1996 LOVERIDGE STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

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of Community Players--and everybody's favorite Scrooge. 8) Youth. Many initiatives took form including the Youth Strategic Plan, Positive Directions, RELAY, Riverside Academy, and Youth Council. However, UCR's Eastside Collaborative deserves special applause for offering educational and employment opportunities with the collaboration of UCR, Riverside Unified, RCC, and the City. Kudos to Chancellor Ray Orbach for inspiring, organizing, and committing resources of UCR to community programs on the other side of the 60/215 freeways. 9) Education. City Hall celebrated the achievements of UCR's championship basketball team, North's extraordinary football team with its 14 victories and CIF title, and Ramona's award winning band, Dynasty. La Sierra University's SIFE Team--Students in Free Enterprise--won the International Championship award. Eight UCR scientists were invited to become members of the prestigious American Academy of Scientists--no other UC campus had more than four faculty members selected. And UCR's CE-CERT emerged as an internationally recognized research center; this past week, for example, CE-CERT hosted the Wodd Car Conference in Riverside. Most importantly, for the frrst time we recognized that Riverside is a community of colleges and universities. A Task Force called attention especially to our 50,000 students. The Task Force recommended WOW, Weekend of Welcome. The start of this academic year was celebrated with a series of events in the downtown. The Orange Blossom Trolley shuttled students from UCR, RCC, CBC, and La Sierra. Kudos to Wendel Tucker and Eric McDermott for their excellent work as Co-Chairs of the Task Force. 10) Special Events. Many noteworthy things took place: an excellent Dickens Festival; the long awaited public works improvements on University Avenue; the well received visit of Mayor Fujii from our Sister City, Sendai; the exceptional work of Ricki McManuis and Keep Riverside Clean; the training of the Blue Print for Volunteer Diversity; and the emergence of the Mission Inn Run as a national, ESPN event. For me, the year's signature event was the ceremony and then the unveiling on July 4th of the Ismael Villegas statue, honoring Riverside's fust medal of honor recipient and dedicated to all the County's veterans. Kudos tO'the Villegas Statue Committee for their successful work. WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN These good things happened for many reasons. Let me briefly note four. First, City Hall works. The staff delivers fust rate services. Kudos to John Holmes and the 2,000 plus employees of the City of Riverside. Second, political civility is alive and well. Martin Marty in a recent column in LA 3