By Kay Scrimger
January 31, 2005

National League of Cities (NLC) President Washington (DC) Mayor Anthony A. Williams and National Association of Counties (NACO) President Lake County (IL) Board Member Angelo D. Kyle brought greetings to the 73rd Winter Meeting of the Conference of Mayors.

Williams welcomed the mayors to his city, saying that he was pleased to have the opportunity to "share with you many of the advances" made in Washington over the last few years. Many of these have occurred, the mayor said, because of the opportunity he has had to visit other cities and view "what you-ve done in your cities," and because of the "great leadership at the U.S. Conference of Mayors."

"We must put aside partisanship and focus on the needs of cities," he said. "We can't judge ourselves by blue states and red states. We don't fill Democratic potholes or pick up Republican garbage. We're here...to make our cities the best places on earth," Williams emphasized.

"We must have realistic short-term legislative goals that can be achieved in very difficult times," he urged. "We must have unity on such issues as preserving our city revenues and our city's inherent powers, and we must ensure the right of local government to act on behalf of cities," he said. Williams called for a well-funded transportation bill and preservation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, which he termed in "severe jeopardy."

Williams urged unity among organizations as the new Congress gets underway. "Organizations like the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cites, the National Association of Counties, and others are strongest when combined," he said, because "collectively we represent 250 million people."

"As we extend our commitment to build a true partnership with the Bush Administration," we must also extend our "commitment to work with the Congress, the White House, and with one another."

President of the National Association of Counties Angelo D. Kyle, a board member from Lake County, Illinois, brought greetings from NACo, representing 3,066 counties throughout the nation. NACo, he said, has "forged a partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities."

"Cities make up counties," he said, "and often our jurisdictions overlap. In the same way our jurisdictions overlap, so should our "spirit of partnership."

Kyle pointed out that at its September 2004 Board of Directors meeting, NACo committed itself to working for such key programs as health care financing and accessibility, remote sales tax collection, surface transportation bill reauthorization, social services and workforce development legislation, the telecommunications act rewrite, the Help American Vote Act, and opposition to unfunded mandates and preemption.

In particular, he warned of reports that "CDBG could be cut by 50 percent and the HOME Program as well." CDBG is a successful program and one of the last to provide economic development assistance to local governments. We pledge to fight alongside you to preserve these programs," Kyle said. At a time when we are on the defensive, "we need to be more proactive, to show the value of these programs, and how they help the American people," he added.

We encourage home ownership initiatives and greater accessibility to low- and moderate-housing, especially for people in jobs where they might be "asked to pay the ultimate price but who often cannot afford a home, such as first responders," Kyle stated.

He pointed out that 45 million Americans are without health care insurance. County governments are responsible for a significant number of these and provide health care and medical services through county hospitals and county health care systems, he noted, and "working on health care disparities is one of our commitments," he emphasized.

"We look forward to working with you and to strengthening the bonds among our associations," he concluded in his remarks to the mayors.