Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Dillabough from the University of San Diego gives the invocation.
The United States Navy Color Guard presents the colors in anticipation of the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem.
The talented Kippy Marks performs a beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner on his 189-year-old Stradivarius violin.
Near the end of the address Chairman Roberts and San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy shake hands, marking a new spirit of cooperation between the County and the City.
Before the address, Chairman Roberts poses with Hall of Champions founder Bob Breitbard and the bat Ted Williams used in during his 1941 record-breaking season.
Chairman Roberts delivers the State of the County Address. Seated from left to right are: Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard; Treasurer-Tax Collector Bart Hartman; Assessor/Recorder/Clerk Greg Smith; District Attorney Paul Pfingst; Sheriff Bill Kolender; Vice Chairman Greg Cox; Supervisor Dianne Jacob; Supervisor Pam Slater; and Supervisor Bill Horn.

Chairman Roberts delivered his remarks using an outline,
not a prepared speech. The following is a transcription of
Chairman Roberts’ address. The media release describing
the event can be viewed here.

Thank you Supervisor Cox.

He said I played a “little” baseball and that’s an over exaggeration. I want to clarify that. Some of you who are here who actually went to high school with me know that I am indeed not being modest.

I want to thank all of you for being here tonight in this wonderful facility. When I was a youngster growing up, if you were a truly great athlete in San Diego, it was acknowledged by your being awarded recognition as a Breitbard Athlete. I didn’t make it, I will share that with you. I have a brother-in-law who did and had many friends who did. I didn’t. It was for the cream of the crop here in San Diego.

Well, the founder of this wonderful facility is here, the founder of this Hall of Champions, a man who has done so much not just for sports but also for kids in San Diego. He’s my very good friend, Mr. Bob Breitbard. He is the only one I know who has more signed baseballs than I do.

You know, I’m reminded that Nancy Reagan once said “a woman is like a teabag -- only when you are in hot water that you realize how strong she really is.” And that to some extent describes my wife Helene. She is simply my best friend, my companion, my strength, my inspiration, she’s been with me for better and worse and through thick and through thin. She is the mother of our three daughters, but most importantly, she is the grandmother of our new grandson born last May. Let me introduce my wife, Helene.

I also want to introduce the newest member of the Roberts family, my grandson Nicholas Ryan Trimble and his mother, my oldest daughter, Christine Trimble and her husband Kent. I would like the three of them to stand. He (Nicholas) is going to be inducted into this hall someday, Bob.

My middle daughter Andrea, as some of you may know, is a doctor. She is an emergency room doctor and, unfortunately, she’s on duty at the UCLA medical center tonight.

To complete the family, my daughter Deborah, our youngest daughter, is a junior at USD. And for those parents here, you know I’m not that far away from my last tuition payment. She’ll graduate next year with a degree in education and follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a teacher. If you’ll stand Deborah.

For those of you who were here earlier this evening, you got to see a pretty marvelous film, a little walk down memory lane. I want to thank KGTV Channel 10, Local 8 News and the San Diego Historic Society. It was a wonderful film. Let’s give them a round of applause please.

Community Champions
You know as I stand here tonight, I can’t help think about not just the champions who are inducted in this hall, but some of our true community champions. These are people who do things in extraordinary ways to make San Diego a better place. And when I think of community champions the group that comes to mind first and foremost are those people who have worked to make this a better place for our kids.

There is a group of four of them who have been especially close to me and I want to begin by introducing them to you, and more importantly, introducing their programs to you. All of them are focused on sports. They use sports as a hook to get kids off the streets, to get kids involved and to help kids into a better life. I’m going to ask each of them to stand and when I am done we’ll give them one large round of applause.

First on that list is somebody who is a magnificent athlete in his own right, but has made it his life’s work to see that the Pro Kids Golf Academy, at 52nd and University Avenue, is one of the finest facilities of its kind in the nation. It’s a golf program, but it’s more than a golf program. It’s a golf program and a learning academy, and it is serving thousands of kids in a wonderful way. Ernie Wright please stand.

