Congratulations to my new colleagues on the city council. Thank you for the opportunity to serve with these dedicated people. I am deeply thankful to my family and many friends who make my service possible. I am especially thankful to my aide, Elizabeth Jones, who keeps me honest and our outstanding city staff who make Alexandria the special place it is.
Over the last three years, the Council developed new budget, small business and economic sustainability policies, put in place a new transportation vision for our city, established ourselves as an environmental leader, helped our schools improve and worked to ensure Alexandria is one of the safest cities in the state. While there is more to do, the hard work of our community in each of these areas has been recognized with multiple awards and honors. Everybody in this room has played a role in our success. I know we are all especially thankful for the creativity and collaborative spirit that my departing colleagues brought to these and many other efforts. Their work and vision will help guide us into the future.
This will be my last time being sworn in as a city councilman. I plan to seek a new opportunity to serve and want to let another person earn this seat to ensure that fresh ideas and energy continue to guide us forward.
During the next term I will make sure the economic, education and environmental work we’ve started moves forward. And I will focus on helping Alexandria survive the recession and thrive into the future. I think we do that by creating a regionally leading school system as well as a strong community spirit focused on our shared responsibilities.
The rapid rise in kindergarten families in Alexandria signals progress in our schools. We should dedicate ourselves to the basic principle that every child, regardless of background, deserves the opportunity for educational excellence. We must make sure the city does what it can to help our schools improve graduation rates, to challenge every child to achieve their full potential and to ensure that our community truly is a great place to live, work and raise a family. The quality of our schools keeps families here and attracts new business. Schools are central to our economic recovery as well as our future prosperity.
As we focus on the next term, we must remember that our quality of life and prosperity is not partisan or simply parochial. We all benefit from the success of our city and our region. To achieve our potential, we need a bi-partisan community spirit committed to working through differences and looking beyond parochialism.
We need your help to increase civic participation and volunteerism. Government cannot address our challenges alone. There are too many needs that can only be solved with a strong sense of shared community responsibility. Help us re-invigorate the value of civic engagement that defines Alexandria. Work with us to develop new leaders who are willing and able to commit themselves to public service. Lets make sure that every person has a role to play as we put together our very bright future. There are great things for all of us to do. Lets get to work. Thank you.
