 contract for asphalt to cover some of the 2007 projects. This saved the taxpayers' money.

We also put more money into our savings account known as the "fund balance." This is important because this fund is used for emergencies such as the recent record-setting blizzards.

In 2006, Lakewood residents protected one of the services they prize most about living in Lakewood -- parks and open space. Lakewood voters opted to allow the City to retain revenues and grant dollars.

Lakewood has parks, sports fields, swimming pools, skating facilities, recreation centers and miles of trails. One-quarter of the land in Lakewood is devoted to parks and open space, consisting of more than 7,000 acres -- And these facilities get used. Some 365,000 visitors annually come to Bear Creek Lake Park alone.

Lakewood is an active community.

As a City Council, we will continue our commitment to acquire parks and open space for the established parts of Lakewood. As examples, we bought land next to Sunset Park in northwest Lakewood, and we are creating a connection between Belmar and Bonfils-Stanton parks in central Lakewood.

We have done what we said we would do to rebuild our police, our streets and our parks.

As I've said before cities never stay the same. They either get better or worse. Reinventing our city through economic development is, has and continues to be a priority.

As an example, six years ago, the City Council began a three-part plan to renew neglected parcels in Lakewood and to generate more revenue to pay for City services. This year, the last part of that plan came into place when Wal-Mart reopened its store at 440 Wadsworth after renovating it to include a full-service grocery section. The other parts of the plan, the Super Wal-Mart and the Home Depot on Colfax, opened during the two previous years. These three stores bring more revenue to pay for City services than one Wal-Mart alone can provide. This plan also has brought indispensable rejuvenation, particularly to Colfax.

This renewal has prompted others to be interested in Colfax such as the developers of the new Colfax Central, and inquiries about opening new businesses or stores along the corridor have gone from only a few phone calls a month to several a day.

We continue to stay focused on improving Colfax Avenue as our citizens asked us to do through the West Colfax Corridor Advisory Committee. Our effort includes completing a master plan for Whitlock Park, which calls for creating a new playground, picnic shelter and skate park as well as space for a musical pavilion. In its second year, the Colorado Colfax Marathon this May will bring attention again to the historic corridor by drawing world-class runners, thousands of local participants, children and cheering fans to the "main street marathon."

Once again, I'll be running on a marathon relay team. Come join me!

Changes have come elsewhere. People ask me if Colorado Mills has been successful. Yes it has. But it can be even better. Colorado Mills will be under new ownership. This signals a fresh start for the Mills that will bring more quality retail and community activities. In the end, new ownership will benefit shoppers as well as Lakewood.

Belmar continues to grow, bringing in new stores and restaurants. Homes continue to be added including pioneering live-work units.

Belmar still leads through environmental innovation. This year, solar panels to power the electric needs of the parking garages will be installed. Our new downtown already has solar-powered parking meters, wind turbines for energy generation and some of the most energy-efficient commercial buildings in the country.

Belmar is recognized nationally for setting the pace for 21st century design.

Besides Belmar, a lot is happening on Alameda Avenue.

At Alameda and Sheridan, the Alameda Business Improvement District has funded and scheduled to be built in 2007 a landmark sculpture called "Flow" to enliven this significant gateway to Lakewood.

Further west on Alameda, work on moving St. Anthony Hospital to the Denver Federal Center continues. The hospital has conducted community meetings to discuss its project with residents. Most recently, the hospital submitted its formal request to the City to annex and rezone the land. Construction for Lakewood's first hospital will begin later this year.

In another important project, the City also has taken significant steps in preparing for the West Corridor light rail line coming to Lakewood in 2012. To prepare, we have relied on Lakewood's long tradition of asking residents for their thoughts and ideas. Over the last two years, hundreds of residents and businesses have come together to create their vision for the station areas. The City Council has now adopted that citizen vision for the station areas.

Lakewood has had significant projects on its plate, but the City places its highest value on its small businesses. To better connect with them, Lakewood staff visit regularly with businesses at their storefronts and offices and has launched a new e-mail newsletter. We also played a founding role in opening the Jefferson County Business Resource Center for small businesses.

Sometimes citizens wonder why the City spends so much time focused on economic development. It's because jobs and sales tax revenues are the lifeblood of any city. Residents and visitors with jobs who buy goods and services in Lakewood provide the sales tax revenues that pay for the police to patrol your streets and the street crews to maintain them. Sales tax pays for the services that help make Lakewood a place where companies can have their employees raise a family, enjoy open space, join a sports league and travel the roads safely.

