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The State of San Marcos

Ed. Note: The following is an abridged version of an address given by Mayor Desmond on February 29, 2008. The complete text can be viewed on the city website at: www.ci.san-marcos.ca.us

San Marcos has carved out a reputation for being the heart and mind of North County. It is my great honor to share some of the reasons why.

I think we’d all agree that San Marcos has made huge strides as a City over the last several years. Truly, the partnerships that are represented [in the audience] are the key ingredient to San Marcos’ success. Thank you – each and every one of you – for the role you’ve played in our community’s accomplishments.

It is certainly an exciting time in San Marcos. All that you see here just didn’t happen overnight. It is the result of years of thoughtful, focused work by this Council and its predecessors, and I would be remiss not to thank them for their hard work in building the foundation of this community.

I have often explained this by using the analogy of constructing a house. To build a house, you have to first prepare the land, lay the foundation and put the walls up. A strong foundation and solid walls have been built for our community; it is time for us to make this “house” a “home.”

The overreaching goal in everything we do is to bring the community together as a whole. If we are not united as a community, then this “house” we speak of – no matter how many finishing touches we put on – will never be the “home” that we’re striving for.

We’re working to bring people together through community-based task forces that help shape important projects like the San Marcos Downtown Creek District and University Village. We are also bringing the business community together by fostering a positive relationship with the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce and its members.

The formation of the Student and Neighborhood Relations Commission is another example of how the City is working to bridge relations between residents and our university population, a very important segment of our community.

Even our capital improvement projects like the opening of Twin Oaks Valley Road “Over the Hill” project work in concert to bring the community together. The opening of that road connected the residents of San Elijo Hills to the greater San Marcos community, bringing together all of us who call San Marcos home.

These community-building efforts influence every goal and objective that this City Council carries out. We want to ensure that San Marcos is a unified, healthy and cohesive community.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Not surprisingly, the City Council unanimously agrees that public safety is – and will continue to be – our highest possible priority.

As you know, we take a very proactive approach to our public safety efforts. For instance, the Sheriff’s Department places a strong emphasis on COPPS units – our Community-Oriented Policing units. This has really worked in our favor to keep our crime rate one of the lowest in the County. The San Diego Sheriff’s Department has served us well under the direction of Captain Don Crist, and we are confident that we will continue to see crime trends decrease in our community.

I want to take a moment to recognize a very important segment of our public safety effort – our Senior Volunteers. I’m very proud of the fact that San Marcos has the LARGEST Senior Volunteer group in San Diego County – growing from the original 18 volunteers to 67 members today. Since 1994, the Senior Volunteers have logged over 300,000 hours of service to the community.

Another important area of public safety is our fire department. This stellar team of men and women are a tremendous asset to our community, and we experienced their effectiveness first hand in October during the firestorm that hit San Marcos. Thanks to their quick action, there was no life or homes lost.

In 2007, the San Marcos Fire Department responded to 6,931 calls for service. Of that number, 70 percent were medical related, and our response time for those calls averaged an outstanding 4.8 minutes.

In addition to its regular engines and trucks, the department is employing new, innovative equipment like our “Gator” trail rescue vehicle, which is an all-terrain vehicle that can reach remote areas in our trail system to aid in search and rescue and medical evacuation.

Another innovative public safety program is CERT, which stands for Community Emergency Response Team. This program educates YOU – the residents – about helping your family, neighbors, businesses and communities get through the first few hours or days when a disaster strikes and emergency services are overwhelmed. This is yet another fine example of how our residents are coming together to create an even better community.

But our work is not done. To ensure that our public safety efforts are as successful as possible, we must remain diligent in this important area, and the Council and I have set several goals for the New Year.

A strong focus will be given to the use of technology for both law enforcement and fire protection. This includes the fire department’s participation in the North County Dispatch group that links all resources in the region together to synchronize and improve dispatch and response times.

Law enforcement will explore the option of employing security cameras at parks and other public locations susceptible to problems like graffiti and vandalism. San Marcos’ efforts towards gang suppression and graffiti abatement will remain a priority for the City and the sheriff’s department.

Fire Station No. 4 in San Elijo Hills will open next month. This state-of-the-art facility will further improve fire and emergency medical response times to southwestern San Marcos and the southern Heart of the City area. I’m also proud to announce that the building has been certified as a LEED building. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

Another goal in the area of public safety is to enhance the City’s code compliance tools and efforts to emphasize the protection of our neighborhoods while maintaining property values and respecting individual property rights.

All in all, this Council realizes the important role that public safety plays in the community and is committed to keeping San Marcos amongst the safest cities in San Diego County.

COMMUNITY GROWTH

Another area that has received great attention in our community is that of community growth.

