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Good evening Council President Pfeifer, Councilmembers, City Clerk Voorde, City staff and Department Heads, South Bend residents and taxpayers. I am honored to present this 2005 State of the City address which will highlight accomplishments of 2004 and propose actions for the coxning year. Though this address will focus on our community, I feel that it is important to reflect on the unthinkable disasters and tragedies which have gripped this world in recent months. Please join me in a moment of silence to remember the victims of genocide in Darfur, Sudan; victims of earthquakes and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, victims of mudslides in California; and victims of war and terrorism around the globe. Let us be grateful for the relief and rescue workers who acre struggling to bring them aid and comfort. Let us also remember our young men and women in the Armed Forces who are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially those who have lost their lives or have been wounded. Thank you. In the face of catastrophe, the human spirit endures. It is resilient and strong and creative. It is persistent and positive. It is tenacious. It is the mark of a champion. That spirit exists here in South Bend. Though our challenges have paled by comparison to world events, we are a City of Champions. We have the spirit, the energy, the enthusiasm to respond to adversity and to create a world class city. Muhammad Ali said that "Champions aren't made in the gyres. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision." We are building that vision here in South Bend. We are a Championship City. How do you spell C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N7 Young David Tidmarsh knows. He won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last year by correctly spelling "autochthonous" (and hundreds of other words). He has been a great ambassador for South Bend and the South Bend School Corporation. He shows what talent, determination, hard work and vision can do. So too, the East Side Junior Girls Softball Team. -World Champs! They knew the value of good coaching, teamwork, friendship, practice and single-minded focus on a goal. Their coaches had promised to da cartwheels if the team was successful. Their form is a little suspect, but the spirit is good. On the west side of town, a team ofyoung girls from the Martin Luther King Center competed in A-13