Good evening. Thank you all for coming tonight. This is the second time I’ve had the privilege of presenting to you the State of the East County address. Last year, we celebrated an Economic Prosperity Week, this year it’s Economic Prosperity Month! East County is on the move and on the map — not to be left off ever again! As I stated last year, with the leadership of the East County EDC and all of the East County Chambers, we are spearheading an economic revolution in East County. And, the revolution continues.

CELESTE AND SABETY

One of challenges of the year was the Celeste and Sabety report with recommendations for a seamless delivery system for Economic Development in the San Diego region, with San Diego EDC in charge! This Ohio-based firm made this decision after polling only three East County businesses! Through the efforts of Deanna Weeks, Jim Dorman, Gordon Austin, Mike Sidrow, Harriet Stockwell, Erik Bruvold, Gary Clausen, Dana Quittner, Rick Alexander, our local legislators and the East County Chambers; the Celeste and Sabety report was appropriately placed in the circular file, the San Diego EDC Board of Directors recently appointed Julie Meier Wright, Secretary of the State’s Trade and Commerce Agency, as the new president and CEO of the San Diego EDC, and the first Regional Economic Summit was held Wednesday to share information on Economic Development in the region.

A new era of cooperation has begun! And, for the first time East County and the East County EDC are players on the region’s economic front -- a credible force to be reckoned with in the region.

SPAWAR

SPAWAR is the Space And Naval Warfare Systems Command, responsible for linking Navy air, land, and sea communications. We’re making an effort to attract the estimated 800 SPAWAR personnel and their families who will be moving from Virginia this year to East County. SPAWAR has an annual budget of $3 billion -- one third of which will be contracted -- and it’s not going to all the big companies, 27% -- that’s $270 million -- will likely go to small businesses, leaving open plenty of opportunity for East County.

PROJECT NAVY AND MARINES

Many thanks to Congressman Hunter, Project Navy Chairman John Linehan and the other Committee members who deserve a great deal of credit for their efforts to attract Navy and Marine personnel to East County.

If we include the trip to Oakland in which Mayor Shoemaker and I had a chance to participate, the luncheon at the Singing Hills Country Club for the El Toro Marine personnel, last week’s East County bus tour for military personnel, and the recent trip to visit sailors aboard the USS John Stennis; Project Navy and Marines has reached out to over 1700 military personnel and their families who will soon be transferred to San Diego County. The message is -- East County welcomes you -- the Navy, the Marines, and your families — and we want you in East County!

LAKESIDE REVITALIZATION

A unique kind of partnership began last year in Lakeside between every business and civic organization, the Sheriff’s Department, and virtually every County department. As a result, projects were identified and priorities were established. And, the County is investing more than $40 million for infrastructure improvements -- road projects, new curbs, gutters, sidewalks, bikeways, drainage improvements, a COPPS storefront, and more.

UPPER SAN DIEGO RIVER IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Also on the forefront in Lakeside is the Upper San Diego River Improvement Project -- a redevelopment area formed in 1989. With a shortage of manufacturing and industrial space in East County,

this year will be a make or break year for this project which includes 240 industrial acres --so stand by!

CUYAMACA WEST BUSINESS PARK

At Gillespie Field we have completed Phase I of Cuyamaca West Business Park -- with more than 300 jobs in businesses like Taylor Guitars, Vowels Foods, and US Elevator Corporation, to name just few. Phase II will be twice the size and is expected to bring more than 400 jobs to the area.

SAN DIEGO EAST VISITORS BUREAU

Thanks to Chuck Hansen, Dal Watkins, and others, the San Diego East Visitors Bureau is off to a roaring start to attract tourists to East County — to our championship golf courses and resorts to the natural wonders of our mountains and deserts.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES: AERO PLAZA

Of course we’ll continue to watch closely new opportunities at Gillespie Field, such as the proposed Aero Plaza, which is bordered by Prospect Avenue, Cuyamaca Street, and Weld Boulevard. It’s a 46 acre future commercial location with the potential for a hotel and conference center, office and restaurant space.

We are building the buildings!

We will attract the businesses!

But the question is: "Will we have skilled, qualified people to fill the jobs?"

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: THE GAP BETWEEN SCHOOL AND WORK

A huge gap exists today -- ready to be bridged! The gap is the lack of skilled workers to fill the job slots. Yes, we have job opportunities with no workers -- good jobs, too. Yet, thousands of students each year are struggling to find jobs -- good paying, rewarding jobs!

On the other hand, East County businesses are crying out for a skilled workforce to handle their labor needs. Jobs just waiting to be filled but, unfortunately, many of our high school students do not have the technical expertise to fill them. Instead, industries such as the auto industry, tool and die making operations, and machine industries are importing foreign labor to fill their needs -- 25,000 foreign workers enter the United States annually just to fill job openings in manufacturing! And most of these are GOOD PAYING JOBS!

