By Larry Jones
January 31, 2005

During the July 19 luncheon session, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (NV) told mayors that the nation's infrastructure has been badly neglected, pointing out that "our roads are in disrepair, our airports are overcrowded, our schools are decaying and our over burdened water and sewer systems are in danger of failing." He said every local community in America is affected by these problems.

"There are blueprints on the shelves of every city in America waiting to be accomplished, but there is no money to do it," he said. As an example he pointed out that Reno has too much snow and is in need of an improved flood control system. Las Vegas has rapid growth and traffic is a huge problem. Although the city has received some federal assistance, significantly more is needs to address the problem. He also said that Las Vegas doesn't have enough water in Lake Meade due to a severe drought and the city is in need of a new water intake pipe. In addition to that, the city is in need of a new waste water treatment system. According to Senator Reid, these two projects alone will cost $2 billion.

He told mayors that "Last year, we passed a bill to re-authorize TEA-21, the highway bill to improve our transportation system around the country. Unfortunately, President Bush wouldn't allow us to get this bill out of conference. These transportation projects are desperately needed through out America. It would be irresponsible not to work in a bipartisan fashion to pass a highway bill this year."

To address that nation's crumbling infrastructure, Reid told mayors that he would reintroduce an infrastructure investment proposal that he initially introduced in 2001. Because of the 9-11 terrorist attacks the proposal was put on the back burner in order to deal with the more pressing problem of improving homeland security. The proposal is the "American Marshall Plan," which he describes as a comprehensive plan to invest in cities and rebuild the infrastructure in local communities across the nation. Under the plan, he said "For every billion dollars we spend to build a new highway or water system or sewer system, we create $47,500 new jobs, high paying private [sector] jobs."

On the issue of housing, Reid reminded mayors that in many places, the very people that support our cities — firefighters, teachers, police officers and nurses, cannot afford to live in the cities in which they work due to the high cost of housing. He explained that the American dream is slipping further away particularly from young families in urban areas. While there is a huge need for investing more in middle-class housing, Reid said he was disappointed to hear that President Bush plans to slash Community Development Block Grants which are used by cities to provide low-income housing as well as day care and recreation centers. He told mayors that Democrats would work to protect CDBG funds.