It's easy to forget how taxes are divided among the state of Colorado, Jefferson County and the City of Lakewood. Your state income tax pays for your state services. Your property taxes mainly support your schools and county services. It is sales tax -- the money that shoppers pay at the register -- that supports and maintains your City services.

Our efforts to attract and keep businesses is an attempt to ensure that we all rise together as a community. Improvements, changes and vitality must continue to come to Colfax, to Green Mountain, to Jewell and Wadsworth and to the historic area of eastern Lakewood.

While we pride ourselves on and value our individual neighborhoods, we must come together to make a community. We must work together for everyone's benefit. We have had divisive issues in the City, and people had strong opinions about those issues. I hold in the highest regard that exchange of opinions and know it is emblematic of a strong and healthy democracy. But in the end, we have to live as a community.

As a fellow elected official recently said, "We ought not let those who see only negatives define our communities or us." We must never lose sight of the fact that living together, building a community, necessitates listening to many points of view and responding respectfully to those with whom we disagree. Anger and disrespect begets anger and disrespect. We must remember to be good neighbors.

To that end, Lakewood works diligently with other communities and other agencies on issues affecting us all. Let's chat for a few minutes about five examples of being good neighbors.

First, the Police Department recently conducted a unique training while teachers and staff were inside Green Mountain High School. For the first time, the educators could see, hear, feel and learn what it would be like if police agents were confronted by someone with a gun in the school.

Second, at Alameda High School, the City of Lakewood is part of a community effort to make improvements that will help students make strides in their education and take pride in their school.

Third, we have coordinated with the Jefferson County Department of Health on preparation for issues involving the bird flu. The county department would be the lead agency in the event of any outbreak, but our staff has been designing plans and will receive training on the issue. We also are producing an educational video for KLTV8, our government-access cable channel, in cooperation with the Jeffco Health Department.

Fourth, we also have worked with the other cities on developing countywide laws for aggressive and dangerous dogs and will launch a dog licensing program with "home" at the heart of it. The program will not only help get lost dogs home faster, it will provide money for improvements at Table Mountain Animal Center - the temporary home for lost and abandoned pets.

Finally, we continue to work with the Regional Transportation District on the West Corridor to discuss the design of the light rail.

We want to keep you up-to-date on these and other issues, so we are communicating with you in new ways. We have created a new program for KLTV8, where you get news you won't see on any other channel.

This year, video streaming of City Council meetings and City-produced programs will be coming to our website, www.Lakewood.org. In addition, you will be seeing us more often in your mailboxes with editions of Looking at Lakewood, the City's newsletter.

We have added a service to our website that allows contractors, residents and others to check the status of their building inspections. Another service helps residents keep better informed about upcoming land-use developments under City review.

We have grown into a city of more than 146,000 people. Most of us have lived in Lakewood either for more than 20 years or less than four years. Most of our households are either married couples with children or single people and households consisting of roommates. Most of us are between the ages of 25 and 54, but we have significant segments of the population who are older or younger. These demographics make for a variety of points of view and differences of opinions.

We have had challenges this year. Our winter has included more than eight consecutive snowstorms. Our plow crews worked hard, but we always look for ways to improve our service. After reviewing this winter's efforts, the City Council opted to make changes that were appropriate but financially responsible. We have boosted our efforts to communicate with our residents and expanded our ability to manage phone calls from concerned citizens during storms.

All Lakewood employees are dedicated to providing service to residents. During the height of the holiday storms, the Public Works crews kept plowing operations going around the clock for eight straight days. The City Clerk's Office stayed overnight at City Hall to ensure the completion of an election during the holiday blizzards.

But these examples are not the exception. Our employees have weathered the difficult times with us, staying through five years of budget cuts, going without pay raises for one year and handling the increased workload when we kept positions vacant to save money. Today, we are replenishing their ranks, and their continued commitment brings continuity to our services and strength to our community. Many of them are residents like you.

Their work has brought us such innovations as the Colorado Wireless Communities, 10 cities including Lakewood that have banded together to create a low-cost, wireless network for Internet access. This project is important because it will bring the highest degree of technology to the city, without having to spend taxpayer's money to build a wireless network. It will ensure that our community isn't left behind in the ever-advancing communication network.

Employees have also brought us The Bearable, an adventure race in Bear Creek Lake Park each September. This race, along with the Colfax marathon, is making Lakewood home to some of the best and most fun competitions in the metro area.

Allstate Insurance last year named Lakewood as having some of the best drivers in the country. This honor indicates the care our residents take with driving. But it also reflects the City's focus on providing safe streets. Our traffic engineers review intersections annually to identify those that need safety improvements, and they seek grants to help pay for those improvements.

