"Those elected officials who pander to those who would divide us on the basis of differences in sexual orientation or religious affiliation betray the trust imposed on us to lead toward a fairer, more compassionate and just society," he said.

The mayor touched on many familiar themes, like downtown development, mass transit, good environmental policies, pedestrian safety, walkable communities and others. He highlighted the city's accomplishments in those areas.

City Council members said they liked the speech but were disappointed there was little discussion of budget issues. For instance, the mayor encouraged the completion of at least five multimillion-dollar multi-million-dollar projects — daylighting City Creek, redeveloping Pioneer Park, remodeling the Utah Theater on Main Street, building a new Major League Soccer stadium downtown and reconfiguring Union Pacific's rail line near Grant's Tower — but didn't talk about how to fund those projects.

"He talked about five multimillion-dollar projects without talking about the funding issues we face," City Council chairman Dale Lambert said.

Councilman Dave Buhler said he wished the speech, which focused on "sustainability," also discussed the sustainability of funding city government.

"How are we going to sustain the services we are providing on the revenue we are generating?" asked Buhler, added that he didn't like the mayor's apparent attack on commuters.

"It's too bad that he would seemingly attack commuters coming into our city," he said. "We should be welcoming them, not lecturing them."

A few new initiatives were included in the speech. For one, Anderson said his office is working with Xmission (a local Internet service provider) to provide wireless Internet access to much of the downtown area. The mayor also said in the coming year the city would be working toward creating bicycle lanes separated from the roadway in some neighborhoods.

The mayor said he would bring a proposal to the City Council to require all buildings built with city funds to meet "high-performance" standards, which would make the buildings more environmentally friendly.

And finally, Anderson said he would be asking for the council's support for creating a northwest quadrant master plan that would help guide development in that area, including integrating mass transit into the neighborhoods.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com