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- - . . can't help but comment on where we are now to some degree as much as I would like to focus on the future. Where we are now I think affects what we do in the - future. We are a City in great motion. We are in a City that has made great progress. We are a City that is not problem free, but with 75,000 citizens, or so, we are one of the most important players in our County. And we are one of the most important players in a region of our country that is actually a diamond in the world. We often underestimate how important we are, not just in our region, but in the world. "We occasionally talk about how diverse we are. We have a Port, which few communities have, and instead of asking the City to contribute General Fund money to the Port, we demand and expect from our Port that they will provide money to our General Fund. We have a variety of economic engines in our community. We have a great ethnic diversity. We have public and private schools that compare well to any others in the region. We have a community college. We have many attractions nearby. We are not only becoming known as the software capital, perhaps in the world, the Internet capital of the world, yet at the same time we have traditional industries that provide excellent blue collar jobs. We are no longer a bedroom community.... We are a community now that has more jobs, people come here to work....We need to pay attention to our public safety and public services. We have made great strides in improving our Police Department, in improving emergency services to our citizens by building and staffing, with the great cooperation of our firefighters, a fire station in - Redwood Shores, and paramedic services that will in not to distant future be citywide. We have as a Council and a community made tremendous strides. We have a downtown that is on the move. We have people in the private sector who are willing to put their money in downtown and risk it. They are not asking the Council and the City for a hand out. They are putting their money downtown and saying this is the place to be. And I believe Redwood City is the place to be. "I regret however, that sometimes we are too partisan. This election, to be very frank, was too partisan. Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party got involved. Particularly the Republican Party provided substantial funds to local non-partisan races. I don't think that is good for our community, and I think all of us should simply strive, irrespective of political labels, irrespective of ideology, to simply say, as we vote and as we conduct ourselves in office, what is best for the community, not what is best for a particular party, not what is best for Sacramento or Washington D.C., but what is best for our community. I hope, but I won't be involved two years from now in the next election, that we will be talking about candidates who simply are saying, I am running because I want to serve the community, not because I want to serve a particular political party, not because I have a particular ambition to go somewhere else, but because I want to serve our community. I believe we have a Council that is constituted of members who want to serve the community, and in the next two years and - beyond, each of us will have the opportunity to vote our conscience, to best serve ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 NOVEMBER 14, 1997 MINUTES Page No. 025 PAGE 15