•Ourhealthcare,transportation,greeninnovation, technology, entertainmentand restaurant, and food sectors arecontinuingtoexpand.InAugusthomesales inOaklandhad the fastest sell-inghomesinthenation,anaverage24daysonthemarket.

•We’remakingconcreteprogresswiththegame-changingColiseumCityproj-ect,whichwouldbethelargesttransit-oriented development project in Cali-fornia.RecentlytheCityandAlamedaCounty partnered with the Joint Pow-ersAuthorityandtheOaklandRaidersto invest $1 million into work that willdeveloptheplanninganddevelopmentpossibilitiesoftheprojectaswellasac-curatelygaugeourlikelyrevenuesandmarketpotential.

• InMarchwewill see thegraduationofourfirstOaklandpoliceacademyinfour years, bringing about 40 new of-ficers onto the force. I am extremelyproudofthisacademyandhopefulforwhatitsignalsforthefuture:morethananyacademybefore it, this isaclassof trainees who truly reflect Oakland.Theyaremostlyminorities;halfofthemspeakasecondlanguage;andaboutaquarterarewomen.

• Two more academies are alreadyplannedforlaterthisyear:thenextonewill begin in March. In the meantime,we’re putting as many boots on thestreet as we can, with important helpfromtheCaliforniaHighwayPatrol,Al-ameda County Sheriff’s DepartmentandFederalagencies.

•We’realsohiringmorethan20civil-ians to take our sworn officers off ofdeskjobsandputthemonpatrolwheretheybelong.Nearly600neighborhoodsorganizedNationalNightOutpartiestostrengthencommunitypolicing.

•TheOaklandFireDepartmentwona$7.8millionfederalgrantthatisalreadybringingtwonewfirecrewstotheCity,ending the rolling station closures wewereforcedintodoingwhenthebudgetshrank.

•Throughout theyearwewillseeourlong-term investments paying off: thisyearwillseethecompletionofthenew

Mayor Jean Quan

The Army Base redevelopment

is a major project that will ultimately bring

thousands of jobs to Oakland.

Mayor Quan joins with youth for the We Are Oakland International Book Launch at the Main Library.

Once the project is completed later this year, the Oakland Airport Connector will whisk riders to the Oakland International Airport from the Coliseum BART station.

Watch Mayor Quan’s State of the City

Live on February 27, at 7 p.m.

• Tune into the City’s KTOP – TV10 for a live cablecast of the program.

• Watch the live stream of the program online at www.oakland.net.com by click on “Watch Meetings Live or View Archived Video.”

• Join us in-person in Council Chambers, Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza.

A variety of boats enter the first 750-foot section of the Lake Merritt channel to be reopened.

PleasejoinusWednesdaynightformy Second Annual State of theCityspeechwhichwillbebroad-

cast from City Hall. It has been anhonor to serve as your Mayor, as wecontinueourthirdyeartogether,thisisachancetoconsidertheprogressourproud and beautiful city has made inthe last two years despite tough eco-nomic times and unexpected eventsand to soberly assess the challengesstillahead.

Oaklandcontinues to rise: 5000newjobs created this year, most city rev-enuesincreasingandnewnationalac-colades.Lookingforwardinthecomingmonths,we’llseemanyexcitingoppor-tunitiesarriveandwewillbeproposingnewsolutionstosomeofourtoughestchallenges.

The hard work is far from over. Manyserious financial challenges remainand will take tough decisions andstrong innovation to resolve. Crime isatanunacceptablyhigh levelandourpoliceforceistoosmall.Rebuildingit,and restoring a wide array of servicecutstheCityhadtobearoverthelastseveral years, will have tomean find-ingstrategicwaystoincreaseourrev-enue andmaking thebest useof theresourceswehaveonhand.I’llbeask-ingallofOaklandtotakeamomenttoconsiderthechallengesbeforeus,andIinviteoneandalltojoinourongoingconversationaboutthem.