The last few pieces of the development puzzle will be the “payoff.” In particular, as we bring the Downtown Creek District to life, you will see an identity emerge for San Marcos that hasn’t been evident before.

This plan was not thought up solely by staff; instead, the City formed a collaborative citizen’s task force made up of community members to help guide the formation of the Creek District. This task force came up with a better project than we could have envisioned on our own because of that collaborative process.

That process was an excellent example of community engagement at its best, and you will continue to see the City work in this manner as we move forward with the University Village project.

TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION

When I talk about development in San Marcos, I like to touch on traffic and transportation because inevitably that is one of the biggest concerns in our City.

As we address neighborhood traffic concerns, we are involving the Traffic Safety Commission early on in project developments; advocating regional traffic solutions with the San Diego Association of Governments; and looking at unique measures to help move traffic within our community.

QUALITY OF LIFE

I’d like to talk about what makes life in San Marcos unique – our “quality of life” services. Quality of life is reflected in the parks, open space, recreational and cultural opportunities that really create a community. We will open five new parks over the next five years.

Hollandia Park – near Mission Hills High School – will open this summer and includes an amphitheater, lighted sports fields, a dog park and adventure playground!

Sunset Park – at the end of Linda Vista Road – will open in early 2009. This 19-acre park includes disk golf, an amphitheater, water play feature for toddlers, lighted sports fields and picnic areas.

The 200-acre Double Peak Regional Park – near San Elijo Hills – will open this year with adventure playgrounds, observation areas, open space and trail connections.

A new linear park will also be constructed this Spring in the Richmar neighborhood. The recreational area will include a water play feature, multiple playgrounds, basketball courts, shaded picnic areas and a dog run.

Recreation services are an essential part of our community. The City realizes that participating in recreational programs delivers personal, social, economic and environmental benefits.

EDUCATION

Next, I would like to talk about our educational assets in San Marcos. Again, we can apply the analogy of building a house and making it a home.

Our reputation of being the educational heart of North County began more than six decades ago with the establishment of Palomar College. And in 1989, that reputation was strengthened when the Cal State University system selected San Marcos as home for its 20th campus.

The strong K-12 system provided by the San Marcos Unified School District has given a solid educational foundation to our children for decades.

I love making the comment that a person can go from Kindergarten through a Doctorate program here in San Marcos and never has to leave the City limits. That is pretty incredible!

Having such vast educational opportunities in San Marcos is a boon to our community and the entire North County region. It is my personal hope that these students – once they finish their education in San Marcos – will look to stay here, start businesses here and become active residents of our community.

To ensure we remain a positive environment for educational opportunities, several accomplishments have taken place, including the formation of the Student and Neighborhood Relations Commission and the Educational Forum held last September.

COMMUNICATION

Another Council goal is to increase communication and civic engagement with our residents. The Council and I recognize that in our information-driven society – YOU – our residents – increasingly want to know and be heard via many different communication mediums. This address, for instance, was carried live on San Marcos TV – our community access channel – and was streamed live on the Web as well. It will be available on-demand via the Web and will be re-aired several times on our TV channel.

Our objectives in the area of communication include developing a more educational, informative and interactive Web site; improving the look and content of our City newsletter – San Marcos 360°; and enhancing civic engagement with the public by doing things like cable and Web casting our City meetings. However, we are not going to stop at just informing residents … we want to take it one step further and ENGAGE our residents so that you have a voice in the decision-making process here at City Hall.

FISCAL STRENGTH

Last, I’d like to touch on the fiscal strength of San Marcos. There is a lot of talk in the media about the downturn of the housing market and the weakening economy, and San Marcos is certainly not immune to those conditions.

Our sales tax [revenue] is down about 5.5 percent this year. Although this tax [revenue] has fallen, San Marcos is still doing well. This is because the City did not live beyond its means when times were better. We’ve always taken a fiscally disciplined approach to our finances, and that will serve us well as we enter this weaker economic time.

Additionally, San Marcos has been creative and entrepreneurial in generating revenue through land and property leases. That, coupled with a lean, well-managed staff, will help us navigate ahead with cautious optimism.

San Marcos has experienced great growth and development over the last decade – growth we will not likely see again in our community. That growth was well thought out and laid a terrific foundation for our future. And ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you that the BEST IS YET TO COME! We are going to see the icing on the cake come forward in San Marcos with projects like the San Marcos Downtown Creek District and University Village.

San Marcos is going to become THE destination in San Diego North – second to none – for education, living, shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation. As we continue to shape this community, we will seek your continued partnership. I am confident that you will join the City Council and me in our efforts to make San Marcos the greatest city in San Diego County. SMM

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