Last Friday, with the beautiful Fremont Marriott hotel serving as the backdrop, I had the great privilege of delivering the annual State of the City Address at a luncheon hosted by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce.

Tickets had sold out in record time, so you can imagine how packed the room was. And as I looked around, it was thrilling to see so many of the individuals who have dedicated their lives to making our City what it is today – from Fremont’s Police Chief and Fire Chief to the Fremont Main Library staff to the Superintendent of Fremont Unified School District.

If you didn’t manage to make it to the event, you’ll be happy to know that I can summarize my entire speech in just four words, “Fremont’s future is bright.”

And here are a few points that show why:

  • 24/7 Wall St. ranked us the second best run city in America by over last year’s 5th place spot
  • Nerd Wallet named Fremont one of the best cities for job seekers
  • Fremont’s unemployment rate dropped from 5.9% to 4.8% in 2013 (Alameda County average is 6.7%; State Average is 7.9%)
  • Warm Springs/South Fremont is now officially branded as Fremont’s Innovation District
  • Fremont is emerging as Silicon Valley’s Job Center, which means students graduating from college can return to Fremont to live, work, and thrive in their hometown
  • Additional signs of growth appearing, such as examples of current companies expanding (LAM Research/Home Elegance), new companies arriving (EFI new corporate campus), and companies staying here that showcase our stellar retention-oriented economic development strategy (Thermo Fisher Scientific/Seagate Technologies/Delta Products)

During the Address, we were also very excited to unveil the new “Think Fremont” video, which perfectly captures our City’s innovative spirit and tenacious nature. You can view it on the City’s YouTube Channel.

And if you want to hear more about our City’s most recent achievements and what we have to look forward to in the future, we’ve posted the speech and slides on the City website for you to view. You can find it all at www.Fremont.gov/StateoftheCity. We also plan to post the webcast of the State of the City Address later this week.

Thanks to all who made this year’s State of the City such a grand affair. And a big thanks to all our City employees for joining us for the ride and for making all of these fantastic achievements possible.

Lastly, I’d advise you to grab your sunglasses because I said it once and I’ll say it again – Fremont’s future is bright.