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Thanks, Brian Nerland, for that introduction and for your service to this organization and our community. It’s always an honor to join Anchorage’s business leaders to discuss one of our favorite topics – our community’s economic development momentum. It’s a special honor to share the podium with Secretary Reich. He is clearly one of America’s most innovative and insightful thinkers. I look forward to hearing Professor Reich’s comments, and hope we successfully demonstrate to him that Anchorage is truly an international city on the move. I spent much of last week in Washington, D.C., at the National Mayor’s Conference where I had the opportunity to boast about our city. Anchorage was one of just four cities asked to present to all the mayors some of our “best practices,” which I milked for all it was worth. But there’s still a lot of misconception about us out there. The New Orleans mayor told the conference that after the hurricanes, residents from his city had been spread to 45 states. That included Alaska, where he said, they were greeted by penguins and Eskimos. I had to gently remind him that the only penguins in Alaska were at our 16-plex, Dolby-equipped, latte-serving movie theater. And that Eskimos are some of the most savvy business and political leaders in our state. My fellow mayors were envious to learn that Anchorage is entering its 18th consecutive year of economic growth. We just realized 2,500 new jobs last year, which exceeded the number originally predicted. And Standard and Poors improved its economic outlook for the city from “stable” to “positive.” Anchorage voters demonstrated they share our community’s optimism in last April’s election. That’s when for first time in about 20 years, they approved every single proposition on the city ballot - six out of six. I’m personally hoping they feel as good when they head to the ballot box this April. Bob asked me to give an update on the various economic development initiatives underway. There are so many I’ll try to be quick. The headliner is the new civic and convention center, which voters gave the green light to by approving a 4 percent bed tax increase. Just last week, we successfully sold 111 million-dollars worth of revenue bonds to finance the new center. This is good news because it’s actually more than we had anticipated raising. We were the beneficiaries of positive developments on two fronts. First, the three national bond rating agencies which reviewed the project gave us straight As. They have great faith in the center’s success. And second, we benefited from a national trend that actually meant lower immediate and long-term interest rates than we were projecting a year ago. What this means is that the new civic and convention center is on-course, on-time and moving full speed ahead. Construction begins this spring and will create about 1,300 jobs. It will generate another 3,700 new direct and indirect permanent jobs after it opens in late 2008. We’re already got our first convention booked - the 1,600-delegate Aerospace Medical Association. This 2011 convention will have an economic impact of about 1.3 million dollars. The civic and convention center is helping stimulate a renaissance in downtown Anchorage. We’ve got about 1,500 new parking spaces in the works, a 20 percent increase. The final design for the 100 million-dollar expansion of the Anchorage Museum is nearing completion. We expect to break ground on that project in 2007, with completion scheduled three years later. There are numerous other exciting projects under way which are changing the face of what we’re calling “Destination Downtown:” • A pedestrian-friendly E Street corridor, Downtown isn’t the only part of Anchorage enjoying a revival. From Ship Creek to Mountain View to Girdwood, we’re working with private sector developers to renovate or build new housing, office and retail space. Down at the port, the 350 million-dollar expansion will increase its construction tempo this year with the creation of 27 acres of new land on existing tidelands. This will provide much-needed staging areas for military deployments and expansion opportunities for the port’s existing commercial carriers. You can read about all of these developments on our newly revamped city website at “muni.org.” It features two new databases – with comprehensive neighborhood information and 350 pages of fresh demographic data. Of course, all this economic development will continue to put pressure on city services. We’re continuing to relieve congestion on Anchorage streets by investing in road improvements. Last year saw 45 different road improvement projects. Tonight, we expect the Assembly to approve about 45 million-dollars of road bonds for this April’s ballot. We just delivered to the Legislature our annual wish list which includes hundreds of million dollars in road improvements. Last year, we got 80 percent of our highest priority transportation requests funded. And there’s a lot more money on the table in Juneau this year. In addition to focusing on Anchorage’s basic services, we recognize we’re part of a regional and international economy. That’s why the mayors of the Mat-Su and Kenai Peninsula boroughs recently joined with me to form what we’re calling the Tri-Borough Commission. Between us, we have 60 percent of Alaska’s population and most of the state’s economic infrastructure. We’re cooperating to advance issues from a mutual assistance in case of disasters to joint tourism promotion to coordinating our transportation improvements. Anchorage also is increasingly becoming the gateway to the Pacific Rim. With more than 600 wide-body cargo jets landing here weekly, including 60 new ones from China alone, Anchorage is a national leader in this Age of the Pacific. I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities and optimism of Anchorage. Thank you for working together as we reshape our city for the 21st century. |