By David W. Burns
February 1, 2010

Conference President Burnsville (MN) Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz, in her opening address, unveiled the 2010 Metro Agenda for America; the mayors' plan for restarting the economy and growing our metropolitan areas across the United States during Wednesday's Opening Plenary session of the 78th Winter Meeting.

"The news today is inundated with stories about how the recession is taking a terrible toll on our citizens, our businesses, and our city budgets," Kautz remarked. "These are real challenges that mayors across the nation struggle to address."

The 2010 Agenda focuses on five key areas. These include jobs, transportation infrastructure, energy independence, airport security, and strengthening successful federal investments. These particular areas encompass what mayors believe are the specific areas where we can most quickly prompt economic growth.

Along with the Conference of Mayors' Metro Economies Report, also released at this meeting, Kautz illustrated precisely why metropolitan regions across America are the areas where federal investment would go the farthest.

"The [Metro Economies] report shows that 86 percent of all jobs, and 90 percent of the nation's labor income and gross domestic product are generated in those 363 metropolitan areas," said Kautz.

"And looking forward, we forecast that 93 percent of the nation's future economic growth will be generated in our metro areas. It is clear that without productive, job-generating metro economies, we cannot have a robust economic recovery."

Among initiatives within the mayors' plan are Targeted Fiscal Relief for Cities, access to treasury and Troubled Asset Relief Program Credit, increased transportation funding including more TIGER grants, along with full funding of current programs, including Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Summer Youth Jobs, and increased access to credit for small businesses via the Small Business Administration.

Kautz continued, "Unfortunately, without additional help from the federal government, many of our cities will continue to experience very high unemployment rates. For example, by the end of 2011, 105 metro areas will still have unemployment rates of 10 percent or higher."

The Metro Agenda calls for a revamp of the Surface Transportation Program, specifically by calling for a sub-allocation of state funds to cities along with a higher level of mayoral decision-making and responsibility by reforming Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs).

Under the present system, the largest metropolitan areas, which account for 87 percent of congestion costs across the country, only receive 48 percent of state funding. The imbalance of investment into metro areas and their economic output underscores the mayors' argument for a funding process that is fairer to cities.

In her closing comments, Kautz said, "By the time we arrive at the Annual Conference in June, my goal, after listening to all of you, is to submit a specific plan of action on metro economies."