That's what happened at Colfax and Wadsworth. After $4.3 million in safety improvements, accidents have dropped significantly. State and federal grants paid for most of those improvements.

After reviewing what we've accomplished and where we're headed, I come to a crossroads. My time as your mayor will end this November, and I want to thank you for the honor of letting me serve you.

When I ran for mayor eight years ago, I chose as my campaign manager a 15-year-old Lakewood High School student because he was an outstanding achiever. His name was Joe Franco. Joe and I still stay in touch.

I also believe in carrying through on the values one holds dearest, and I chose him because it shows I value the youth of this community.

I believe that the best cities are the ones that are the most diverse, and I have been diligent in carrying that value into my work EVERY day as your mayor.

We work hard to represent everyone in Lakewood. It is imperative to remember the importance of working with not only the majority but also individuals and organizations that represent the Asian-Pacific, Hispanic, Native American and black communities. In addition, I have actively been involved with groups that range from the Young Ameritown to the Seniors' Resource Center.

I am also proud that Lakewood will have two innovative apartment complexes for senior citizens, where residents not only have a home but also a place where they can keep up with the times. Both Willow Glen in central Lakewood and the Residences at Creekside in eastern Lakewood have free high-speed Internet access.

Too often I witness citizens and government viewing each other through a prism of us versus them. To refocus that view, Lakewood undertook the Democratic Governance project where we brought together Lakewood citizens -- some who liked the city and some who were critical. Those citizens worked with City Council members, City staff and others in the community to talk about how to make Lakewood a place where we all work to solve problems.

Throughout my tenure, I also have shared breakfast with a variety of residents and citizen groups to ensure that the City was listening to them.

The City Council has passed a resolution committing us to building an inclusive community that promotes citizen participation, fairness and equal opportunities. That commitment is now evident on the City's welcome signs. As the sign says, "Welcome, we are building an inclusive community."

When I ran for mayor eight years, I had no higher priority than Lakewood's economic vitality. I check in regularly with local businesses by visiting them nearly every month. I also have breakfast with them to hear directly about their concerns.

Since 1999, the City has seen more than $1.6 billion worth of private construction projects that cover a whole spectrum of development from commercial and office to retail and residential. Also during that time, businesses have brought more than 10,000 NEW jobs to the city.

I told voters I wanted to solve the problems of growth, revitalization and transportation. No one individual or organization can accomplish what Lakewood has done in reinventing itself in the past eight years.

I liken it to a three-legged stool. The first leg represents the City, the second the private sector and the third its citizens. All three legs are necessary to support any meaningful progress.

These three legs brought us Belmar. Lakewood residents set a bold path when they first envisioned a place where residents could live, work, shop and enjoy themselves without getting into a car. With the private sector, government and citizens working together, Belmar tackled all three issues of growth, revitalization and transportation.

With citizens leading the way again, Colfax has taken significant steps in creating a new future for itself.

At the Denver Federal Center, St. Anthony Hospital will become one of the largest projects to be built in Lakewood's interior, bringing with it a much-needed light-rail station to provide employees, hospital visitors and others easy access to the hospital and the Denver Federal Center.

On our western edge, Rooney Valley is beginning to take shape with high-quality development that residents called for when they outlined the Rooney Valley Master Plan more than 10 years ago.

Now I look to the future, and I believe the City can take a leadership role in creating jobs through environmental advances. Top companies are working in ways that benefit the environment. Local governments can do the same, and I call on us as a community to make job creation through environmental measures a top priority for the City.

This isn't unknown territory for Lakewood. For years, the City has used biodiesel fuel in many of our vehicles. We have put energy efficient lights in our traffic signals that bring the duel benefits of better visibility and a decrease in the City's electricity bill.

Creekside, our new seniors complex, has the largest solar collection system of any residential facility in the state of Colorado. It also has heat exchangers that recapture the heat from showers and laundry to provide significant energy savings.

Our Community Resources Department has organized Earth Day activities in conjunction with Whole Foods, where some of the store's one-day sales are donated to the City for trees and other park enhancements.

Residents have reached a new high at the Rooney Road Recycling Center by turning in more than 70,000 pounds of household chemical waste.

This is the agenda for the future. This is where I want us as a community to set our sights.

In closing, I look across our community and see a city built on its neighborhoods, starting with the incorporation efforts nearly 40 years ago. We will meet our needs in the future by continuing to weave those neighborhoods together. While each neighborhood must retain its individuality, the give-and-take of working out the issues that face us all is what will sustain us as a community and create a Lakewood that can overcome its challenges, that strives to do better and rewards the best in us all.

We are one community. We are one city.

Thank you for letting me serve you as mayor for these last eight years. I am deeply grateful.

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