Good to join you today.

When Wayne Perkey called last week to invite me, he asked me to talk about Ford Motor Company’s announcement last week…and the General Electric Appliance Park situation.

I am happy to oblige.

You know, we’ve become reconciled to seeing the number of manufacturing jobs shrink….as they have in cities across America. But it was sobering … even stunning…to have contemplated in recent months a future Louisville without the pillars of Appliance Park and our two strong Ford plants.

Fortunately, that was not the news we confronted last week.

Ford announced that the company would invest in upgrading their two plants in Louisville and bring new vehicles to our assembly lines.

It was terrific news. But it wasn’t all the news I was dealing with last week.

The stars must have aligned in some powerful way over Louisville. Because last week we were also making front-page news in Tampa and St. Pete for recruiting folks in that area to “c’mon home” for jobs and a better quality of life. The Wall Street Journal also called last week because they were preparing an article on he cost for cities to maintain foreclosed properties -- and they’d heard Louisville was taking a proactive role dealing with these vacant properties. More news questions came last week from a reporter in Portland, Oregon – she wanted to write about Louisville’s bike-friendly initiatives. The Los Angeles Times wrote a rave-review travel story about Louisville as Possibility City, reprinted in the CJ a couple days ago. And that Ford announcement put Louisville photos in The New York Times and brought the Fox Business network to our door.

The Ford story was the biggest news, of course. . . a company with a 95-year tradition in Louisville … one of our largest employers…and largest taxpayers.

We appreciate Ford here in Louisville. The city buys Fords for its fleet whenever possible. My family car is a Ford Escape hybrid. And I’ll be getting a similar Escape for my city car when my current car lease runs out.

The whole Ford story illustrates the way we’ve worked over the years to build relationships that help keep our economy as strong as possible.

It’s challenging to do that …in today’s times.

A coworker told me yesterday that today’s economic times reminds him of recent implosion of the Humana Building. One minute the building was standing. A minute or two later …poof!.. it collapsed … shrouded in clouds of dust. It took a while…maybe 10 minutes… before the dust settled and you could see again. In a way, our economic picture is similar -- shrouded in uncertainties… from gas prices to the global financial services crisis.

But I feel optimistic that the dust will settle soon and we will see our economy will turn upward.

You know…there’s a real tip-of-the-iceberg syndrome when an announcement like Ford’s comes through. You see the peak…the headline news. But that peak is on top of a foundation that is often out of view – the year-in year-out commitment to build relationships and partnerships. . . that are responsive to the needs of companies in our community and their employees.

It means keeping up connections in the good times…all along the way. Making it a point to know each of the new leaders in our largest companies…to engage over issues where the city can make a difference. And sure, it means more relaxed relationship-building -- invitations to the Derby, the PGA, the Ryder Cup. The years spin by… And you take care of those relationships …working with governors, our federal and local legislators, whoever can help…whether the issue is economic incentives … legislation…road or other infrastructure improvements.

I have been involved with the managers of Ford and its union leaders since I entered public office in the1980s. I’ve visited Ford’s headquarters with 6 governors. I have gotten to know plant managers, regional managers, division managers, union leaders here, union leaders who have gone on to national union positions. We’ve talked about everything from switching the LTD assembly line at Fern Valley to the Ranger …to traffic tie-ups over our bridges and Spaghetti Junction that delay delivery of parts.

Last Thursday’s announcement by Ford came after dozens of meetings and conference calls over the past 2 ½ years… and an April trip to Michigan. When a company like Ford is going through a sea-change…a global retrenchment… closing plants… losing money… you want to be in the front row… ready with the incentives, the workforce support, the community responsiveness that might tip the scales. It helped that our two Ford operations here have been outstanding…some of the most outstanding performers in the company.

I don’t mean to imply for a second that I do any of this alone. In Louisville you can depend on a terrific team that cooperates with no regard for ego … or political affiliation. In this case: Governor Beshear and his economic development secretary John Hindman …our local team…Bruce Traughber, my economic development director, Joe Reagan at GLI …. and local UAW leaders … as well as Ron Gettlefinger, the UAW national president. Everyone has pitched in to provide a united front.

The Ford story has an encouraging ending…right now …because it has been built on a series of partnerships that transcend partisanship.

Ford is not alone. GE: As you know…in transition. The divisions housed at Appliance Park may be spun off or sold. It helps that I’ve known Jeffrey Immelt, GE’s CEO, for almost 20 years… since he was in Louisville as a GE manager in charge of Appliance Park and I was Mayor.

He teases me that he has moved on up…to CEO… and nothing new in Louisville, I’m still mayor. We have also come to know and respect Jim Campbell, the President and CEO of the Louisville Consumer and Industrial business divisions.

So as their story unfolded earlier this year… we had the ability to talk straight with each other about the issues and make our case for keeping this thriving signature operation firmly based here.

With UPS as well, we focused on building relationships. Some of you may remember when UPS was losing so many night shift workers that the company did not know if they could build a future here. City, state and educational institutions mobilized. They worked with UPS to come up with the idea for Metropolitan College…a night shift that gets a free college education by day. That’s what turned it around. And so WorldPort keeps expanding – 5,000 more jobs coming online.

But I don’t want you to think we just focus on the big fish in town.

Kentucky Trailer …kept nearly 300 jobs in Kentucky when they chose a Louisville site over Corydon.

Pro-liquitech… a beverage product development company downtown… with 20 employees … received state and local incentives… plus a Metro Council member used his discretionary funds for sidewalks. The company is also part of our High Impact Portfolio – a city / GLI partnership that supports more than 100 fast-growing locally owned companies.

Seed and venture capital funds are reaching out to companies with as few as a handful of employees.

The bottom line: In economic times like these … you can hit rough patches.

Sometimes things move more slowly than you would like.

But you hope…you count on… the leaders we have in place…to be smart enough …resourceful enough … to know when to hit the gas and when to put on the brakes.

We work together…thanks to strong relationships… and in the long run…we know we’re moving forward.