There is another program that’s over in the Ocean Beach area. It’s called the Barnes Tennis Center, and it has become a model in this nation for what you can do using tennis to help to get kids off the streets. And it doesn’t just serve kids in that area. They have an extensive program that helps kids throughout San Diego County, and gets them into tennis, and gets them going in a positive direction. And I’m going to ask, Kathy Willette, representing the Barnes Tennis Center, to stand.

We have another program that is very successful in San Diego and it’s called Inner City Games. The national Chair of Inner City Games is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I know you’re thinking we look a lot alike. We are very fortunate with Inner City Games, which provides after school programs throughout the year and during the summer. It does wonderful things for kids all over San Diego County. The director of that program is a good friend of mine, Joe Biggers.

Several years ago as our Sheriff and the Chief of Police can tell you, we had two competing programs here in San Diego. We had a police athletic league and we had something called Star – one was sponsored by the police and one was sponsored by the Sheriff, and they were trying to serve kids all over but they were doing it as two separate groups. A few years ago we brought them together into one group and today they are serving far more kids than they have served with wonderful after school programs through out this community. They are helping some of the most disadvantaged kids in this whole county. I would like to ask my friend Chris Sichel, who represents Star-Pal, to stand.

Let me also acknowledge some very special community champions who answered the call of duty on September 11th and traveled some three thousand miles to lend a helping hand to their fellow Americans.

People like Emma Abutin, who serves as a county public health nurse. In September, she went to ground zero to treat and to comfort rescue workers in their time of need, Emma you represent everything that’s right in public service, and will you please stand.

And then there ‘s fire captain Ron Edrozo from fire station 4 downtown. He’s one of more than sixty regional firefighters who make up San Diego County’s Urban Search and Rescue Team. His team was dispatched to ground zero for nearly two weeks to lend a hand, to help in the search, and to support their colleagues. Ron could you please stand.

I want to thank both of you. You make us very proud!

You know, many people have said that September 11th changed everything. In fact it did change many things. It changed the way we view ourselves, the world around us and it changed the way we feel about our sense of security. All of this we know.

But some things don’t change, like this county’s commitment to you, the people of San Diego County. When the attacks of September 11th went down, instead of closing our doors, this county swung into action. It is in times of crisis, when government is needed most and it is especially in times of crisis when leadership is needed most.

And this Board of Supervisors knows something about leadership. Not too long ago as many of you remember, this Board assumed command of a county on the verge of financial disaster. With only $5 million in reserves, the debt piling up, and employee moral at a very low point, we had to ask ourselves a very important question. Do we want to make some minor changes, adjust some things, not go outside the box? We might have made things five or ten percent better and nobody would have blamed us. Or did we want to change the whole culture from top to bottom at the County of San Diego, to take some risks and try to transform this local government.

This Board of Supervisors chose the latter. This Board chose to take some risks and this Board chose to be bold!

We put in place private business practices and took a ship that was sailing way off course, headed for the rocks, and we turned it around and steered it back into safer waters.

Today, we have significant reserves, we have a high credit rating, we have long-term agreements with our labor unions, and we also have in place a very improved pension plan for all of our employees.

Simply put, we’ve wiped away the dust and cleaned off the rust in county government! For our work, the County of San Diego was just last week, named by Governing Magazine as one of the three best managed county governments in this country!

Now before I take all the credit for this I want to recognize some people. And I want to start first by recognizing those front line employees who day-in and day-out make the County a success story. These are the people who serve you in the libraries, the people who serve you in the Clerks office, the people who serve you in any of our facilities. It’s the public health nurses, it’s the people who day-in and day-out do their job. They are the mainstay of what drives this whole machine.

It is also one of the most incredible management teams that anybody is fortunate to have in any government, led by our CAO, Walt Ekard, with a truly great team.

And it is also this Board of Supervisors, which I am so pleased to be a part of.

You know, Governing Magazine recognized our strong financial position. But more importantly than their accolades is what being in this position has allowed us to do. I want to share a couple of things with you tonight; examples of what we’re doing that go beyond what county government was able to do in the past.

