And for the city's birthday, we will host events in every neighborhood of the city, inviting all of our residents to share in the celebration of Boston's great epic - the story of neighbors who support one another where it matters most.

Diversity gives our city a competitive edge.

Boston is the engine of the state's economy.

And it was from Boston that one in every six American families began their journey into the land of the free.

I am also committed to providing city employees with housing assistance.

Here's what I see all across this great city - people working together to make Boston a better place to live and to raise children, to grow and pursue dreams.

One of our key strategies has been to restructure traditional high schools into small learning communities with personalized attention and a range of options.

Children need continuity as they grow and learn.

I'm proud to report that in 2004 alone, we approved 3,600 new units of housing - our best year ever!

Let's use the energy of this historic year to propel us toward our shared vision of a greater Boston.

The true privilege of being Mayor is that I have the opportunity to be everyone's neighbor.

We were the first urban school system in the country to wire all of our schools for the Internet.

Currently, Boston has only nine percent of the state's population - but we provide more than 16 percent of the jobs and 19 percent of the state's revenues.

I brought together experts from health care, business, academic institutions, and the community to develop a comprehensive blueprint for eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care in the City of Boston.

Boston is safe. And we're going to keep it safe.

Tonight, I am pleased to announce that I have secured $1 million from the Convention Host Committee to fund the beautification of Boston's neighborhoods.

The true value of sport is more than the skills that young people learn.

Preparing our city to achieve its destiny will require strong leadership.

And for the city's birthday, we will host events in every neighborhood of the city, inviting all of our residents to share in the celebration of Boston's great epic - the story of neighbors who support one another where it matters most.

For every $5 that Boston's economy sends up to Beacon Hill, the state gives only $1 back to us.

We must be vigilant in our actions towards criminals, and innovative in our approach towards solving crime.

I am working hard to ensure that working families can continue to afford to live in our city.

Boston is known for its innovation.

In the 1990s, we introduced Boston's community policing strategy. We reversed the tide of violent crime that threatened our city, and we established a national model for preventing and fighting crime.

My fellow citizens, the state of our city is strong.

2004 was a great year for Boston! The Patriots won the Super Bowl! Boston hosted its first national political convention! And - the Red Sox won the World Series!

These are national problems that require national solutions.

This is a bad day for Boston, but I think if we pull together we'll get through it.

Boston is the engine of the states economy.

I grew up with a Christmas tree Im going to stay with a Christmas tree.

A friend never defends a husband who gets his wife an electric skillet for her birthday.

I had been offered a Hollywood contract before my 18th birthday. It gave me the spark I needed.

I told my father I wanted to play the banjo, and so he saved the money and got ready to give me a banjo for my next birthday, and between that time and my birthday, I lost interest in the banjo and was playing guitar.

I love photography. My boyfriend's got a great camera, which I bought for his birthday.

The best way to remember your wife's birthday is to remember it once.

It was my 16th birthday - my mom and dad gave me my Goya classical guitar that day. I sat down, wrote this song, and I just knew that that was the only thing I could ever really do - write songs and sing them to people.

Well, I started conducting kind of by accident. I wanted to give myself a special birthday present for my fortieth birthday, and I was living in San Francisco at the time and I started attending some of the concerts and then simply dropping hints.

This is a wonderful way to celebrate an 80th birthday... I wanted to be 65 again, but they wouldn't let me - Homeland Security.

You know, we'd just had a birthday, he was... you know, he still had a future out of him, and all I can is he was just one of the most beautiful people in the world... a very gifted man, and it's a loss to the world, not just for us.

It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from our creator, our very self-consciousness, is also the one thing that divides us from our fellow creatures. It was a bitter birthday present from evolution.

With a recent birthday, I've been acting now for twenty years.

On my birthday, I was in Milan for the collections.

I crashed my boyfriend's birthday when I was 12 years old. He didn't invite me and so I showed up.

I wasn't very good about juggling family and my career. I was interested in who was coming to the children's birthday party, what my son was writing. I was thinking about Legos.

I remember when the candle shop burned down. Everyone stood around singing 'Happy Birthday.'

My mother asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I said I wanted to read poetry with her.

The way I see it, you should live everyday like its your birthday.

I'm trying to get the record that I made at my birthday party last year, trying to get that out, and the lawyers are diddling around with it and it probably won't be out until next year. I don't know.

I had arranged a birthday party for him and my children, who are all Aquarians. Instead, we got married. I ran out of excuses. It was just us and my children.