As another year has come and gone, I like to use this opportunity to reflect back on a very busy and productive year for our City.

Earlier this year, our City hosted the AMGEN Tour of California and the AT & T Golf Classic, both world-class events, right here in our community. Disaster preparedness continues to be a top issue for our community. Earlier this spring, the City hosted its annual Emergency Preparedness Expo with hundreds of visitors attending. We’ve added a program whereby you can receive a text message from the City, alerting you to local emergencies, and in November, our City participated in a national earthquake readiness event called the Great ShakeOut, as well as a drive thru flu shot clinic with College of the Canyons.

2008 has been a good year in the area of public safety, with a dramatic dip in crime overall. Violent crime was down 18% for the first six months of the year, and we’ve seen double digit decreases for both burglary and thefts in the City. We will continue our zero tolerance enforcement efforts, as well as our community education.

Earlier this year, we received environmental clearance to proceed with the last phase of the Cross Valley Connector Road, which entails building a bridge over the Santa Clara River, linking Golden Valley Road with Bouquet Canyon Road. You will be able to see the completion of this $250 million project in 2010. We’ve made tremendous progress with the I-5/Magic Mountain Parkway expansion project which will provide for much-needed lane increases for that area, including the freeway on and off ramps. Look for completion of this major road project in 2009.

In Canyon Country, we launched our Extreme Neighborhood Makeover program, targeting a 130-home neighborhood to provide dramatic improvements. A second program was introduced in the fall in East Newhall and that is also progressing well. I encourage you to visit our website at www.santa-clarita.com to see photos of the neighborhood’s progress made to date. Right now, the City is under construction for a $25 million expansion to the City’s Sports Complex. A new and larger skate park, a new gymnasium, play fields, a playground, an off-leash dog park and more parking are currently in the works.

In Newhall, we’ve had several public meetings with stakeholders to design a new and larger library for this community. We expect to be in construction for the new library in 2009. Also in Old Town Newhall, we are working on the first phase of the new streetscape project for Main Street. Several successful special events were held throughout the year in Old Town, including our seasonal farmer’s market, the Children’s Holiday parade the Street Art Festival, the SCV Historical Society’s Halloween Haunt, the Hart of the West Native American Pow Wow and much more.

In Saugus, we held our successful Concert in the Park series at Central Park. We also continued our One Valley One Vision general plan program, with several community meetings to receive input and ideas. In Valencia this year, we held our annual River Rally event, where hundreds of volunteers helped clean up a portion of the Santa Clara River. We also held our annual Teen Scene Unplugged and our State of the City luncheon events at the Hyatt Valencia.

In 2008, our City received many prestigious local, national and even international awards, including top honors for being the most business friendly City in Los Angeles, our film and tourism programs, economic development, communications, clean air, excellent budgeting and investment practices and public safety. Our Enterprise Zone program, a special state designation benefiting City-based businesses, has had tremendous success this year with nearly 60 businesses benefiting from tax credit incentives, with vouchers for the Hiring Tax Credit, representing a potential savings of $5.6 million to local businesses within our City.

I want to personally thank each and every one of you who has helped contribute to our City’s incredible successes this year. This is truly a unique partnership among our community, law enforcement, nonprofit agencies, the public, businesses and most importantly, you! Have a wonderful holiday and happy new year!