Text of Rocky Anderson's State of the City Address

abuses, including kidnapping and torture, while our Congress denies access to the courts for those who seek to challenge their imprisonment or the conditions of their confinement, which often are outrageous by any standard of civilization. That is not only regression�it is moving the failure to recognize and honor fundamental individual rights back to before the Magna Carta.

As our nation moves backward in so many tragic ways, we seek, and have achieved, much progress in Salt Lake City.

Progress means stepping forward, improving, evolving. It is about getting - and being - better. The progress upon which our administration has focused is about the quality of life for individuals and their loved ones, our neighborhoods, our city, our state, our nation, and our world. It is not only with the present in mind, but with a view toward those in the future who will be affected by our decisions today. Progress also requires that, as a community, we not only pursue what is in the interests of the powerful or the majority. It requires that, instead of being a city where, in the words of Thucydides, "the strong do what they will and the weak do what they must," (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (431 BC), Chapter XVII) we honor the fundamental rights and interests of all, regardless of their differences, including those who will come along in the future, and that we respect and advance the dignity of all people.

Progress is about building�and leaving for the future�a better world and better communities. Whatever affects the people of Salt Lake City�whether it is garbage collection, federal housing policy, or the prospect of catastrophic global climate change - it is the responsibility of all leaders, whether in the business, religious, or civic communities�including municipal officials - to take a stand, and to take action. Those who do not, those who say "It�s not my job" or "It�s none of my business� are not only derelict in carrying out their responsibilities as leaders; they are derelict in fulfilling their moral duties as human beings with choices and the ability to help make a positive difference.

From a fiscal point of view, tremendous progress has been made in Salt Lake City, both last year and during the past seven years. Persistent fiscal responsibility has resulted in far less money being spent than budgeted, far more money being raised than budgeted, and an enormous increase in the city�s reserve fund. Last year, actual expenditures by city departments were $2.8