State of the City Address

[bic]

Mayor Buddy Dyer's

State of the City Address

January 24, 2004

Council Chambers

Thank you for that warm applause and introduction. City Commissioners, County Commissioners, distinguished guests and fellow citizens here and at home -- we are gathered this morning for you to hear my report on the state of our great city.

We come together after a year in which we faced as a community and a state unparelled threats as a result of Mother Nature. While we face millions of dollars in clean up costs, we were blessed by the fact that we did not have the loss of life that some of our sister cities in Florida had as a result of Charley, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne.

The storms caused all of us to reflect on what is important in our lives, in our communities and in our families. And our city came together with neighbor helping neighbor and our city employees worked tirelessly to get our city back to normal. With the worst of times upon us, the best in all of us here in Orlando came to light and I cannot tell you how proud I was to represent this community when interviewed by reporters from around the nation as we faced these weather disasters.

I wanted to start by simply saying thank you to all of you here today, listening or watching at home and to our city workers for seeing us through those difficult days.

I speak to you today as I did one year ago, with our nation at war and some of our own city employees on leave serving overseas.

Let me say thank you to those families from our city that have loved ones standing a post overseas in our armed forces so that we may meet in this hall today. Words cannot express the gratitude we owe your sons and daughters and especially those men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice this past year so that we may remain safe and secure here at home. They and their sacrifice should never be forgotten.

I would also like to take a moment to recognize some of our finest local heroes and the department they serve. This year, Fire Chief Bob Bowman and the dedicated men and women who serve the citizens of Orlando under his leadership will help the Orlando Fire Department celebrate 120 years of outstanding service. I know I speak for this entire community when I say how proud we are of the history of this fire department and the generations of fire fighters who have served us through 12 decades

[Hisma]

cool, now they have the whole thing transcribed... great read & makes u feel even more optimistic about the future.