 Ladies and gentlemen please welcome to the stage chairman of the Alamo City Chamber of Commerce, Wayne Terry. Good afternoon. While they're exiting the stage can help me in recognizing and thanking the Johnson High School Band for their performance today. What a wonderful job. Thank you so much. My name is Wayne Terry. I work for HEB as well as the honor of being the new chairman of the board of the Alamo City Chamber of Commerce. San Antonio is known as America's City on the Rise and for the Alamo City Chamber the Chamber on the Rise we boldly share this vision. One of our city's richest traditions is the engagement of our community leaders. We are fortunate to have a history of committed citizens who act as trailblazers, mentors and supporters who not only embrace the vision of a greater San Antonio but also seeing it through to reality. Many of you are great community leaders in the room today. Daryl Byrd is a great example of one of those community leaders. As the president and CEO for SA 2020 Daryl is leading a community-wide effort to chart a bold course that over the next 10 years will ultimately transform San Antonio into one of the nation's undisputably great cities. Daryl is a consensus builder and with his record of success for taking on transformational projects it is clear to see that he can turn our city's vision into reality. Ladies and gentlemen we are very proud to introduce a member of the Alamo City Chamber of Commerce and we are very supportive of the leadership displayed by Daryl Byrd and SA 2020. Please help me welcome him to the podium. Daryl. Thank you very much Wayne. Good afternoon everyone. Really pleased to be with you. I get the honor in two to three minutes of introducing our mayor. That's a really hard job. Two to three minutes to introduce a guy who has done some extraordinary things for our city and has taught us how to look to the future not his future but look to the future together. I'm gonna try to knock this out in two to three minutes. If I go over you'll forgive me. You know this is one of those occasions where we get together from time to time at least once a year and we say things like this there's no better time to be in San Antonio. But you know I think today and really over the past decade it's really been a true statement there really is no better time to be in San Antonio as a matter of fact from my perspective I would add a little two or a little three at the top of that because I think we're on to something great we're doing some things that are really extraordinary and much better than we've we've done in the past decade we continue to grow we continue to evolve as a city you know this is a time when across America and cities large and small and everything in between mayors and leaders and captains of industry and civic leaders and individuals are trying to figure out how to do more with less it seems sometimes though that they're doing less with less in San Antonio we're actually changing the game here. San Antonio were actually building opportunity we're actually creating opportunity maybe sometimes the resources of scares but this is a city where we've been able to do some things with great leadership like our mayors to make something out of nothing you know we're celebrating something today which we already know maybe the rest of the world isn't quite on to it yet most of them are this is a city that's in motion this is a city that has great momentum this is a city that's on the rise. Now you're gonna hear from the mayor in a little bit he's gonna tell you about the the path that we've worn over the past year on the beginning of 2013 to today we're gonna talk a little bit about where we stand today and he's gonna share his hope for the future and what he sees ahead and I'm gonna leave that to him to get into the details of what that means and how exciting that's gonna be for all of us but I want to reflect on a few things for me personally when I think of his leadership when I think of what he's all drawn us all to do to dream to think about our city I want to reflect on a couple of things and that are important to me I think about the fact that since he became mayor he has drawn and driven an unprecedented amount of focus and attention on public education driven straight out of his front door city hall it's been unprecedented and great things have been yielded from that our high school graduation rate now exceeds our essay 2020 levels somewhere around 92% high school graduation rate we began with a goal of 85% and at that time our grade high school graduation rate was 75% extraordinary things are happening you see the great investment that you as San Antonians have created out of pre-k for essay driven by his leadership to invest at the earliest stages in our young people's education all driven out of his vision for the future you know this is a guy who has what I would call great eyesight essay 2020 vision as a matter of fact by that what I mean is he's got the long-term eyesight to be able to see into the future and to see what opportunities and promise it holds but he's also got the ability to look up close to focus on the details that matter focus on the path ahead that's a rare rare combination of skills and qualities and a leader and we've got that right here in San Antonio I reflect on the mayor's leadership in creating a fitness culture in San Antonio this is a city where two years ago we were leading the nation in obesity 68% of all adults whether an unhealthy rate or