San Pasqual Academy
It’s things like the San Pasqual Academy, where we partnered with the private sector and created a special academy for foster kids. We opened this last September, and for the first time many of these youngsters have a place to call their own. We raised privately, with the leadership of Supervisor Cox, and a little bit of effort on my part, as well as a little help of many generous people throughout this community, in excess of $13 million to see this dream through.

Earlier, Supervisor Cox introduced some of the elected officials here tonight. I want to introduce the most important elected officials who happen to be with us here tonight, and that’s the student body leaders from the San Pasqual Academy led by their president, Kenitra McCorley. If they can please stand.

Supervisor Cox and I recently went to one of their basketball games. They’re getting their sports program started, and the night we went they actually won their first varsity game. So it was very exciting to see, and we are going to hear more about this program in the years to come. And you are going to hear more about the success of these kids in the years to come.

Critical Hours After School Program
Well it’s not just about the academy. It’s about other things like after school programs where the County had no legal obligation what so ever to be involved. In spite of that, this group of Supervisors felt there was a moral obligation to do something, to see if we can get our kids off the streets and get them into positive programs. And with the help of two people who have been partners with us in almost everything we do for kids, we were able to launch a very successful program. One of these people is Sandy McBrayer, who is now heading up the Children’s Initiative in San Diego, and was formerly a National Teacher of the Year. Sandy has been a partner and a community champion in every sense of the word. I also want to acknowledge a long time friend of mine, somebody who has been a friend for more years than I want to admit – probably approaching 30 years. In fact, I can share with you, it is more than 30 years because his son and my middle daughter who’s not here tonight, were babies in the hospital together when we first met. He was a practicing attorney and we have maintained a friendship for all of these years never imagining that each of us would end up in a place where we can help kids in a significant way. He has been a partner with this Board of Supervisors in every sense of the word. And that’s the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court, Jim Milliken.

Increased Library Hours
Well, it’s other things, too. It’s about library hours. In the past couple of years we have been able to increase library hours in San Diego County by 20 percent. But we haven’t stopped there. We’ve fully funded five new libraries as well.

Tobacco Settlement Funding
And it is acknowledging that healthcare is important and it is doing things like securing tobacco settlement dollars. I have a souvenir check in my office for $466 million that we were able to secure this year, which was an achievement in its own right but more importantly, this Board of Supervisors said every penny will go towards improving healthcare in San Diego County.

Multiple Species Conservation Program
You know, as I once heard someone say, “land is not something that you inherit from your parents but rather its something that you borrow from your children.” And this Board of Supervisors recognizes that through the Multi-Species Conservation Plan. We have now been able to acquire and set aside over 50,000 acres of precious open space. And if your wondering how big that is, it’s more area than are in the cities of Chula Vista and Escondido combined; a significant environmental achievement! I want to single out two supervisors, Supervisor Dianne Jacob and Supervisor Pam Slater, who have led this effort. And I will share with you, that future generations including my grandson who is now out of the room, my grandson Nicholas, are going to be very thankful for those efforts.

Air Quality
And future generations will also be thankful for cleaner air. This Board, along with the California Air Resources Board of which I serve, has been able to dramatically improve the quality of air in San Diego County. In fact, last year this county became the first urban area in California to obtain the federal ozone standard. This is one of the greatest environmental achievements in this community, ever!

State of the County
So what can I say as I stand before you tonight? I want to assure you that the State of he County of San Diego in 2002 is strong, it’s healthy and it’s dynamic!

Our region continues to prosper from Temecula to Tijuana. Despite a sagging national economy, our county’s economy has kept going and growing. There have been some lay-offs, but unemployment here is only about half of what you’ll find at the state and national levels.

And why is this? Well, we’ve become more diversified for one thing. No longer are we wholly dependent on the defense industry. Today there are many economic sectors driving this machine. Such as, the bio-techs, the high-techs, the communications, the agriculture, and tourism. All of these have helped shape a new economy that is driving us into this century.

There are many people who deserve credit for seeing this happen. But none more so than two people who are here with us tonight. One is Julie Meier Wright, who is the president and CEO of our Regional Economic Development Corporation. And another is the President and the CEO of our Regional Chamber of Commerce, and that is Jessie Knight. I jokingly refer to them as our Wright Knights!

