Commentary: Thank You, Newport Beach, for 11 great years

For nearly 11 years, it has been my great honor and privilege to serve on the Newport Beach City Council and, from 2010 and 2013, as mayor. As I leave office, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the residents of Newport Beach for the opportunity to serve our city.

Working together, we have achieved so much. The new OASIS Senior Center, Mariners library, Newport Coast Community Center and Santa Ana Heights fire station. We have added six new parks, including the spectacular Marina Park.

Yes, in spite of the short-sighted critics, we have developed an award-winning civic center and expanded our central library. More than 1.2 million people visit the new library annually, and tens of thousands enjoy the new civic center and outdoor art.

We have extended our Airport Settlement Agreement to maintain takeoff and landing curfews, and we have upheld our groundbreaking Group Home Ordinance, which has reduced the impact of group home concentration by more than 40% while allowing responsible operators to do business. We have revised our general plan, updated the city charter and achieved approval of our Local Coastal Implementation Plan.

Crime is at an all-time low, and we have made the Fourth of July substantially more family friendly by reducing the “war-zone” atmosphere on the peninsula.

We have upgraded our streets, synchronized our traffic signals, replaced aging sewers, dredged the upper and lower bays and improved our water quality.

Our city has the highest bond ratings of any city in California, our cash reserves reached an all-time record high of $130 million in 2013 and our assessed valuation has increased every year for the past decade. While we have reduced the city workforce by more than 100 positions, we have maintained our high quality of city services.

Our $8-million civic center debt service payment has been lower than our budget surplus for every year since the financing and is fully affordable. While our pension costs are rising due to the policies and investment performance of CalPERS, we have shifted $9 million of this cost to our employees and accelerated our paydown to reduce this liability.

With concerns about growth and development rising, it is important to note that at a time when the state population increased by more than 3 million, our city population has increased by only 909 residents in the past decade.

Our singularly best decision was to hire Dave Kiff as city manager. He has assembled a gifted management team, and I have enjoyed working with all of them on behalf of our residents.

During most of my time on the council, I was privileged to serve with an outstanding group of council members, including Ed Selich, Rush Hill, Mike Henn, Leslie Daigle, Steve Rosansky, Don Webb, Nancy Gardner and Tony Petros. They each brought specific talents and dedication to work for our residents, and they share fully in these accomplishments.

I wish the new and continuing council members all the best as they continue to address the issues before our city. On behalf of Pamela and myself, let me simply say thank you for the opportunity to serve our city, and happy holidays to all.

Keith Curry has been a Newport Beach council member from 2006 to 2016.