Meanwhile, my administration is hardat work for all of you, seven days aweek, and people throughout Oak-land have been standing up this lastyear toanswer thecall toservice.Wehaveworkedhard together,andallofOaklandshouldfeelencouragedaswebuildmomentumfromlastyear’sworkandplungeheadlonginto2013.

There are reasons all over town to be encouraged:

The City, Alameda County and the Oakland Raiders have partnered to invest in the game-changing Coliseum City project.

Dear Oaklanders,

•Though we still face serious budgetchallenges,theCityisinitsbestfinan-cialconditioninadecade.Afterseveralyearsofbigdrops in revenue–whichforced us to make tough, unpopularcuts in spending, especially on policeand social services – we’ve seen ournumbers stabilize and start to slowlyclimbagain.

•Oaklandgainedmorethan5,000netjobs over the last year. This not onlyhelped bring our unemployment ratedownfourpercent,butalsodrewmorerevenueintotheCityasmoreworkersarelivingandspendinginOakland.Weclosedourmostrecentbudgetwithoutanylayoffsforthefirsttimeinfouryears.Cityrevenuesfromsalestax,businesstax,hotelandpropertytransfertaxareallup.

•We’realreadyreinvestingthatmoneytobuildoureconomicdevelopmentandto keep Oakland safe with increasedpoliceacademies,technologyandsup-portstaff.

• Our schools are the best improvedUrban School District for the seventhyearinarow.ThisyearIamcallingforthecitytodoublesummerjobsandin-ternshipsfromnearly1000lastyearto2000,thenumberofyouthwhoappliedlastsummer.

•We’realsoplanning tobreakgroundon the long-in-the-works Army Baseredevelopment inDecember.This isamajor project that will ultimately bringthousandsofjobstoOaklandandrevi-talizeanentireregionoftheCity.

spanoftheBayBridgeononesideoftown,andthefinishedBARTconnectortoOaklandInternationalAirportontheother.

•The renovationofLakeMerritt isal-most complete and we will celebrateinJune.Wejusthitamajormilestoneand thestartof thenextphaseof thework,withthereopeningofa750-footsection of the Lake Merritt channel.Thisworkwillculminate in reconnect-ing Lake Merritt to the San FranciscoBay,rejuvenatingthewatersupplyandrevitalizing the nation’s oldest wild-life refuge. And over the next severalmonthswe’llbelaunchingconstructionon several other Estuary projects, aswecontinuetobuildonwhatisalreadyoneof themostbeautifulwalks in theBayArea.

•FirstFridayswillcontinuetogrowanddevelop,andtheCityhasworkedmorecloselythaneverthismonthwiththear-tisticcommunitythatspawnedthiscul-tural treasure.The March 1 event willbeapeacefuland introspectiveaffair,dedicated to uniting our diverse com-munities and finding healing throughartaswehonorthevictimsofviolence

•TheCityreceivedmanyNationalac-colades in2012.Startingwith theNYTimesnamingusthe5thbestplacetovisit in the world. Bloomberg’s Busi-

nessWeek named Oakland the 31stbestcityinAmericatolivein,upmorethanadozenslotsfromour2011rank-ing and higher than San Jose. OurDowntownwasrecognizedasatop12“ArtPlace”inthecountry,basedonthethriving and diverse arts communityfrom Chinatown to Uptown. And CIO.comnamedOaklandthe11thbestcityin America in which to launch a techstartupcompany,noting that it’smoreaffordabletoliveandrunabusinessintheEastBaythaninSanFranciscoorSanJose. Wecontinue tobeoneoftheGreenestCities(#4MotherNaturemagazine),10thmostwalkable(Ameri-caWalksmagazine)and7thmostbikecommuters(USCensus).

I’mlookingforwardtospeakingtoyouWednesday and highlighting what weaccomplishedtogethersofar,andlay-ingoutthemightytasksandopportuni-ties that remain in frontofus. Thankyoutoeveryoneinourcitywhoworkstomakeadifference.Togetherwehaveaccomplished more than you know,andourbestdaysareontheirway.Ifwe work together as a team and re-spectourCity,wecanandwillfulfillourdreamsandpromise.

Sincerely.

MayorJeanQuan