But you know, as I look ahead there may be rough seas for us, as the State of California, with the largest surplus in history has managed to squander it and is now facing upwards of a $14 billion deficit. That’s billion dollars with a “b”.

In this county as in all other 57 counties across this state, we have good reason to worry because in the past the state has preyed upon local government coffers to balance their budgets, when they have a problem.

But make no mistake about it, this Board of Supervisors intends to fight those kinds of actions all the way to the mat. Fortunately, we have some people in Sacramento who understand and will be our allies. It’s people like Assemblymember Juan Vargas and Assemblymember Charlene Zettel and State Senator Dede Alpert, all of whom understand what local government is about and the tremendous problems that those shifts in dollars can cause. I want to acknowledge their willingness to help us out at the local level.

Despite this uncertainty there is one thing that is certain – this Board will not sit still in the year 2002.

This year I’ll be working with Supervisor Greg Cox to expand three regional parks in the South County -- Sweetwater, Otay, and Tijuana river valleys, and to develop stronger ties with our neighbors to the south in Mexico.

And I intend to work with Supervisor Jacob to replace the dilapidated Edgemoor Hospital, the place of last resort for many of San Diego’s less fortunate.

And I’ll work with Supervisor Slater to create her “Parkway Plan” that will improve traffic flow for thousands of North County commuters by making existing and planned surface streets work more efficiently.

And also with Supervisor Horn, on his bold plan to improve transportation in North County by road and by rail.

I’m also looking forward to working with my favorite Assessor/Recorder/Clerk, Mr. Greg Smith. Now some of you may know that Greg is our resident justice of the peace. Each year he presides over 9,000 weddings. In fact, next week on Valentine’s Day alone he and his staff will be responsible for over 150 weddings. But Greg, I want to give you a warning, you have gone too far now. Your suggestion that we change the name of the County Administration Building to the little chapel by the bay, is not going anywhere!

This Board has always worked well as a team and we will continue to do so in 2002.

We will also continue to work shoulder to shoulder with this region’s two top law enforcement officials – Sheriff Bill Kolender, and District Attorney Paul Pfingst.

Together, they make up the best one-two punch that any county could have. And what can you say about Sheriff Kolender? First of all he’s packing a gun, so I’m not going to say anything bad about him. I can only offer him the kindest compliments. But I will also share with you, Bill Kolender has helped transform our Sheriff’s Department and has made it something far better than it’s ever been. He has been involved in every aspect and one thing that I’m particularly proud of is his efforts to transform our crime lab into one of the best around. Sheriff Bill Kolender.

And as for our District Attorney, Paul Pfingst, he has a conviction rate of 92 percent. And that is simply the best of any district attorney in this state. He is a tough as nails prosecutor who gets the job done.

Goals

We do have a good team in place and I am honored as Chairman to be leading them in 2002, and I’d like to share some of the things that will be my personal goals this year and I hope those of this Board of Supervisors.

Waterfront Park
In 1908, John Nolen created a visionary plan for San Diego that featured a magnificent waterfront park in the area where the County Administration Building stands today.

Now John Nolen and that plan suggested that the park contain three things – a museum, an aquarium and a casino. Now I don’t think were going to have a museum or an aquarium, but the casino idea? I mean there would be no taxes! No, were not going to build casinos. You can bet that we’re not going to build a casino.

We are going to build a magnificent water front park that was first envisioned in 1908 by John Nolen. And we are going to preserve the area around the County Administration Building for future generations to enjoy, and it will be a legacy for this entire community. Last year with the help and leadership of Supervisor Cox, we began planning this park. This year, I’ll be asking my colleagues to approve the plan that will fully fund this effort and ensure that it will be there.

This park will be the centerpiece of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan, which will dramatically transform our downtown waterfront, from Seaport Village to Laurel Street. And this particular effort is a very unique collaboration between the County, the City, CCDC, the Port and the Navy. And here joining us tonight is a friend and a colleague, the new chairman of the Port District, Mr. Steve Cushman.