obese under his leadership today the adult obesity rate has actually been driven down to below the state average can't remember the last time that's been a reality in San Antonio that equates to tens of thousands of San Antonians our brothers our sisters our mothers our fathers who are no longer at risk of certain types of cancers or heart disease extraordinary things are happening in this city and again we've got a mayor that creates openings for us to chart that course and to build it together that's rare that doesn't happen across the country I think about the fact that the mayor is the mayor of all of San Antonio I think about how years ago he collaborated with city councilwoman Ivy Taylor and focused on the east side and bought resources and collaboration to that community and now the east side of San Antonio stands as the only city in all of America that has both a promised neighborhood and a choice neighborhood bringing tens of millions of dollars worth of resources and investment to our city I think about our mayor strategic focus in other areas in our downtown in our neighborhoods and arts and culture San Antonio now stands as one of the most attractive places in all of America for college educated talent number six of all the big cities in America number six San Antonio is also one of the best places to retire so San Antonio is not only the great place to begin your career but a great place to end it this is a city for the young and for the young at heart things are changing in San Antonio we're on to a bold future and again we're doing it together I wanted to before our close call attention to a group that is here with us today that I know is important to the mayor and this is a group from SA ISD the SA ISD student advisory committee if you all could stand you're sitting at two tables here we were talking about student engagement and civic engagement and the fact that this mayor following the model of great mayors before him in San Antonio again creates openings for folks to not only be bystanders and great things happening in their city but actually be the producers of that great thing and that young group of young people representing every high school in SA ISD including the young women's leadership academy are doing that very thing advising their superintendent advising the board and advising the administration on important matters to them within the campus and outside of it so again we applaud them and mayor for giving them an opportunity and the last thing I'll say before the next voice you hear which will be our mayor I'm a Virginian by birth I've been in San Antonio seven years 17 years so this is home but I want to steal a great brand coming from Virginia and it's Virginia Slims we've come a long way baby we have come a long way baby but I cannot wait to see where we go next the next voice you hear is our mayor help me and welcoming Mayor Julian Castro thank you very much good afternoon well first of all thank you very much Darrell for that introduction and more importantly for the great work that you're doing at SA 2020 and the leadership that you and the entire SA 2020 crew has shown I also want to of course thank our host today the chambers of commerce let's give them a great round of applause the greater chamber the Hispanic chamber the Alamo city chamber and the Alamo Asian chamber I also want to just recognize and thank County Judge Wolf I know is here today Nelson is somewhere out there for his great work in our city I have to tell you that I've enjoyed working with Nelson during my last couple of terms and his and I look forward to working with him in his next term as well I also want to recognize our great city manager the best city manager in the United States Cheryl Scully who is here with us today for her excellent work you know nothing that we get done at City Hall is done alone it's done by the collaboration of the staff and of course the city council and I'm so pleased that I have a great city council that works hard that believes in making this city a better place no matter what part of town you come from and sees everything in that regard I'd like to ask my council colleagues who are here to please stand and be recognized I also of course want to recognize my own staff they don't often get recognized I'm terrible about these kinds of things but I'd like for them to stand up because they make me successful I know they're here today highman Francis and Patty and Stacy Adam Jed Matthew of course I want to also thank the great Johnson High School Jaguar musicians who are up here the band let's give them a big round of applause as well as the Herf Elementary School students and the SAIC students that we had here and this is a rare treat for me during the middle of the day to get to spend a little bit of time with both my mother Rosie who is here and also of course the love of my life my wife Erika thank you all very much for everything that you mean to me there are two folks who are not here today we took Karina to school because she was looking forward to going to a book fair this afternoon at her elementary school and of course my brother Joaquin isn't here because they have votes this afternoon in DC you know my brother likes to go around claiming that I'm a minute uglier than he is and just recently I took the odd step of dying my hair blonde and proved him right actually what I say these days is that the difference between Joaquin and me is that I have the better job if there's one thing that