The state of the city in Monterey: “It’s an exciting time to be part of this town.”

Toward the beginning of Clyde Roberson’s State of the City address at the Monterey Conference Center this morning, the Monterey mayor said he awoke at 4am today with a question in his mind: What’s different about the job of mayor compared to 40 years ago?

“The city has made so much wonderful progress,” said Roberson, who first served as mayor from 1983-1987. “There was no Window by the Bay, no rec trail, no Stanton Center.

“Cannery Row was desolate,” he went on, “and the Aquarium had just opened.”

Roberson also praised city manager Mike McCarthy, who was sitting to Roberson’s left, saying the city was lucky to have him.  

The mayor talked about the importance of military installations to the region’s economy, about obtaining a new water source and the success of the Neighborhood Improvement Program.

Roberson also divulged his love affair with Trader Joe’s—“That’s the first place I want to find out when I go somewhere: Where’s the Trader Joe’s?”—and swung for a few jokes. Among them (on the subject of parking): “I had to park a block away. We need to do something about that,” he said with a smile.

McCarthy followed Roberson’s address with one of his own, and he focused on the brass tacks.

“I want to start off by saying Monterey is doing very well,” McCarthy said. “It’s an exciting time to be part of this town.”

Among the things Mccarthy highlighted: the invigoration of downtown, the infrastructure improvements made possible by Measure P, the impending revitalization of North Fremont and regional collaboration on homeless issues.

The city’s budget is also in good shape, McCarthy said, with an anticipated $2.2 million surplus fed by increased sales tax and property tax revenues, as well as $550,000 reduction in anticipated city spending. Still, he preached a conservative approach to the windfall.

“We don’t know if the $2.2 million is sustainable,” he said. “We’re treating it as a surplus.”

McCarthy acknowledged there remain concerns about the overtime pay to firefighters and “a pension system that frankly is not sustainable.”

He summed up his comments with optimism, and a call for action.

“We’re doing very well, with plenty of work to do.”