For example, tool and die makers earn between $40,000 and $60,000 per year! Journeyman machinists make between $30,000 and $80,000 per year! And certified auto mechanics can earn between $60,000 and $100,000 per year! That’s not chump change!

Jobs are waiting for our students that pay $30,000 to $100,000 per year -- so what’s wrong? How do we bridge the gap between school and work, between student and employer?

JACOB BAGNELL AND KEN KOVZELOVE: "BRIDGING THE GAP"

Let’s look at how a few people are bridging the gap --

Take Jacob Bagnell, the automotive shop teacher at Santana High School. He has two Master's degrees and is very passionate about giving the students the opportunity to learn a trade that will allow them to obtain a good paying job after high school. He is more thanjust a teacher, Jacob is a mentor. Jacob works one on one, student by student to teach and change the image that people have of auto mechanics. Today's automotive technology requires students to know technical information, to use computers and highly technical equipment. In addition, they need a strong foundation in the basics — the four "R"’s — Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmatic, and Responsibility!

One of Jacob’s students is Ben Renard, who knew he liked to work with his hands, but didn’t know the first thing about cars before Jacob Bagnell’s class. Last night he celebrated his Grad Night from Santana, and next year he’ll go on to San Diego State University to earn a degree in Automotive Engineering with several scholarships under his belt, the Corvette Challenge award from General Motors, and a job! A good paying job!

Congratulations, Ben and thank-you to Jacob Bagnell for your 25 years of dedication to teaching the science and art of Automotive Engineering and for your strong interest in teaching young people an employable skill. (RECOGNIZE JACOB AND BEN)

Let me share with you another special person -- Ken Kovzelove who often says he would be in jail today were it not for the interest he developed in machines. He only found out about his proficiency after landing himself in quite a bit of hot water as a youth. A judge told him — "Jail or the Military". He chose the military and learned about machines. Today, he teaches machine skills at San Diego City College. Ken teaches our young people the science and art of tool and die making — an industry that produces hammers, lathes, medical probes, golf clubs, and bicycles, just to name a few. Thank you, Ken. (RECOGNIZE KEN)

Jacob Bagnell and Ken Kovzelove are bridge builders - they provide the linkage between school and work - from student to employer. They provide the tools for the student toenable them to be job ready. But teachers like Jacob and Ken are becoming a rare and endangered species.

Although the demand is high for the skills they teach, our high schools are cutting out industrial arts programs -- cutting the very programs that could be preparing our students to meet our workforce needs. For example, the number of industrial arts programs at Santana High School has decreased dramatically in the last 7 years — from 11 in 1990, to just 4 today!

In addition, apprenticeship programs have all but disappeared in the automotive and machinist fields. San Diego City College closed its machinist apprenticeship program in 1990, and that was the last of its kind in the San Diego area. There have been no new machinist apprentice programs in this County in the last 7 years. Dynabil Industries of El Cajon, a sheet metal manufacturer, has spent more than $10,000 since January on employment advertisements because they can’t find the right people to fill the jobs!

It’s ironic that in our high schools, generally speaking, there is a lack of attention to the vast majority of students who will not attend or complete college — that’s 75% of high school graduates! As a former teacher and school board member, I firmly believe that we cannot simply continue to educate for education’s sake — not when companies like Deering Banjo of Lemon Grove say that if they could find conventional machine tool operators, they would gladly put them to work — at least one new employee per month --people with basic machine tool skills in both metals and wood work!

We cannot continue to educate for education’s sake when there exists the enthusiastic support of industries such as Aeromach, Inc., Branter and Associates/SEA CON, and ARC Technologies who are willing to conduct training and apprenticeship programs in their shops — with the most advanced technology and equipment. How many othercompanies are willing to do the same?

It’s time for our schools to focus more on the needs of the 75% of our students. It’s time for us to lend a helping hand. It is imperative if we are to create a strong economy based on manufacturing that we as elected officials join with businesses to identify the needs and assist our high schools and colleges to gear up to train a workforce that is employer driven.

In the upcoming budget deliberations, I will be looking for dollars to enable the East County Economic Development Council to conduct a needs assessment of East County businesses to see what kinds of skilled workers are needed. Then the ECEDC will act as a facilitator to bridge this gap between the potential workforce and East County employers, between student and employer.

This will provide our schools the opportunity to beef up their curriculum to better meet the needs of the 75% of our students -- to bridge the gap between school and work.

As in the past, the challenges ahead are many. But, as in the past, I have no doubt that we will work together to face this challenge head-on — the economic future of East County depends on it — our students depend on us!

Thank you very much.