August began with wide neighborhood participation in the annual National Night Out event.

In July, we received good news for local job opportunities.

In June, the City Council passed our city budget for FY 2011.

As May ends, the City Council is ready to begin "budget month" for 2010—and the numbers look challenging. But first, we'll remember our veterans.

In April, the City Council approved a significant new investment in bringing more jobs and development to the Piedmont Triad Research Park.

In March, the City Council approved code changes to encourage more business redevelopment within the city.

February saw positive developments in Winston-Salem on several important environmental and human health issues.

January went out with a "whump" as a second heavy snowfall of the season socked in the city.

In December, the city started discussions on how to best put the Dell incentives refund to use for job development and economic security.

Thank you to the people of the Southwest Ward for the opportunity to represent you again. I expect this to be a challenging and exciting four years in Winston-Salem.

In October, our city lost an outstanding police officer, and dealt with tough economic news. We also continued efforts to meet our public safety needs, and approved a key planning guide. In November, voters will decide who will represent them on these and other challenges over the next four years.

In September, we prepared the new Southwest Area Plan for its final public hearing on October 5.

In August, Winston-Salem dedicated our new public safety training facility, and started implementing new efforts to deal with the fallout from recession-fueled home foreclosures.

In July, the City Council capped over four years of work by adopting a tree conservation ordinance.

In June, the City Council adopted Winston-Salem's annual balanced budget, without public service cuts and without a tax increase.

We received some good news this month on our continuing public safety efforts, while we continued to prepare this upcoming year's budget, and took final action on an ordinance dealing with soliciting.

During April, Winston-Salem made important decisions on federal stimulus bill projects and moved forward on other work.

Planning to help obtain, and effectively use, federal Recovery Act funds for Winston-Salem was again my biggest focus in March.

Winston-Salem is preparing to take advantage of funding available for city needs through the recently-adopted federal economic stimulus bill.

In August, the City Council approved an update to Winston-Salem's minimum housing code, as well as the new Southwest Suburban Area Plan.

In July, we saw completion of a major intersection realignment of particular interest to the suburban neighborhoods of the Southwest Ward. In addition, final action was taken on infill development standards, but front-yard parking rules were returned to committee for more review.

In June, Winston-Salem acquired both a new annual budget and a new chief of police. Looking ahead, proposed restrictions on front-yard parking will be the subject of a July 7 public hearing.

May saw final City Council action on the important stormwater rules revisions that have been under development for most of two years.

The April report is coming to you a little late due to the rush of activity around statewide elections this week.

The Public Works Committee in March sent forward a comprehensive update of stormwater rules for full City Council discussion in April.