| Senator Landrieu Pushes for Parks
Funds
Speaking at the first plenary session, United States Senator Mary Landrieu stated, "Cities deserve their fair share of future parks funding. The federal government needs to renew its partnership with cities." Senator Landrieu addressed the mayors on pending parks legislation. She is the chief co-sponsor of legislation in the Senate which would restore funding to the state and local assistance program of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Urban Parks Recreation and Recovery Program (UPARR). Stating that we "have to work together" to pass the legislation, Senator Landrieu declared that "mayors need to stop accepting excuses" that the federal government can not fund LWCF and UPARR. Approximately $4 billion is raised annually from off-shore oil and gas drilling. Louisiana supplies 90% of that revenue. Proposed legislation would fund the LWCF stateside program at $450 million and the UPARR program at up to $150 million. Responding to Senator Landrieu request that the mayors contact their Senators on this issue, the mayors circulated a letter stating their support of passage of legislation to fund urban parks. In their letter to members of the U.S. Senate, the mayors called upon Congress to "right their wrong" and pass urban parks legislation. As part of their request, the mayors called for a guaranteed pass through of at least 50% of the state and local assistance program of LWCF directly to cities. They also called for a competitive matching-grant UPARR program of at least $150 million.
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