Click on Image Above for 10-Point Agenda

New York, January 25, 2000 – Asserting that both federal government and U.S. business leaders have failed to recognize the pivotal role in the nation's economy played by its largest metropolitan communities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties (NACo) jointly unveiled a 10-point "Agenda for Metropolitan America" today that includes a call for the next Administration to create a cabinet-level domestic policy advisor.

Speaking a day after the Iowa Presidential Caucuses, USCM President and Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and NACo President C. Vernon Gray said that federal policy and corporate investment strategies continue to give "short shrift" to America's largest cities and counties - to the detriment of the entire national economy. Joined by a host of other mayors and county executives, they said they would spend the rest of the year pressing the Action Agenda, particularly with the candidates for the U.S. Presidency.

Appearing before the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) the municipal leaders noted that at the beginning of February, the U.S. would enter the longest span of economic expansion in its history. Using data from a recent Standard & Poor's DRI report, they demonstrated how the nation's largest urban counties and cities - America's "economic engines", have propelled this unprecedented economic boom.

The Standard and Poor's report, jointly commissioned last year by the USCM and NACo, showed that metropolitan areas account for 84 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, the same percentage of the nation's jobs, and even higher percentages of the nation's income and recent economic growth.

"Contrary to the continued beliefs of many ordinary Americans, not to mention federal and corporate leaders, our data prove that Metropolitan Areas are not draining the national economy - they are supporting it," Mayor Webb said.

"It follows, then, that to maintain the economic momentum, the nation should 'feed strength' by investing more heavily in the communities that are generating it," Mayor Webb added. At the federal level, we need to ensure this by establishing a Domestic Policy Advisor, similar to the National Security Advisor, who has sweeping authority over the federal agencies that promote the economic well-being of our metro areas."

NACo President Gray, pointed to the emerging coalitions between Mayors and County Executives epitomized by the joint effort between the USCM and his own organization, said that the Standard & Poor's data revealed a "new arithmetic" to which smart national politicians will pay heed.

"Our research shows how closely integrated Metropolitan economies really are," President Gray said. "Those accustomed to the old ways of "dividing and conquering" cities from counties, urban from suburban, should note that the political boundaries of cities, counties and even states are losing their relevance. "The successful politicians will be the ones who recognize and capitalize on that understanding."

Mayor Webb added: "For the business community, this also represents a 'new arithmetic' that should lead to greater investment in rather than avoidance of metropolitan communities and particularly the inner cities. The nation's cities and metropolitan areas are sources of power, prosperity and opportunity, not sinkholes of poverty and tin-cup need."

Mayor Webb and NACo President Gray were joined in their announcement in New York by H. Brent Coles, Mayor of Boise and USCM Vice President; Marc Morial, Mayor of New Orleans and USCM Advisory Board Chair; Wayne Curry, Prince George's County (MD) Executive and NACo Large Urban County Caucus Chairman; Ron Sims, NACo Large Urban County Caucus Vice Chair and King County (WA) Executive; and Jane Hague, King County Councilmember and NACo President-elect.

The coalition’s ten-point "Agenda for Metropolitan America" follows.

Contact:
Shawn Bullard, NACo, (202) 942-4212 (sbullard@naco.org)
Jubi Headley, USCM, ((202) 861-6766 (jheadley@usmayors.org)

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