is clear in America today it is that cities are where things still get done in this nation cities are the places where people of different backgrounds different perspectives roll up their sleeves put ideology aside and actually accomplish things and San Antonio is a better off for it this much is true of our city in 2014 San Antonio is a city on the rise our graduation rate is up our unemployment rate is down our real estate market is up and our teen pregnancy rate is down our income levels are up and our obesity rate is down and from every corner of the nation as well as the world people are taking notice of San Antonio in a way that they haven't in a long time folks are watching this city as a driver one indicator of America's prosperity in the 21st century global economy and San Antonio success is owing to two things hard work and a strong vision the hard work is done by folks in their everyday lives employees and employers in small companies and big ones nonprofits the public sector the private sector the vision was forged a few years ago by thousands of San Antonians as part of essay 2020 to create a brain power community that is the liveliest city in the United States to make that vision a reality the number one goal that we have in this city is to ensure that we create brain power and that we match that brain power to 21st century opportunities in November of 2012 San Antonians took an unprecedented step to do just that by passing pre-k for essay when San Antonians pass pre-k for essay they did so on a good about of faith but in 2013 we opened up the first two pre-k for essay centers and have welcomed 675 four-year-olds from throughout our community to pre-k for essay one of those four-year-olds is here with us today when Tracy May on first heard about pre-k for essay she was yeah she says a bit skeptical about enrolling her daughter Haley in a program that was in its first year you see Tracy had worked in the past as a substitute teacher and so she knew a little bit of something about good curriculum and bad curriculum and a good functioning school and a not so good functioning one but she decided to take a leap of faith she enrolled Haley in the north side pre-k for essay center and every now and then she would go and make a surprise visit and check in on Haley and see how everything was going and six months later Tracy said that she could see the positive effect that pre-k for essay was having on Haley she said in fact that sometimes Haley would even correct her those of y'all who are parents know this routine she would tell her that the shape they were looking at with four sides wasn't a diamond it was called a rhombus Haley and Tracy are both here today and they're great examples of what can happen in early childhood education let's give them a big round of applause and later this year pre-k for essay will open up the next two centers of educational excellence we will enroll in total 1,500 young four-year-olds and we will continue our march to ensure that we have the best prepared most well educated young people in all of the state of Texas one of the challenges that we have is on the city's east side fortunately San Antonio's east side is the only neighborhood in the United States with a promised neighborhood grant a choice neighborhood grant and now a promise zone designation the focus around east point is to create a cradle to college to career pipeline of opportunity and talent not only for the east side but for our entire community and already we're seeing incredible results on the east point neighborhood at each of the six schools student enrollment and student attendance is up chronic absenteeism is down thanks to the good work of Family Services Association and City Year and the four-year graduation rate at Sam Houston high school is now 84% when the application for the designation was made it was at 45 if I could see one thing come to pass by the time I leave office it would be this that the roles the list of graduates at our high schools and our colleges is much longer than it is today I've said many times that I feel very blessed in my own life like I'm sure you do that I was able to get a good public school education and then go to college and the law school and to come back to this city that I love and to reach my dreams and that's what I want for all of your sons and daughters and grandchildren it's important that we not only show them from afar how much we care but we show them at home and that those of us in public service also encourage them when I got elected mayor I said that I would visit every single middle school in our city and with the exception of two or three that got away I did that by the end of the 2014-2015 school year I will visit every single high school in our city to encourage our young people to reach for their dreams to stay in school and to go to college and become great entrepreneurs and success stories for the future and when our students graduate from high school we need to ensure that their talent is matched with opportunities in great 21st century industries over the last few years with the help of Judge Wolf and Mario Hernandez at our EDF we've transitioned enhanced our economic development model to pursue jobs in new tech industries including the new energy economy I'm very pleased that in 2014 the CPS Energy OCI solar partnership will produce the largest solar manufacturing facility in the entire United States of America with 805 jobs good paying jobs for San Antonians but we