Regional Security Commission
Because of September 11th, we are faced with many new challenges as a county. With our nation fighting terrorism abroad, we must also provide for the security of our residents here at home. And let me share with you, there are four factors that cause San Diego to be considered more at risk that other cities. First, we have a border. Two, we have a port. Three, we have a large tourism base. And four, we have a very large military installation. All of these factors combined, could put us more at risk than some other places.

Fortunately, we also have one of the sharpest minds in the FBI heading up our counter-terrorism efforts. And that is none other than the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in San Diego, Mr. Bill Gore. Because of his good work and the work of his colleagues, San Diego County is more prepared than many other areas. And I’m not asking you to just take my word for this. CNN recently completed a report and they assessed how prepared each area of the country was. San Diego was listed as “well prepared” and it’s because of the efforts of people like Bill Gore.

Now with the creation of the federal Office of Homeland Security, there’s a strong likelihood that hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight terrorism will be brought to this county. Tonight, I want to propose that we create a Regional Security Commission whose responsibility will be to direct these very precious resources and ensure that our most important security needs are being met. I’m going to ask each of my colleagues on the Board to appoint one member to this important commission. And to chair the commission, tonight I am proud to announce my appointment of someone who has served his country with honor. He has received the Navy Cross, the Purple Heart, and he served with distinction as the Commanding General of Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, my friend, Retired Brigadier General, Mike Neil.

Life Safety Helicopter
And you know protecting our citizens isn’t just about fighting terrorism, it’s also about fighting fires and helping people in their hour of need, but not taking an hour to get there. I’m also working with Assemblymember Juan Vargas and Councilmember Byron Wear on a state-of-the-art life safety helicopter. We’ve dubbed it a “flying fire truck.” We’ve been able to secure a good part of the funding already. This year we’ll complete our efforts and we’ll get this off the ground and flying! I’m glad to have Byron Wear here with us tonight. Thanks for your work on this, Byron.

Healthcare
And as I mentioned earlier, this County has committed all of its tobacco settlement dollars to healthcare. Healthcare is simply one of the most important things on our agenda.

This year the county will move forward with four new initiatives involving healthcare.

Trauma
The first involves our trauma system. Clearly, the recent changes in healthcare have given rise to some long-range concerns over the trauma system’s viability. We must work with our hospitals to ensure that San Diegans continue to have quick and easy access to our trauma system. Next week, my colleagues and I will direct our Chief Administrative Officer to launch a full-scale audit of our trauma system and to report his findings at a special Board of Supervisors conference to take place later this year. We need to ensure that the trauma system remains simply one of the best in the nation.

And we’ve made great strides in other areas. One that I’m especially proud of is the work that’s been done with our neighbors across the border in Mexico, to improve cross-border emergency medical services. We are fortunate to have the Consul General of Mexico, Rodulfo Figueroa, as a partner in these efforts.

Nursing Shortage
Also, this year we will address a major crisis in healthcare and that’s the looming shortage of nurses in this county -- clearly one of our most critical healthcare issues. Currently, California ranks second to last in this entire nation in the number of nurses per capita. By the year 2006, there will be a shortfall of over 44,000 nurses in California that will be needed just to keep our hospitals operating.

We are either going to have to act now or face the consequences. Tonight, I am pleased to tell you that we are forming a collaborative effort to address this crisis. This year the County of San Diego will join forces with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego Healthcare Association to create a first-of-its-kind Nursing Academy for San Diego County. Joining me on this task will be Jessie Knight, the President & CEO of the Chamber, and Steve Escoboza, the President & CEO of the Healthcare Association. Both of them are here and I would like to acknowledge them. We intend to recruit, to train and to place highly-skilled nurses in hospitals throughout this region to ensure that our medical delivery system remains among the best.

Children’s Asthma
And this year we will also launch two new initiatives that focus directly on our children. We know from our Health and Well Being Report Card that we are doing a very good job in many areas. But we can and we must do more.

I’m going to propose tonight, that we build an alliance with child health providers, a truly public-private partnership that is committed to one thing – improving health care for all of our children in San Diego.

