\n\tGarden Grove held its annual State of the City luncheon Jan. 21 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and deemed it "a splendid success," according to Chamber of Commerce President\/CEO David Ahern. "We had 300 participants and 17 major sponsors."<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\tGarden Grove held its annual State of the City luncheon Jan. 21 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and deemed it "a splendid success," according to Chamber of Commerce President\/CEO David Ahern. "We had 300 participants and 17 major sponsors."<\/p>\n
\n\tMayor Bruce Broadwater began his State of the City address by sharing some Garden Grove history, saying he always looks forward to talking about his favorite subject: Garden Grove.\u2028"Having owned a business in Garden Grove, I know how important the state of our city is to everyone who has a personal or professional investment in our community," said Broadwater.\u2028"Only since 1956 has there been a 'City of Garden Grove," Broadwater said. "Before that, residents didn’t see a need for local government, but as the town grew, so did the need to improve things like street lighting; water and sewage systems; and police and fire services for the community."\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter many years, the people of the town agreed that incorporation was the answer and today, Garden Grove is the fifth largest city in Orange County.\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tBroadwater noted that Garden Grove efficiently provides its own sanitation, water, police and fire services for more than 172,000 residents and has an important stake in Southern California’s most successful tourist center, along with providing responsible leadership to keep residents safe.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe city also provides and maintains infrastructure; administers public funds for the benefit of the community and ensures the economic health and quality-of-life for all of its residents, now and in the future, Broadwater said.\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\t"As you’ll see, Garden Grove does all of this, better than any other city; imagine, how much our lives would be impacted by not having a local government — emergency calls for assistance would go unanswered — streets would be filled with trash and debris and our beautiful parks would become places for vagrants and criminals," he said. "Not only would the quality-of-life suffer, but also, the economic future of Garden Grove would suffer."\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tThat was especially clear last year when Garden Grove had to fight Sacramento to preserve its crucial redevelopment projects.<\/p>\n
\n\t"Without the city defending our interests, more than $15 million in future annual tax revenue would have been in jeopardy; so, our efforts kept Garden Grove in a stronger financial position for current and future new business investors," Broadwater said.\u2028"How do we know that? One way is by continuing to attract new businesses to our city, which we successfully accomplished in 2013; while newcomers give us assurance, our established, high-producing businesses give us confidence," he said, noting that new car sales, specifically the Garden Grove Auto Mall, gave Garden Grove plenty to feel good about last year.<\/p>\n
\n\t"All dealerships continued solid upward trends, as evidenced by a major remodel of the Simpson Chevrolet dealership and Garden Grove’s efforts to support existing businesses and attract new businesses helped sales tax figures reach pre-recession levels in 2013, which is another indication of an upward course in our local economy."\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tDevelopments along Harbor Boulevard went from competing with Garden Grove's Disneyland neighbors, to combining their strengths last year, when the city announced re\u2011naming and re-branding of the Harbor Corridor as: The Grove District – Anaheim Resort.<\/p>\n
\n\t"This strategic move places our city in a very good position to bring the Disney Resort experience right into Garden Grove, with the Anaheim\/Garden Grove dividing line being diminished as new landscaping, street furniture, and street monuments begin to echo the Disney resort experience," said Broadwater.\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tThe strategy appears to be working, as the Grove District hotels were once again at full capacity last year, "Thanks in part to the strong performance of the Disney Parks and Anaheim Convention Center," Broadwater said.\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tIn January of 1995, when Broadwater had only been mayor for one month, the city manager called a meeting to explain why Garden Grove was slowly going broke — expenditures were higher than revenues.\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tThose attending the meeting concluded that the two major city assets were the Garden Grove Freeway and Garden Grove's close proximity to Disneyland. They set about deciding how they could make those assets work for the city.<\/p>\n
\n\tBroadwater said that at that time, there were four automobile dealerships along the freeway, which were lucrative because of the sales tax they produced, so they increased those dealerships by two.<\/p>\n
\n\t"Back then, we were receiving approximately $900,000 in hotel bed tax and so I thought by building more hotels, we could significantly increase the amount of hotel bed tax, and so we began with two more hotels along Harbor Boulevard, where we now have nine hotels and more in the works," he said. "We made it happen because we’ve had strong City Councils and a fantastic city staff."\u2028<\/p>\n
\n\tLast year, the city took in nearly $15 million in hotel bed tax, which is projected to go up to $25 million before the hotel projects are finished, and even though they've had to adhere to Sacramento’s strict requirements, which caused delays in the projects, the city and City Council have pressed forward.<\/p>\n
\n\tOther projects include:<\/p>\n
\n\t— Great Wolf Waterpark Hotel. The 11-acre, indoor water park resort is expected to break ground this spring<\/p>\n
\n\t— Brookhurst Triangle, the city’s largest proposed commercial and residential development, is expected to break ground this year. It's a 14-acre, mixed-use project that will begin with the first phase of housing construction. When completed, the project will have 600 housing units, open landscaped areas, an urban trail, and up to 80,000 square-feet of commercial space<\/p>\n
\n\tAlong Harbor Boulevard, the city has been heavily involved and produced successful results. However, the Garden Grove Galleria remains at a stand-still and the city is concerned about the outcome and is working for negotiations to get the private project completed<\/p>\n
\n\t— There is anticipation of an end-of-year groundbreaking at the Site C project, which is moving from an agency, to a city-funded project, Site C project, near Target, is continuing to move forward as an upscale hotel development and is expected to create up to 1,000 new jobs<\/p>\n
\n\t— Also moving forward, and possibly doubling its proposed 250-room capacity, is the B2 hotel project near the Sheraton Hotel<\/p>\n
\n\t— Other projects put on hold because of the economy, such as the Embassy Suites expansion, and a new Civic Center Fire Station on Euclid, will show some welcome progress this year.<\/p>\n
\n\t"It’s clear that without local government, a city’s economic health would severely decline, andthe same can be said about its quality of life," Broadwater said.<\/p>\n
\n\tProjects announced during last year's State of the City luncheon that have come to fruition include:<\/p>\n
\n\t— Wal-Mart's full-service store is now located at the former Costco site at Chapman and Gilbert opening in May<\/p>\n
\n\t— Twin Lakes Park has gotten $25 million worth of upgrades, funded by the County of Orange. The money will be unveiled in February, for a more efficient flood protection basin, the community will enjoy new athletic fields, trails, shelters, parking, and other recreational amenities<\/p>\n
\n\t— Garden Grove’s iconic Gem Theatre is fully refurbished after a devastating fire caused its closure.<\/p>\n
\n\t— Garden Grove has began honoring its students and graduates, knowing that college graduates are the future leaders of the city<\/p>\n
\n\t— While not a city project, the school district has moved forward on the county’s largest modernization project, involving 65 schools.<\/p>\n
\n\t"Garden Grove flourishes because our community believes in their city and it's what we mean when we say, 'We are Garden Grove,' and if the past 58 years are an example of what Garden Grove is all about, then I'd say we seem to be on the right track."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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