Washington, DC
January 19, 2007

Welcome to the 75th United States Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting here in your federal city — Washington, D.C.

Mayors come together in Washington, in January 2007 at a critical time in our history. A few weeks ago a new Congress was sworn in, our 110th. And even before the swearing in, your new President Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer and I were meeting with Congressional leaders to establish and set the framework for a new way of working with our new Congress. On January 12, Mayor Palmer and I met with our new Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the purpose of discussing how we can help her with her agenda and how she can help us with our agenda. Mayor Palmer pledged our support for her 100 hour legislative agenda. We discussed with her our proposal for a mayoral leadership meeting even before our Winter Meeting to restore the partnership and to set the framework and new priorities for a new bipartisan political agenda. A date was set. We would meet with her January 12.

President Palmer called Leadership mayors to Washington January 11 where we met in a working session to approve a 10-Point Plan to give to Speaker Pelosi and Congress.

The Mayors’ 10-Point Plan, Strong Cities ... Strong Families ... for a Strong America, came from hours of discussion, consultations and writing in the war room of our headquarters with my senior staff. We did not draft proposals out of thin air. All recommended proposals came from the mayoral policy you have developed and adopted through our respected formal process. As we drew up this draft plan for approval for the mayors, we used our political judgement to recommend proposals that are in our opinion politically ripe for Congressional action now, this year, in this new spirit of cooperation. Most political observers and operators believe we have eight or nine months before the partisanship of the ‘08 Presidential campaign heats up. But we do have a window of political action and political opportunity to pass some legislation and send it to President Bush. Hence we chose agenda items that are real, that are politically acceptable by Republicans and Democrats and even more we tried to chose agenda items mayors and millions of their constituents support for immediate action.

Mayor Palmer was involved from day one and we worked with him as we finalized recommendations for our Leadership mayors. On January 11, mayors came to town where the proposed 10-Point Plan was reviewed by mayors present at the Mayflower Hotel here in Washington. Mayor Palmer presided over a working session of Democratic and Republican mayors. It was an engaging process and I believe it was a meeting of historic proportions. Mayors seemed more engaged and interested in adding and rejecting draft proposals. Mayors are encouraged because they do feel there is hope that we will restore a partnership to get things done and deliver results to our people in suburban and urban America.

The next day, Mayor Palmer led our mayors to meet with our new Speaker and it was a good “give and take” session. Each mayor had the opportunity to voice his and her concern and further, mayors pledged to the Speaker a desire to work on the partnership that was established by Mayor Palmer and the Speaker. Speaker Pelosi continues to reach out to us. Following the meeting, we were getting emails from her asking us for examples and best practices of what mayors are doing and how cities are affected about the energy challenges before us. Speaker Pelosi will open our meeting as we convene here this week.

In the meeting with Speaker Pelosi, our most senior mayor Charleston Mayor Joe Riley thanked President Palmer and Speaker Pelosi for bringing us together, for establishing the partnership. Mayor Riley also spoke of the hope the American people have with our new Congress. He was specific in saying that the Speaker’s election gives hope to America that the 110th Congress will be more responsive to the people in our cities ... large and small.

Mayor Palmer and Mayor Riley discussed how we must work with the Speaker to forge new domestic policy for a nation.

As you review our new 10-Point Plan you will find key priorities and goals that you have seen before. And you will see new ones. I call your attention to item # 1 Energy and Environmental Block Grant. As U.S. MAYOR goes to press and you come to town, the House has proposed repeals of tax breaks for oil companies. If passed into law, this means that an estimated $13-15 billion in revenues would be set aside for the development of renewable energy. As the House acts, we lead in our 10-Point Plan a call to create an Energy and Environment Block Grant program, modeled after CDBG, to provide to cities and urban counties programs that cover the gamut of activities that mayors have signed on to create in their cities. Over 300 cities have signed on to our Climate Protection Agreement, thanks to the leadership of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. With a new Energy and Environment Block Grant, mayors will have seed money to create economic activity as well as go one further step toward meeting our goals to protect our globe through strengthening our energy independence, decrease the carbon emissions and to improve our environment.

We ask your careful attention to this priority. Please understand we support all the goals for global warming. And we are saying also that Congress must now provide us the tools through the energy and Environment Block Grant to help us continue to lead the nation with our private, public, nonprofit and citizen-based groups in cities of every regio9n across our nation. The time to act on this key new initiative is now. We must seize the moment and take our request through Congress and to President Bush for action this year.

We need your help on this important new Energy and Environment Block Grant proposal and we need your help on the other points contained in our new 10-Point Plan.

Join Mayor Palmer and our Leadership. Support Mayor Palmer and our leaders as we come together at this historic Winter Meeting to turn the nation to the attention and action of our federal government for strong cities, strong families and for a strong America.

I look forward to seeing you at our 75th Winter Meeting and I look forward to great wins for all of us and our cities and our people in 2007.