Attractive and Suffering

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” In her 12th and final state of the city address, Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler quoted Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities to describe Escondido. Five years ago, she "quietly and smugly" considered with pride that Escondido generated one of the highest sales-tax revenues per capita in the state. People "bought stuff"; nearly half of the city's budget came from sales-tax revenue.

"Today," she said, "we are on our fifth year of straight decline. Looking back, we didn't know the meaning of suffering — we do now." She mentioned that every city department has been affected by dropping revenues, and "it's a matter of holding on and waiting for the economy to recover.... You can help the recovery effort by spending your money in Escondido, rather than neighboring communities."

On the topic of bringing the Chargers to Escondido, she said the city "is available” and that the possibility has brought attention to the attractiveness of Escondido's assets, such as transportation, downtown, and the regional mall. The mayor said there are "tremendous opportunities" for Escondido to compete for high-tech business.

She closed her speech by saying, "The city...we provide the foundation, but the people provide the spirit. Get involved, touch your neighbor, touch your community, and opportunity is coming up real soon."