Acela Launched/New Era for USA Rail Travel

Mayors were a part of history today as they climbed aboard the Acela Express, the first high-speed rail service in North America. Conference President and Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles led a delegation of mayors and staff in the inaugural run from Washington to New York. Joining Mayor Coles were Mayors Marc Morial of New Orleans, Patrick Henry Hays of North Little Rock and John Robert Smith of Meridian, Mississippi. Top speed of the Acela is 150 miles per hour. Our ride set a speed record for the non stop run from D.C. to New York. We arrived in New York ahead of the scheduled time without a glitch. It was a beautiful day all the way around and this day and what has been accomplished will help Mayor Coles and all of you as you go forward with a rails policy for America.

Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, Amtrak Board Chairman, moved through the well-appointed passenger cars and mixed with the happy group of elected officials who continue to push for a national rails policy. He said the Acela launch will spark a rail renaissance in America because every traveler wants speed, superior amenities and world class service.

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg huddled with Mayors as we zipped down the tracks. The Senator and the mayors talked political strategy around the question of how to pass S.1900. This legislation, which is now pending before this Congress, would pump ten billion dollars into the states and Amtrak to support high speed rail development. In light of the present confusion in Florida relating to the indecisiveness of who will be our next President, it was generally agreed that we should move ahead with Congress to try and reach consensus of the rails legislation. This strategy will help us when we do have a chance to express our request with our new President to actively support our priority need for S.1900.

Mayor Coles and Mayor Morial also sat with us at lunch to discuss the National Rails Summit we have scheduled on Wednesday, January 17th during our Winter Meeting. This Summit will afford mayors the opportunity to hear from national and international leaders on the need for a national rails policy for the USA. It will be a Summit with interactive participation of mayors. In addition, all mayors attending our Winter Meeting will be afforded the opportunity to have lunch on the Acela as we ride to Baltimore and return. Today's inaugural ride provides hope and gives us energy and vision to go forward with our President, Boise Mayor Coles, as he leads us into a new Administration and new era that calls for a national rails policy for our nation.

We thank and congratulate George Warrington, President of Amtrak for his courtesies rendered to mayors on this historic day and we are proud and very comfortable in having him as our partner for the national rails summit at our Winter Meeting in January.

Governing Magazine/Public Officials of The Year

From the Acela ride, I went straight to the Governing Magazine dinner honoring Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, among others, as Public Officials of The Year. We commend Governing Magazine and thank Editor Peter Harkness and his staff for continuing their public officials awards program. Today we have a generation of Americans who entered the public service because of John F. Kennedy's call for us to join in doing something for our country. Cynicism spews forth from the myriad of talking heads on television commenting on everything about public officials, their clothes, their children, their make up, their toupees, their sex lives and even the shapes of their private parts. Internet reporters break all rules for fairness and civility. National television anchors like Cokie Roberts on the Jay Leno show called voters in Florida "stupid" when computers and machines transform a vote for Bush or Gore to a vote for Buchanan. If you have relatives who were gassed and burned to ashes by Hitler and his goons and you have read that Buchanan said some nice things about Hitler, and a misleading ballot causing your vote to go for a person like Buchanan, then you feel like your guts have been stomped out. You feel dirty and you want to be cleansed. The government owes you something to correct what you feel in your heart, your soul and your gut as a wrong. It is not for me to say what needs to be done to alleviate the feelings of people in Palm Beach County of all ages with all levels of education who intended to vote for Gore or Bush but their intentions were lost because of a ballot. I don't care who approved it. It didn't work. A vote in this country is a sacred right Ð a precious thing we do as Americans. Blood has been spilled in this country by those who couldn't vote and abroad for us to stop a dictator who was suspending the right to vote. The joking and cynicism has gone too far. The networks and television "stars" need to look at their behavior through this murky election that our democracy has given us.

In the cesspool of cynicism, it is encouraging that we gathered to honor dedicated public officials who have said I want to dedicate my life to do something for my people, in my city, in my county or my state.

Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer was cited for his leadership in the Detroit turnaround. In awarding Archer, Rob Gurwitt, of Governing, wrote "Any list of Archer's accomplishments has to being with style. He is in public, even tempered, diplomatic and inclined to collaboration, and the combination has, for the most part, disarmed the once-prickly attitude business and political leaders in metropolitan Detroit took toward the City." Those of us who know the mayor of Motown also know he is a fearless fighter and advocate for our cities and we appreciate his passion, determination and the fight within him for our cause. Others honored were Jane Campbell, County Commissioner Cuyahoga County Ohio. Commissioner Campbell spoke of how she was inspired by her mother and her family to get involved as a child to work in the mayoral campaign of Carl Stokes. She also recalled the hostility she and her family received when her mother invited Dr. Martin Luther King to speak at their church. She served as the youngest woman ever in the state legislature and was the first pregnant legislator as her child was born during her tenure as a Ohio legislator. Interesting stories about those days of her life brought laughter from the audience. She was most serious about why she came "home" to run in her county because she feared what might happen to families on welfare as welfare was reformed. Ohio has the shortest period required to go from welfare to work Ð three years. Ms. Campbell's efforts and determination helped her people meet the challenge with success.

Governor Parris Glendening said when he was a student at Florida State University he heard Senator Robert Kennedy speak and those words inspired him to dedicate his life to public service. The Governor went on to say that it is ironic that today the daughter of Senator Robert Kennedy serves as his Lt. Governor in the State of Maryland. The Governor as most of us know has had some ups and downs in Maryland, but he said it is most important that we stand up and speak up for ones' beliefs.

Perhaps the most interesting analogy of public service came from Kansas Senate President Dick Bond who said we are all born with buckets. In our childhood puberty and education people put things in our bucket. The question in life, said Senator Bond, is how we use things in life we hold in our bucket. He says in life there are givers and takers. Takers take and they do not share their time or their money. Givers spend their life in using tools from their bucket to help those less fortunate, who may be dirty or homeless, or who may be less than whole. His Kansas voice and the spirit of his speech made you aware that you were hearing a very, very special man. It was a good day. Acela lives! It zipped without a glitch and Acela gives us energy to push for more Acelas in the USA.

It was a good evening. In the midst of the cynicism, we stopped and joined Peter Harkness and his magazine for dinner to just say thank you public servants for what you do for your country every second, minute, hour, day, week, month and year. These, and some many other public servants in our nation, never ask what their country can do for them. They act and they do for all of us.

At this Thanksgiving we are thankful for public servants like the ones honored by Governing Magazine tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving 2000 to all of you. We will soon have a President. We will go forward with Mayor Coles and our leadership to work with the new Congress and our new President. Meantime, enjoy your loved ones, your friends and your family. We look forward to seeing you at The National League of Cities Annual Meeting in Boston next month. And, please, register now for our Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. during the Presidential Inauguration January 17-19. Conference President Coles needs you here with us as we forge new partnerships for our priorities in a new era and new Administration where mayors and cities are stronger than ever.