MARTINEZ, CA (MPG) - The annual Mayor’s State of the City address is a wonderful opportunity to get a fix on city government accomplishments and goals, as well as failures and challenges ahead.

Mayor Rob Schroder will give his speech at 7:00 a.m. in the Creekside Church on February 11. The program includes Police Chief Sanjit Sappal and Pecos League Baseball Commissioner Andrew Young. Young is expected to announce the name of the new Martinez team. Watch for that, and a recap of the address in the next edition of the Martinez News Messenger.

Among the successes Schroder may mention are the Measure H Park and Library projects. Waterfront and Golden Hills Parks are the remaining two projects to be completed. There is a problem with the basketball court surface at Mountain View Park, but that is minor compared the remarkable improvements that have been made to city parks.

There has been good progress paving and patching city streets. He will undoubtedly mention completion of the Center and Morello Avenue HWY 4 crossings, and the list of paving projects planned for this summer. 

The new pedestrian bridge at the AMTRAK Station may be couple in the next few months. It has been years in the making, but the final piece is glass that may be delivered within the next 12 weeks. The bridge will make it safer and easier to access the parking lot across the tracks from the station. It is also rather a good looking structure to represent the town to train travelers.

Downtown is still under construction because of earthquake retrofit projects, but the economy is good, business is looking up, and new businesses are moving into some of the old spaces. Check out the Martinez Chamber of Commerce website to be surprised by the number of newcomers, but the popular, long standing Main Street Sweets and Armando’s are closing,-partly because of higher rents. Last year, Martinez became one of the top 10 finalists for season three of The Small Business Revolution, Main Street series.

Schroder may touch on some of the challenges too. A decision on a permanent location for the Martinez Dog Park remains elusive. The engineering stand-off between DeNova Homes and the city remains unresolved, and bogging down the large Traditions at the Meadow development. There are more meetings planned, but so far, a resolution to the city council election district map is not clear. There is only silence on the years-long Alhambra Highlands negotiations. The city is hoping to keep the nearly 300-acre property along the western hills ridge as an open space or park. Previously the city council had approved it for residential development.

Perhaps the address will be on the city website following its presentation.