Washington, DC
January 12, 2009

Mayors come to Washington next week for our 77th Winter Meeting and the Inauguration of our 44th President.

No doubt the election of Senator Barack Obama brought Hope and Change.

No doubt too, when the national economic lights seemed to be shut off somewhere around September 15, the mood of looking to what it might have been has now changed to what it is.

Today it was announced the national unemployment rate hit 7.2 percent. We lost 524,000 more jobs in December. That totals a 2.6 million job loss in 2008. Today, the official number of listed Americans unemployed is now at 11.1 million.

President-elect Obama said at his first press conference in Chicago last November that he wanted a stimulus enactment now. Yesterday, at George Mason University, with mayors present, in Fairfax, Virginia, we heard him say, “For every day we wait, or point fingers, or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs... and our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.”

He wants Congress to approve an $800 billion economic recovery plan to stimulate the economy to be on his desk the day after he takes the oath. But he has been told the needed legislation won’t be there; it will take more time.

A group of Republican Senators and some Democrats say they need more time. I guess they need another month for the Labor Department to tell us we have lost another half-million jobs in January. So, the new President’s urgent plan for action will not be met so that some members of Congress can mull it over. They now say he will get a bill by mid-February. Stay tuned.

President-elect Obama has also told us he will create three million jobs by January 1, 2011. That’s 23 months away. The clock is ticking.

Some of the President-elect’s advisors are recommending the stimulus money to go through the governors. If he goes that route, he will not reach his goal of creating three million jobs in 23 months from now.

The mayors, yesterday and earlier in private meetings with Obama advisors, are continuing to talk straight about direct funding to cities and counties, our metro areas, citing the statistics as to where the job opportunities are. Our survey of 641 cities involving 15,221 “Ready-to-Go” projects can get our new President to the promised land of three million jobs.

Conference President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, since early October, has led our organization with a laser-like focus on infrastructure and job creation. He continues to say that we are not asking for operating assistance or fiscal relief to save city, county, or state jobs. Instead, our “Ready-to-Go” projects are all about creating new jobs to help our new President reach his goal of creating three million jobs by the end of December 2010.

For the past few weeks, mayors from all regions have responded with our “Ready-to-Go” projects. Mayors must continue to hammer away at Congress as we support direct funding in the ten sectors of funding streams outlined in our “MainStreet Economic Recovery” plan to stimulate the metro economies and thus create the new jobs called for by President-elect Obama.

It is important for all members of the Conference to know that our top officers: Mayors Diaz, Nickels, and Kautz, along with our Past Presidents: Abramson, Menino, Palmer, Plusquellic, and Riley, and the mayors of our three largest cities: Bloomberg, Daley, and Villaraigosa are all advocating direct funding through our MainStreet Economic Recovery stimulus plan.

Other mayors in our many meetings and at home with their media outlets and their contacts with their own congressional delegations are standing up and demanding direct funding.

Together, as we gather for this glorious celebration of the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama, I know you will continue to give Conference of Mayors President Mayor Manny Diaz the support he needs and deserves as we support soon to be President Obama and our Congressional Leaders to truly provide a national response to immediately provide jobs for Main Street America.

The United States Conference of Mayors and all staff persons, mayors, and so many others lost a good friend when Guy Smith died on January 30. We held a celebration of his life at the National Press Club in Washington (DC) January 7. At our 77th Winter Meeting, with mayors present, we will also pay tribute.

Later, when we have more time, after the Winter Meeting, we will publish in U.S.Mayor the newspaper he managed and edited, a fitting tribute to the man who was loved by all who knew him.

I announced at his memorial service that we are naming our intern program after him. Hence, we now have the Guy Francis Smith Intern Program, and all future interns will carry his name as a “Guy Francis Smith Intern” here at the Conference.

God Bless Guy Smith, and we are thankful for his life of passion, laughter, and wisdom. He gave so much. He will always be with us.