We have much to be thankful for today, Thanksgiving Day 2009.I’m thankful to be Mayor of a city whose residents have answered the call of service and given hundreds of thousands of hours to volunteerism. Our Service Initiative goal this year was 500,000 community hours. We are pushing past 800,000.Let’s all be thankful for the volunteers on every street in every neighborhood.I’m thankful for all those people who have stepped forward on behalf of our homeless citizens.It may have taken exposure from a talk show based in Chicago – I’m talking about Oprah, whose cameras captured the embarrassment of our homeless “tent city” – but Sacramentans and our neighbors from around the region responded.We resolved to provide winter shelter and eventually find permanent housing for 2,400 folks who would otherwise be homeless in Sacramento.Let’s be thankful for those among us who will have shelter this winter for the first time in months.It’s easy to be thankful for statistics that show our streets becoming safer. Despite a horrendous budget situation, we worked to secure grants and put more cops on the street and install security cameras.Let’s be thankful for public safety.It’s easy to be thankful for the tens of thousands of students in Sacramento who work hard every day to earn good grades and win entry to great universities.And let’s be thankful for the parents and teachers in our community who nurture and help those students.Let’s be thankful for all those members of our arts and cultural community, whose work makes Sacramento are more diverse, interesting and lively place.We all need diversions beyond home and work, and our cultural community has taken big strides toward making Sacramento a World Class City.From all of us at City Hall, Happy Thanksgiving! 

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