Thank you.
I appreciate your being here today. You're someone who has “been there, done that”, I guess we can say. You spent your career focusing on these issues, so you're valuable to us. You can give us a good perspective, because you've spent 40 years thinking about these issues. So I appreciate your being here to share that expertise with us.
You were talking about the role of the federal government and how the interplay between the different levels of government might be marshalled to meet funding challenges. I sense from your comments that you support something along the lines of the gas tax model. What you're seeing there is a long-term, stable, predictable source of funding that allows municipalities to plan. They know the funding they can expect and are able to set priorities. This way, the city is able to look at the challenges and make the best decisions for the community. That's what I think I was hearing from you.