In New York City, there is a warlike atmosphere present as Mayor Rudy Giuliani has threatened to withdraw funds from the Brooklyn Museum of Art because of the British exhibit entitled "Sensation." Tabloids are awash with Mayor Giuliani's statements and as he calls the art "filth," thousands line up to see the exhibit, with particular focus on one piece of art which includes elephant dung.

In Chicago, from elephant dung we go to cows. There are 330 cows all over Chicago and Mayor Richard M. Daley is absolutely joyful as he celebrates this incredible public art phenomenon. Artists have decorated the fiberglass cows and they will be auctioned off later this month and the proceeds, expected to be thousands of dollars, will go for more public art. Mayor Daley has been and is a world leader as a mayor in supporting the notion that arts, cities and business are linked. He can tell you the millions of dollars that come to Chicago when he lands a Monet exhibit. People come. People rent hotels, go to restaurants, shop. They spend their money. It's good economics. Plus, there is a spiritual and soulful side for stressed-out urban citizens to pause and reflect on art of any form that takes them away from burdens they bear.

Mayor Daley is enthusiastic, happy about his cows. He's fun to be with as he enthusiastically talks about what art does for his city. He's also smart enough not to get involved in art that is controversial. He stresses the positive and people from all walks of life are talking about the 330 cows that are placed all over Chicago. As you walk or ride through the city, just after you see one cow painted to look like Marilyn Monroe, your eyes hit another artistic creation. It never stops. And people are coming into the city to see them. The cows of Chicago exhibit is an incredible success story for public art in the USA and the world.

While Mayor Daley is positively upbeat, Mayor Giuliani comes across as a mean man. It is interesting how art affects two cities and how two mayors use art -- one in a very positive way and the other negative -- to convey different messages.

Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci has offered artists a place to live and work in a tax free zone. In Denver, Conference President Mayor Wellington E. Webb is pushing for the passage of a $1 million expansion of the Art Museum. The list goes on and on. While Mayor Giuliani has declared war on one museum in New York, other mayors are more constructive and believe that artists have the ultimate freedom to express themselves in the cities of the free world.

Cities/2000, Florence

As part of our continuing initiative following our Africa 2000 mission last May, The United States Conference of Mayors Cities/2000 initiative goes to Florence, Italy later this month, where USA mayors and Italian mayors will bring best practices and discuss the challenges each mayor has to preserve, promote and protect precious historic pieces of art, buildings and land. While an Italian mayor strives to save a church built in 1500 AD, a USA mayor has some challenges preserving an old movie house built in the 1920s or a one room school house built in the 1800s. Other issues will on the difference in the USA and Italian taxation laws affecting corporate and individual contributions to art preservation and support.

At our Winter Meeting last January here in Washington, it was the Mayor of Florence who announced that the next century will be the Century of the Cities. Art is an integral part of a city. Today, the polls and surveys show that USA citizens are going to public and private art museums in greater numbers than in European cities. Art, as Conference President Webb told us in his inaugural address in New Orleans, is a "competitive asset" for our cities.

Providence Mayor Cianci has just hosted the City of Florence in a "Splendor of Florence" Festival. Opera, artisans, drama, treasured paintings from the Uffizi all came from Florence for a festival the City of Providence will never forget. We appreciate Mayor Cianci's leadership and help in establishing the special relationship the City of Florence now has with The United States Conference of Mayors. Florence and its art will add so much to our mayors and to our overall goal within our Cities/2000 --- to spread and share the best practices of USA mayors with the mayors of cities around the globe. Italian mayors will teach; USA mayors will learn and vice versa. Mayors want to know what other mayors are doing. It's that simple. It works and we will continue our Best Practices method of teaching and learning here at our regular Winter and Summer Meetings, as well as in our Cities/2000 sessions.

San Juan/Mayor Calderón/Vieques

You may wonder why our organization is asking President Clinton to direct the US Navy to stop the bombing of USA territory. In 1972, Mayor Carlos Romero Barceló of San Juan brought a resolution to the Conference of Mayors and our organization supported the measure which put us on record as opposing naval maneuvers on the island of Culebra. While the navy stopped bombing on Culebra, they moved their activity to the island of Vieques.

In San Juan this week, San Juan Mayor Sila M. Calderón, a USCM board member and her mayoral colleagues in Puerto Rico asked our President Mayor Webb to express our position on this matter to President Bill Clinton. Mayor Webb is sending the letter in support of our member mayors in Puerto Rico. The citizens of Puerto Rico, all political parties and all political leaders are united on this issue. Approximately 9,300 USA citizens live on the island of Vieques and the bombs and munitions used in the training maneuvers have caused a dangerous living condition for our citizens living on the island. A commission was created and their recommendations are headed to President Clinton for a decision. We are asking the President to support both mainland USA and Puerto Rican mayors' request.

Mayors assembled in Puerto Rico for our Third Annual Urban Water Summit. This initiative within the Conference is ably led by Lynn Mayor Pat McManus and Wilmington Mayor James Sills. The issue of water is a critical one for our cities. The Urban Water Summits are more examples of mayors discussing and learning from one another how they can provide the purest and the cheapest water for their citizens. Water, as we know, is an asset that our cities own. Our mayors want more about the issues related to water on the agenda of our national meetings and we are planning to bring the issue forward as we approach our Winter and Annual Meetings in 2000. Thanks again to Mayors McManus and Sills for their leadership in making our Urban Water Summits successful and productive for mayors and cities within our organization.

Victory for Victor

Congratulations to Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe for getting 56 percent of the vote in his fourth election. His high percentage avoids a runoff and Mayor Ashe has been reelected. As Past President of the Conference, Mayor Ashe continues to give us so much of his energy and creative ideas to the nation's mayors.