According to the Lung Association, Asthma is the leading serious chronic illness among our children. We must establish a goal of providing the best care for children with Asthma in San Diego County. And thanks to a grant by this Board of Supervisors, Children’s Hospital has already begun planning a pilot program that will ultimately be expanded to address many other critical issues for children’s health. But in the meantime we intend to focus on asthma, and to work to make San Diego the healthiest place for children in this country.

Child Obesity
This year we’ll also address something that there’s almost been a reluctance to talk about – child obesity. The number of seriously overweight children and adolescents has more than doubled over the last three decades.

Television, the Sony Play Station, video games, computers, they all have their benefits of course. But they have also helped to produce a growing population of children who have become inactive and out of shape. And, we know that an overweight child has a 70% chance of becoming an obese adult.

To address this mounting problem, the County this year will move forward with the creation of San Diego County Coalition on Children and Weight, a public-private partnership made up of medical professionals, community organizations, and most importantly, our schools.

And our goal will be very simple; to train providers and to promote healthy life styles for our children.

Regional Government
Today just happens to be Ronald Reagan’s 91st Birthday, and I’m reminded of what he once said. “It’s not my intention to do away with government he said, it is rather to make it work, to work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not our back.”

We need to keep this in mind as we continue the debate over establishing a regional government in San Diego County. Unfortunately, there are two essential missing pieces from the current discussions. The first is that any regional authority should only be invested in a body directly elected by the people. Secondly, any proposed regional authority should be approved, and be required to be approved, by a vote by the entire public in San Diego County. Tonight, I’m going to be asking my colleagues to support a County sponsored regional effort to prepare a proposal, working with other cities and with SANDAG to prepare a proposal for the November ballot. I say to you, let the people have the final say on this important issue!

Affordable Housing
Clearly, there are many problems in San Diego that require a regional approach, one of which is the shortage of housing in San Diego County. Housing that is, that most people can afford.

Let me direct your eyes to the screen, to an editorial cartoon by Steve Breen that illustrates this so much more clearly than any of us can.

With the County moving forward with its General Plan Update, we need a way to stimulate urban housing that is creative and innovative.

Tonight, I’d like to propose that we establish a New Urban Vision Award that would not only recognize creative urban housing, but would also provide a grant to those award winning projects, to the neighborhoods in which they are located to make those communities even better. It is my proposal to combine county resources with grant funding from the state and federal levels, as well as other municipalities and with non-profit foundations, to support these financial awards. We can help jumpstart the kind of housing that we need as a community.

E-bus
The County of San Diego has also been very much at the forefront of technology, beginning with the complete outsourcing of our computers, our phones, our mainframes – everything. The fact is, we’ve embraced technology, and because of it, the public is now able to access more and more services on-line, saving them time and helping to move us further in the direction of e-government.

Over the past two years, the County of San Diego, in partnership with the Futures Foundation has distributed more than 2,000 computers to our non-profit organizations and to the schools of this county.

Next month, we’ll be rolling out our newest effort, and this is the E-Bus. The E-Bus is basically a computer lab on wheels. It will travel to every community in San Diego, and it will help to drive our kids across the bridge of the digital divide.

Tonight is a very historic occasion and I want to acknowledge that, and I want to especially acknowledge the presence of somebody who has made this a very special night for me. September 11th has changed things. It causes us to think of things differently. We need to think more regionally, we need to work in ways that perhaps we haven’t in the past. Recently, you may have read something about the County willing to talk to the City of San Diego about the ballpark. Well, there’s more than talking to the City about the ballpark, it’s county government and city government talking about how we can be partners in providing a better future for the people of San Diego. I want to reintroduce a good friend of mine, somebody who I actually supported when he was a City Councilman. He’s now the Mayor of San Diego, Mayor Dick Murphy.

We certainly have a lot of work ahead of us, and I, and all of the members of this Board are looking forward to those challenges. Tonight, we’ve tried to acknowledge some of our community champions, and we touched on a few. These are people who without a doubt make things happen in San Diego.

And with that I’m reminded of a quote from a very distinguished 20th Century philosopher, Tommy Lasorda. Tommy put it so eloquently when he said, “There are three type of ballplayers – those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wondered what happened.”

Let me assure you, this Board of Supervisors will continue to make things happen!

God bless you and good night!