Since being elected, 5 new parks have been added to our parks system, which now provides nearly 400 acres of recreation and sports use space, serving over 12,800 children in youth sports. I was also proud to vote to make city parks in Corona tobacco-free areas.

By working with so many fantastic groups in the community, Corona was selected in October of 2011 as one of the "100 Best Communities for Children" as determined by America's Promise Alliance. Knowing that so many programs and facilities are enjoyed by members throughout our region, this makes the recognition of our commitment to all of our children that much more meaningful.

Since being elected, the Corona traffic management system (TMS; Phases I and II) has been completed, and is a model for local roadway traffic management. This system includes traffic advisory marquees, traffic condition monitoring and automated signaling technologies, and several intersection and roadway upgrades, and significantly enhances and improves traffic management for many of our shared major routes throughout the region.

As a member of the City Council, I also worked to deliver one of the first and highly important multi-modal transportation centers in Riverside County. The North Main Station brings together Metrolink (rail), RTA (regional bus lines), Corona Cruiser (local bus lines), and Park and Ride/Carpool parking facilities at a central location.

As mayor I have introduced the "Mayor's Business Breakfast Series" which monthly brings small groups of diverse industry leaders for updates on city activities and learn ways to support the goals of our business community. This has helped preserve local jobs while generating new synergy and opportunity as business leaders find new ways to create joint ventures.

I have led the effort to change and update local business zones to allow businesses to add new services and operations. This has included our first-ever factory tour facility at the Fender Guitar facilities which opened in the fall of 2011.

At a time when new businesses need fewer hurdles and more time and resources to develop, I worked to help reduce the business licensing regulations so that our newest entrepreneurs could focus on creating their companies.

These efforts have directly led to a focus upon business development, jobs growth and restoring efforts to develop our workforce. The following are key results we are already seeing in Corona, and in turn our region:

• For the first time since the 2005-06 Fiscal Year, Corona has reported four consecutive quarters of increased sales tax revenues, an excellent indicator of renewed and sustained business growth throughout 2011. (Inland Empire Economic Quarterly Report, Fall 2011)


• The three (3) largest growth sectors have been: Retail (Service Stations) up 30%; Business Service & Repair, up 32%; and Manufacturing (equipment sales) up 42%. (HdL Companies, December 2011)


• According to Beacon Economics, the City of Corona added 1,800 new jobs in 2011. This growth brought Corona's unemployment rate from 10.9 to 9.4% by the end of 2011. (California Employment Development Department December, 2011)