 As the mayor of the city of Burlington and is the only non-democrat and non-republican mayor elected in partisan elections in the United States, and as somebody who is not ashamed to say that he is a radical, there are two basic areas in which I try to do my job as mayor. The first is a reasonably conventional area, which I think every serious mayor in the United States tries to do his or her job, and that has to do with basic services, like the people of every city and town in America, the people of Burlington are entitled to a well-run city and a city that is run cost-effectively. We are entitled to decent streets, sidewalks, sewer systems, wastewater plants, job opportunities, reasonable utility rates, reasonable tax rates, good police and fire departments, and all the other services that people in cities deserve. And I think we have done a good job in that area, and I'll speak to that in a moment. The second area that I also think is important for a mayor to speak out, and here I think I am unusual, I think most mayors do not speak out on that, and that is the broad question of literally the faith of the human race and the whole question of economic justice. And my feeling here, although I get criticized for this quite often, is that of mayors and governors and ordinary citizens do not begin to speak up on the issues of war and peace or economic justice. There may not be streets or sidewalks to worry about. There may not be police problems to worry about because the planet may come to an end. And I think it's absolutely imperative, and I want to say very honestly, that if re-elected, I intend to keep speaking out on the issue of war and peace, on the insanity of the arms race, of the inevitability of a nuclear war if those trends are not stopped. On the absurdity of a $275 billion military budget, at a time when low-income people are in desperate condition, at a time when the President of the United States, in order to expand the military machine by $30 billion, is cutting back or proposing to cut back on federal revenue sharing, which will raise local poverty tax, doing away with student loans, doing away with trial and nutrition programs, freezing Medicare payments, basically going to war, not against the Soviet Union, but as very old people. And I think it's absolutely imperative that all citizens, including mayors, continue to speak on that and continue to have a vision that someday, maybe just maybe, if not 10 years, maybe 100 years, we will live in a society in which some people do not have billions of dollars, while other people have nothing. We have heard from all of us folks tonight, and they're all right. Let's talk about the serious problems arising election rates, high living costs in the city of Burlington, and the absolute way. In the long run, in my view, in the final analysis, these problems are not going to really be dealt with in Burlington or Los Angeles or Houston, Texas, unless there is a radical restructuring of the economy of the United States, and it will ordinary people begin to take control of their lives. I speak on that issue by criticizing where the people continue to speak on it. I think we've made progress. The streets and sidewalks in Burlington are a deplorable condition because they were ignored for many years. This year, we've done more work on the streets and sidewalks than many of the past years combined. We now have a long-term plan and the money available. In seven or eight years, our streets and sidewalks will become acceptable. The sewers with deteriorating the city of Burlington, our wastewater plants were obsolete and polluting Lake Champlain. We now pass the bond issue. This construction season will begin working to rebuild our sewers and rebuild our wastewater plants. There will be no war in the sewer backup and human waste in people's spaces. We reorganized the fire department with the fire chiefs that we had. Today we have a new police chief coming on board, came on board yesterday. We expect a major reorganization of that department and it's approved. The economic conditions of the city of Burlington, Mississaug Tell is quite right. The wages remain abysmally low, not only in Burlington, but all over the state of Vermont. Nonetheless, we have made significant progress. In Burlington now, the unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the nation. We have created many, many hundreds of new jobs. One of the areas that we have worked effectively is through our newly created CEDA office, which has brought in some $10 million in federal grants including $5 million in computer grants, which alone have created over 500 new jobs. The waterfront, very complex, very difficult issue. We are fighting for a people-oriented waterfront in which people of all economic walks can enjoy. We are making progress. It is a difficult project, but we are optimistic that in the near future we'll begin working on one of the most exciting people-oriented waterfront developments in America. Neighborhood revitalization, the Old North End, which I know many of you are familiar with, for many years was neglected by city governments. On North Street, storefront after storefront was empty, housing was not being rehabilitated. We have now rehabilitated many units of housing. North Street today looks in better shape, far from being perfect. Let me tell you, many, many problems remain