Excerpts From Mayor Bogaard’s Final State of the City

Mayor Bogaard, Jan. 15, 2015 (Photo – Staff).

Mayor Bill Bogaard delivered his final State of the City address, after 16 years of service to Pasadena as the City’s first directly elected Mayor.

The State of the City was delivered on Thursday, January 15 at the Pasadena Playhouse, to a full house of more than 600 attendees.

Here are excerpts from the State of the City address that was titled: “REDISCOVER PASADENA”.

Utilities Undergrounding Loss

…I start my report tonight with a subject that is on everyone’s mind—the discovery that Pasadena has been a victim of a long term embezzlement by a former City employee…

…The City Attorney will maintain a close working relationship with the District Attorney and support the criminal prosecutions to the fullest extent of the law. Further, she has been directed to use civil litigation aggressively, to recover the losses and damages suffered by the City.

As Mayor, I created an ad hoc committee of the Council to be part of the City’s response to this incident. The committee will have input and assistance from outside consultants and City staff, as it looks into activities related to the embezzled funds, as well as any problems with systems or payments that are discovered beyond the utilities undergrounding account. The members are Steve Madison, Chair, Victor Gordo, Margaret McAustin, and John Kennedy. The committee will keep the community and the Council informed as progress is made and there are matters to report.

Further, it is clear to me that a task force of community members has a role to play, composed of persons who are extremely competent in financial reporting, audit procedures and practices, and complex business transactions. I intend shortly to name such a task force, consisting of 5-7 persons…

The first assignment will be to review a City-wide risk assessment—which is part of the City staff’s work program for the coming year—to assure that the scope and depth of the work is sufficient for identifying risk in City operations…

…I and all the Councilmembers feel extreme regret that this breach of trust has occurred, as does the City Manager…We will do everything reasonably possible to assure that nothing like this ever happens again…

The Economic Climate

 …Some of the City’s accomplishments during Fiscal Year 2014 include:

• Adoption of a balanced budget for a third consecutive year, consistent with the Council’s goal to maintain fiscal responsibility and stability. The budget for FY 2016 will also be balanced.

• Significant pension reform requiring that employees pay the full employment contribution to offset a portion of increased pension costs, relieving the City’s General Fund and our taxpayers from the responsibility.

• Public Works improvements to preserve and expand the City’s infrastructure, including improvements to parks, streets, sidewalks, and the Glenarm Power Plant.

• Celebrations of the 125^th Tournament of Roses Parade, 100^th Rose Bowl game, the BCS National Championship game, the 125^th anniversary of the Pasadena Fire Department, and the 130^th anniversary of the Pasadena Public Library.

…While the City’s General Fund remains healthy, revenue growth is slow and the pension and benefit increases, together with the challenges of essential infrastructure projects and the costs of litigation, make it clear that fiscal discipline and careful management continue to be necessary for the City’s success.

Development Activities

We are fortunate that private sector investment interests continue to be attracted to Pasadena…

In the coming year, Pasadena anticipates the opening of several new high-end gourmet restaurants, fashion stores and retail shops. There are five new hotel projects in the City, with one that recently opened, one under discussion, and three in the planning and entitlement phase. Demand for new residential development remains strong, with approximately 1,700 new units under construction or in the entitlement process.

YWCA Update

Speaking of hotels, the City is close to completing negotiations with Kimpton Hotels, a private developer, to convert the historic YWCA building across from Pasadena City Hall into a boutique hotel, carefully restoring this landmark that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designed by Julia Morgan, who was California’s first licensed female architect. She also designed the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. If all goes smoothly, construction should begin later this year.

Innovate Pasadena

In 2012, a small group of technology and business leaders in the Pasadena area began talking about what the private sector could do to bolster the local economy and high quality job creation. With strong encouragement from City Hall, the talks evolved into a vibrant not-for-profit called Innovate Pasadena.

…In its first 18 months of operations, over 15,000 participants were engaged in more than 150 events…

Thanks to IP, Pasadena is now at the forefront of the new, high-tech world…

Rose Bowl Stadium

The iconic Rose Bowl Stadium once again played a significant role in 2014, welcoming more than one and a half million visitors to an array of sporting events, concerts and festivals in the renovated stadium.

…In the year ahead, the number of events will be less than in 2014, and the City and Rose Bowl staff will continue to work with our neighbors to mitigate the impact of these events on their lives.

Recognition will also be given to the recreation activities in the Arroyo Seco and at Brookside Golf Course, where thousands of Pasadenans come every day to run, walk, hike, cycle, golf, read or simply relax.

Gold Line Update

This is going to be an historic year for the nearly $1 billion extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa. This first phase of the Foothill Gold Line project will be completed in late September, and turned over to Metro for operational testing. This phase of the line will end at Azusa Pacific University and Citrus College, along the way passing the City of Hope Medical Center, LA County Arboretum, Santa Fe Recreation Dam Area, and five historic downtowns. We anticipate that the line will open in Spring of 2016, bringing thousands of daily visitors to Pasadena from cities east and allowing our residents to easily access the many important places and resources that are located just a few Gold Line stops away.

But Azusa will not be the end of the line for very long. Work is continuing this year to prepare the next 12 miles of the line for construction. We anticipate that the funding needed to build the second phase of the Foothill Gold Line, from Azusa to Montclair, will likely come from a new tax measure to be voted on next year that could allow the county to expand its growing network of rail lines. Advanced engineering documents are therefore under development to extend the Gold Line to Montclair and the project will be ready to break ground in just two years.

Completion of the Gold Line to Montclair is a unified and long-term vision of the leaders and residents of the San Gabriel Valley, and it is reassuring that the Construction Authority is building each segment of the line on time and on budget.

Conclusion

I find tonight’s State of the City to be bittersweet for me because it is the last such event for me as your Mayor…Next year, you will have a new Mayor standing before you to share thoughts and words of encouragement.

In light of that, it seems appropriate for me to reminisce and to refer to some of my thoughts and remarks upon taking office in 1999.

I was never elected to be a caretaker—no one on the City Council is—but to represent those who put their faith and trust in us to carry out the duties because they, and we, believe that all of our citizens deserve the best city possible.

In 1999, I promised to be a catalyst for positive change, to bring our community together and build a greater City.   I urged all of us to “Go For It!” in a quest for improvement, and we did just that.

During the ensuing 16 years, our journey saw good times and bad, yet we “Went For It!” and we accomplished what many might have considered impossible—in a short span of time, Pasadena emerged as one of the nation’s leading cities and an internationally recognized symbol of hope, diversity, culture, arts, education, science, jobs and economic opportunity.

We took the best of Pasadena and made it better.

We invested hundreds of millions of dollars into our neighborhoods for better roads, bridges, schools, parks, community centers, city services and programs to enrich all of our lives.

We successfully empowered the men, women and children of all of our diverse neighborhoods to come together and solve our problems.

My words in 1999 are still true today, we need to Go For It! I believe we can fill this City with success, and with a rising tide of hope for those in the community who do not share in today’s prosperity. There are no constraints on the human mind; no walls around the human spirit; no barriers to our progress except any we might ourselves impose.

Coming together,

Working together,

Succeeding together!

As Mayor, that was my promise, and tonight that is my hope for the future, Rediscovering Pasadena and the promise that it holds for us all.

God Bless Pasadena, the State of California and the United States of America.

God bless all of you.

Thank You and Good Night.