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entertainment district in a historically significant area, retail stores interspersed with restaurants and <br /> professional offices and a blend of residential units as well. <br /> Goals for Beautification: <br /> ➢Improve the community character to make it a more desirable place to live, work and visit. <br /> ➢Improve the aesthetic visual environment through enhancement of site design, signage, <br /> roadways, parking areas, open space and landscaping. <br /> >Invest in Downtown to establish a vibrant mix of places to work, live and visit, with shops, <br /> restaurants, entertainment and a variety of dwelling units. <br /> Redevelopment Strategy. Urban redevelopment efforts require cooperative action to encourage <br /> new and sustained private investment and to provide supporting rehabilitation of public <br /> infrastructure. A key part of the process is determining what strategic actions the community should <br /> take to achieve its redevelopment goals and objectives. Successful redevelopment will often <br /> require cooperation and coordination between agencies at different levels of government as well as <br /> non - profit community organizations. This should include coordination of physical improvements <br /> with social service programs, which aim to enhance the health and economic capacity of residents <br /> in targeted neighborhoods. <br /> Redevelopment Goals: <br /> Stabilize and improve the quality of neighborhoods and other areas in decline by attracting <br /> renewed private investment activity. <br /> ➢Revitalize the City's historic downtown area. <br /> Relevant Financial Policy <br /> City Council, following permanent damage from Hurricane Ike, elected to close our Sylvan Beach <br /> (enterprise fund) and transfer the remaining cash reserves to capital improvement. The cash <br /> reserves are undesignated and will be allocated to general government projects. <br /> Major Initiatives <br /> Following the completion of a comprehensive city -wide drainage plan, City Council directed staff to <br /> alleviate affected neighborhoods from surface water flooding. Consequently, the City issued $6.28 <br /> million in certificates of obligation to be spent on engineering and construction projects. The projects <br /> will enable the City to continue moving forward with other projects and further reduce the risk of <br /> flooding for the citizens. <br /> Awards and Acknowledgements <br /> The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of Achievement for <br /> Excellence in Financial Reporting to the City for its comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal <br /> year ended September 30, 2009. This was the twenty -ninth consecutive year that the City has <br /> received this prestigious award. In order to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, the City <br /> published an easily readable and efficiently organized comprehensive annual financial report. This <br /> report satisfied both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable legal requirements. <br /> 7 <br />