also need to look to the longer term just recently through SA 2020 we appointed a talent pipeline task force with involvement from our business community to determine how we can best ensure that the skills of our workforce meet the needs of our employers whether those employers are Toyota or Rackspace or Boeing or others we want to ensure that in San Antonio those companies have the manpower that they need with the skills that are right to grow here instead of somewhere else and we want to ensure that our young people understand what their options are so that they can pursue the job that is best for them and I know that that effort will be successful but it's not just about meeting the needs of our big companies we also understand that three quarters of the jobs that are created in San Antonio come from small businesses in fact especially businesses younger than five years last year during my state of the city address I talked about cafe commerce cafe commerce is a one-stop resource center on the first floor of our main library for any entrepreneur who has a dream of starting a business or growing one this June we will cut the ribbon on cafe commerce to make sure that San Antonio is a place for startups being competitive also means that our internet speed has to be fast and information must flow quickly that's why I'm pleased that San Antonio last week officially announced that it's in discussions with Google fiber mark my words San Antonio will become a Google fiber city the second part of what we're accomplishing the reason that San Antonio is rising is the fact that we're making San Antonio a more livable city that starts with ensuring that our urban core is vibrant this is the decade of downtown and I'm pleased that in 2014 you will see the physical turnaround of our downtown we're opening up eight housing developments in our urban core the total 486 units and breaking ground on 11 more that will total over 1200 new units because of the work of mayor Hardburger and county judge Wolf and Bruce bug and his colleagues this summer we will open up the tenor the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts so that San Antonio has a world-class home for its symphony in its arts organizations and just down the block a new Travis Park will rise as we give more attention to the green space in downtown and throughout our city 2014 will mark the year that we break ground on the first phase of the hemisphere redevelopment the play escape y'all know that old wooden playground in the middle of hemisphere the one that you're always afraid for your kid or grand kid to touch because you think they're gonna get splinters we're gonna have a new one and it's gonna mark the beginning of a great renaissance at hemisphere that will be a world-class park for San Antonio right in our backyard we're also pleased that four letters that mean San Antonio will rise up above the skyline on a black tinted window building u.s.a.a. is moving 150 employees to downtown San Antonio and we hope that's just the first of many in years past I've talked about something that people have been waiting for for a long time in our urban core something that seems so elusive it just seemed like it would never happen but in 2014 we will break ground on a downtown grocery store at last finally for the residents of our urban core we also have to ensure that we get the basics of good government right I'm pleased that today our utilities cps energy and saws are working together like they never have before the last few years Texas has experienced the second worst drought in its recorded history we have seen the necessity of being innovative being collaborative being resourceful when it comes to water a couple of years ago I had the opportunity along with a delegation of San Antonio business leaders to visit Israel and I was very impressed with how resourceful that nation has been in terms of desalination and I'm pleased that in the coming years cps and saws will work to create the first desal power plant co-location facility in the United States a few years ago this community had the foresight to create the aquifer storage and recovery facility the asr has been a godsend in fact just this past year it helped us avoid stage 3 drought restrictions to his credit Robert went the commission to study to see what the capacity truly is of that storage facility so far we've been storing almost 108,000 acre feet of water in the asr I'm pleased that now we will we will save and store 200,000 acre feet in that asr helping to meet the needs of San Antonio in drought at the same time we have to ensure that our goal when it comes to water is not just to keep up but to get ahead to ensure that when it comes to the business community in town and out of town there is never a question about whether San Antonio has enough water no matter the severity of the drought and that's why as I remarked before we will ensure that we keep our freshwater open freshwater options open as well so that we have the opportunity to take advantage of that option at City Hall we used to joke that we were the only major city with a triple a bond rating for from each of the major rating agencies and really that wasn't a joke that was true although I doubt that some of my fellow mayors across the country like to hear that as of December the fact is that we are the only major American city with a triple a bond rating by any major rating agency I want to thank the city manager and her staff for the great work that they