Upon Being Sworn Into the Newport Beach City Council
A Speech by Leslie Daigle on December 11, 2006
Fellow Citizens - here in the City Council Chambers and those watching from home:
I am humbled and privileged to serve this great City. I am grateful for the confidence that you have shown in me, having served on the Planning Commission, having been appointed to the City Council, and now electing me to this office.
This past year, we celebrated our Centennial. We honored our first one hundred years and now we must look to the future. We enter into the next one hundred years with a comprehensive plan that reflects our heritage as a beach community; a plan that provides new approaches to managing traffic, improving water quality, and maintaining parks and other facilities in good order. This plan is a citizen driven and a citizen-approved plan. Voters during this election also demonstrated support for the General Plan Update. It is a time-honored plan that is not easily changed. The City Council will build credibility by carrying out this plan. I pledge to act in the furtherance of this plan and for the City to report our progress to residents.
The City is complex and we need partnerships within our City -- with neighborhoods, with community organizations, with our schools, with the business community, and with environmental organizations. There is an extensive infrastructure of organizations in our community.
We also need partnerships with other local and regional entities. Many of the services we provide to residents are integrated with outside entities. We rely on outside entities for our sanitation needs, our transportation funding needs - and the disposal of our solid waste goes outside the City. Just this morning, I was at an event where Sheriff Carona, CHP, and local cities were announcing the completion of the Enhanced 911 Network. Call volume will be redistributed to local dispatch centers. Another enhancement will be when your child makes a call to 911 there will be a pinpoint location to the call. This project took partnerships.
Our City sits as a crossroads. All of our pipes, our roads, our communication systems, and our watershed are connected to entities outside our borders. We must work together with others on management of the watershed, we must work together with others to manage traffic flow - for these issues do not solely concern us. We must look for mutual interests that can unite us with others. We need partnerships with the State and Federal governments to help keep our Bay clean, for the funding of our schools, and to minimize the noise and control the growth at John Wayne Airport. I commit to strengthen these partnerships at the local, state, and federal levels so that our community is healthy, safe, and prosperous.
During the election process, I walked our neighborhoods and villages. Many residents opened their doors to me. I found that you have such hope, such pride! You are so hard working and so committed. It is great to see! I've seen it living here, working here, being on the Commission and now on the Council. It is great to see the work ethic, the pride, the commitment.
As your elected representative, my door is open to you. I look forward to continuing the process of meeting you and getting your input. I want to thank everyone who was part of the election process, who ran in races, who walked neighborhoods and who held forums. Certainly I want to thank my supporters and everyone who participated in this process. There were a record number of candidates. With the General Plan, there were workshops, surveys and committees. There were great ideas and great passion. People who had not been involved became involved. This participation is to everyone's betterment.
In closing, I want to thank you for the privilege of representing you. I commit to work for the betterment of our families and children, our seniors, and the businesses of our community. Thank you.
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