The nation's mayors and mortgage bankers cemented their commitment to promote national policies to attract investment and improve homeownership in America's cities as over 3,000 bankers convened for the Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA, October 28 - 31.

Speaking before the MBA's plenary session, U.S. Conference of Mayors President and Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles said that mayors and the mortgage lending industry must work together to promote business investment and housing production in America's cities. "We stand ready to work with the mortgage bankers and others from the lending industry to address our nation's housing affordability crisis, and to promote transit-oriented development and business investment in our cities," Coles told the conventions delegates.

Outgoing MBA President, Christopher J. Sumner, CEO of Crossland Mortgage, responded by saying in his farewell address, "One of the most rewarding achievements this year is our partnership with The U.S. Conference of Mayors." Incoming MBA President Andrew Woodward, CEO of Bank of America Mortgage, in introducing Coles, committed to keep that partnership strong, particularly emphasizing the need for a stronger national voice on the issue of housing, "Every discussion about the future of our communities and neighborhoods is ... at its core...a discussion about housing. And you must have a seat at the table. We must be a strong voice at the federal level to reassert housing as a national priority."

Just two weeks ago, the two organizations commenced in New York City at Chase Manhattan's World Headquarters creation of the Council for Investment in the New American City that will serve as a national forum for promoting private and public investment in America's cities. Along with its other charter members, the Council will hold a national summit within 120 days of the new Administration and new Congress to develop national policies and incentives to help spur that investment.

In addition for the need to address housing affordability issues, Coles outlined an investment agenda that called for a new national commitment to build a 21st Century American rail and transit network. Showing the delegates maps of high-speed rail corridors that criss-cross the nation, and connect its major metropolitan areas, Coles said that fifteen new rail starts are already under construction, nine are in final design and another thirty-nine are in the engineering phase. Hundreds of other rail and transit projects are in conceptual development. He told the delegates that these projects would serve as a catalyst for further private investment in cities and an opportunity for rail and transit-oriented development that would transform American cities for the next century.

Coles cited two reports underpinning support for such an initiative. In poll findings released last week by the Council for Investment in the New American City, two out of every three Americans now support investment in public transportation and rebuilding cities as the answer to traffic congestion over simply building new roads. Suburban residents (66 percent) and city residents (68 percent) equally preferred the new approach. Global Strategies Inc. conducted the poll. And in a ground breaking report prepared by Standard & Poor's for The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties, the nation's economy is now being driven by its metro regions, which accounted for eighty percent of gross domestic product and the nation's economic growth since 1992.

Coles told the delegates, "We are a nation of metro economies and we must provide new transportation alternatives if we are to keep these economic engines growing."

The message to the bankers was loud and clear. Future economic growth is directly tied to the development of new transportation systems that will help to ensure future productivity growth of the nation's metro economies.

McCrory Also Addresses Bankers

Earlier in the day Coles introduced Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory to a group of bankers interested in smart growth and transit-oriented development. McCrory co-chairs the Conference's Presidential Transition Task Force on Smart Growth. He also co-hosted with Mr. Woodward in Charlotte the first of four regional summits sponsored by the MBA and the Conference to garner ideas in attracting investment to cities.

McCrory described how Charlotte was integrating transit and rail into the area's regional transportation plan and the city's efforts to attract high quality mixed-use development within these transportation corridors.

He encouraged the bankers to work with mayors to create longer lasting, higher quality developments and to avoid the "quick" investment that "five years from now will be an eye sore, abandoned or unconnected to anything or anyone around it."

Woodward told the organizations that he will head for the next year: "Communities are now moving away from building traditional sprawl and towards trying to create urban villages, characterized by a dense mix of commercial and residential development." This approach promises not only to improve our quality of life, but also to create a more sustainable community.

It was the first time in recent history that a President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors addressed a plenary session of the mortgage bankers. Coles concluded by challenging the two organizations to take their partnership to the highest level of national influence. Coles's complete text and graphics can be found on usmayors.org.