there. It is far better shape than it has been for many, many years. Property tax situation. Four years ago, I was elected mayor of the Democrats and Republicans on the border wall when I asked for a 65-cent property tax. That was overwhelmingly defeated. I opposed it. Since that time, we have got a 25-cent tax decrease, and since that time, the only other property tax increase that we asked for was a 16-cent property tax decrease dedicated to the streets. We have an excellent record in property tax reform. Also, the city of Burlington is leading the fight statewide against the regressive and unfair property tax, and we are fighting in Burlington. I think we are leading that fight with excellent intelligent alternatives to the property tax and we are making some progress in that direction. Lastly, I think we have made some good success in providing far more social programs of low-income people for kids for the elderly that existed in the city before. We have a very effective youth office, which, among other things, has started a day-care center, a beautiful day-care center in the basement of the Memorial Auditorium. We now have half the school programs. We have youth homes, the lowly things, the kids coming together to put out the newspaper. We have free health clinics. We are making progress in the area of social services, although we have an enormous lead-long way to go, and we are scared to death when the break-ins catch, because if they come in to us, many of those programs will be destroyed. The city of Burlington, for the first time probably, municipal history in the state of Vermont, has used the city attorney's office to fight against the telephone companies' outrageous increases. Mrs. Gallagher directly talked about the fights we were making against cable television, in order to prevent the 19-cent increase in rates, and while we're dealing with election rates, I urge you to come down tomorrow night to the City Goal Auditorium. We have a public service board will be meeting and listening to a proposal of city government in which we intend to lower election rates for residential users by 28%. It is true that large consumers will be paying substantially more. This is based on a number of reasons. I'll be proud and happy to discuss this later, but we are attempting desperately to protect low-income people, the senior citizens, and people who cannot afford ever escalating costs of their electricity. There's much more to be said, but I thank you for your attention. My victory and the other victories tonight are not the results of the work of one person or five people, but are the results of many, many hundreds of people. So, from my heart, from the depths of my heart, I want to thank the many, many hundreds of people who worked day and night to make this victory possible. Thanks very much. It is, in fact, not only a victory for Burlington, I think, it's a victory for the United States of America. What we showed tonight, and this is no small task, what we showed tonight is that you can take on the leadership of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the big business community, the local newspaper, and all the big money, and you can beat them if you stick together in saying that they want a local government which is going to stick up for the ordinary people, for the elderly, and which is going to say go to national priorities which talk about spending billions more for the military while cutting programs for the elderly, and the sick, and the homeless. And if we are the only community in the United States of America which is going to show a little bit of sanity than Soviet, we're proud of it. And I want to say a few things about that. Tonight we want a smashing victory on the charter changes. The people of Burlington tonight did something historical. After charter change, they uphold the Vermont State Legislature that they want some fundamental changes in the way business has started this state. And that's an incredible victory. The Rooms and Meals tax, the people of Burlington did on charter change number three, the property transfer tax, that they want to do away with the regressive and unfair property tax, and they want some basic alternatives. If they set it all by 60%, we'll be down in Montpelier, and we eagerly await to hear what Montpelier has to say about the wishes of 60% of the people of Burlington. I'd like to bring them up. In Ward 1, we had two spectacular candidates who didn't win tonight. They had to take on as we all do. Remember, they didn't just take on the Democratic Party. They took on the Republican Party as well. And Keith Bilgeberry and Adele Deanna lost, but they put on a fantastic campaign. Lost, as I understand it, for the school board. But if Ellie Blazers here, please come on up. I think a special tribute should go to Jim Schumacher, who ran a fantastic campaign. Much easier than the last four. But once again, what we are doing is in my view of national significance. We are saying that if you articulate the issues, if you make sense to ordinary working people and the elderly and poor people and any people who are willing to look at the issues in a sane and rational manner, that we could bring this community together and go forward. For my part of you, I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart, and I look forward to another exciting two years. Thank you.