have done will continue to be fiscally responsible that means that it was as we go into the budget process this fall we will continue to make the tough choices necessary to tighten our belt much has been written and spoken about the issue of legacy costs I'm appreciative of the work that former councilman Reed Williams and his task force did to look at this issue our firefighters and police officers are the best in the nation they deserve excellent benefits it is inaccurate to compare San Antonio to Detroit we are not Detroit our pension system is in good health and we have managed our resources well at the same time it's also clear that the costs of health care are growing faster than other costs I have told the unions that I hope that together at the negotiating table we can find ways to put reasonable cost controls on health care and other costs in our public safety budget the goal is not just to keep our public safety static but to grow the number of officers and firefighters on duty in the future and I believe that we can do it and finally our city continues to improve its basic health when we went through essay 2020 the issue that folks got most passionate about the one they were willing to commit themselves the most to was the issue of health and wellness here in San Antonio that's a passion that has been earned the hard way I grew up with a grandmother who for as long as I lived with her had diabetes and toward the end of her life she had one of her legs amputated and I bet if we went around the room we would hear that story over and over again we've done a lot over the last few years to help ensure that people have the opportunity to get more active and to watch what they eat I'm especially proud of the mayor's fitness council and I'd like to ask them to stand if they're here in attendance we've seen the adult obesity rate go down from 35% to 28% for the first time in a long time underneath the statewide average and this year in 2014 the mayor's fitness council is hosting fit city essay comms million-pound challenge with support from the YMCA and from HEB the goal is for San Antonio residents to collectively lose one million pounds so put the cheesecake aside put the chocolate cake aside drink some water instead of some soda I pledge today to do my part to help this city be more active and I challenge you to help San Antonio be a healthier community as well when we talk about creating a greater city we know that these things won't come easily they won't happen quickly but they can happen if we continue to do what we have always done so well as San Antonians to put aside what part of town we come from or our ideology and to work together towards solutions to get involved I hope in this year 2014 that you'll visit essay 2020.org that you'll volunteer your time through big brothers big sisters or another organization to mentor a child or to clean up graffiti that you'll resolve to make your neighborhood safer by joining cell you on patrol or your neighborhood association that you will help us reach our 2020 goal of creating a more prosperous and livable San Antonio that's a vision that's going to take all of us that's something that Estrella Hernández knows very well at the age of 13 Estrella saw the movie supersize me and she decided to do something in her own community to improve public health Estrella wanted to turn physical activity into something that was fun and enjoyable for her neighbors so she created an app called we walk she garnered $12,000 in support from the 80-20 foundation and others to develop a beta version which he had plans to unveil at Seaclovia in March the first Seaclovia on the south side of town Estrella sites are set on raising $200,000 to finish developing her app and she has the support of the mayor's fitness council to do so and Estrella and her mother are here today and I'd like for us to express our appreciation of them so as we go through the year 2014 let's do what we do best dream together work together succeed together show that we can roll our sleeves up and get something done in this community for the entire community San Antonio is growing it's prospering it is rising let each of us seize the opportunity to make this city we love greater for ourselves for our children and for all the generations to come I know that we can do it thank you hello my name is Elvai Adams and I work for Wells Fargo Bank as a senior business relationship banker and also a president of Alamo Asian American Chamber of Commerce and mayor thank you so much for your message today I mean every year we get together and this occasion and we always bring a great message from you and then who is not excited to go home lose some weight come on right anyway I know each chambers my colleagues and we are looking forward to work with you and your staffs and continue like you say to work hard to dream big and make our city success in the nation so as appreciation we have a small we have created a small piece of art as a token of appreciation for you and it is a symbol that represent your bold leadership and a long lasting policies that have led our community to truly become a city on the rise so if I can I have all the chamber leaders come down the stage for the pictures so on the last note I want to take this opportunity to thank all the leaders who are here today and all our corporate sponsors as well as all the individual attendee and thank you so much for joining us today and we look forward to see you next year thank you