By Sue Mason
February 13, 2012

Garden City Mayor Randy Walker has a few things to say about his recent trip to Washington (DC): “It was great, it was cool and definitely an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Walker was among 250 mayors who attended the recent United States Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in the nation’s Capitol, a conference he attended at the behest of Westland Mayor William Wild. Knowing Garden City’s financial situation, Walker paid for the entire trip, which cost $2,000.

“I want to thank Mayor Wild for giving me the heads-up,” said Walker. “He told me about the invitation to visit the White House and that I had to come. It was an opportunity of a lifetime.”

“I’m the Michigan ambassador for the conference and one of the things I do is recruit members,” said Wild. “While Garden City is too small because its population is under 30,000, I thought it would be good for him to attend.”

According to Wild, the speakers at the conference are members of President Barack Obama’s administration. Attending the sessions “gives you unfettered access to ask questions.”

“That’s why I thought it would be a great opportunity for him,” Wild said. “We’re all facing the same issues.”

Wild, who has been attending the conference since he became mayor in 2007, said he feels like he’s “attending mayors college” when he goes the conference. Everyone is treated the same whether they’re the mayor of Los Angeles and Philadelphia or Westland.

The two men picked from a variety of meetings. Walker focused on a meeting with the Environmental Protection Agency about water as well as childhood obesity.

“All the mayors in the water meeting were giving the EPA a lot of heat about a lot of unfunded mandates like our $40 million catch basin,” he said. “They were telling them to be more realistic and come to the table with plans and funding.”

He also learned in the other meeting the effect childhood obesity is having on the next generation.

“Every generation’s lifespan has gotten longer, but this generation is starting to go the other way because of childhood obesity,” he said, adding that he plans to share his information with the Garden City Public Schools.

Wild served as a panel member on a session on how communities use social media. Westland utilizes Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Livestream to communicate with residents. But he also tried to get more information on the police grants to see how Westland can get some of the funding to hire more officers and investigated the Mayors’ Institute on City Design to see what benefits it might have for the city which faces the prospect of replacing its aging city hall.

“There’s an opportunity to apply to the institute and if your accepted, you meet with a group of professors at Harvard and they look at the city and what you want to do, then tell you the things to look out for so you don’t make any mistakes,” he said.

He also attended a task force meeting on how to get on the radar for new franchises. While a lot of it was meant for inner cities, it had a lot of good information about how to make a city franchise friendly, information he is sharing with the city’s Community Development Department.

But the highlight for both men was a White House reception and a chance to meet President Barack Obama. While many of the mayors toured portions of the White House, Walker followed Wild’s advice and staked out his spot by the rope near the podium. He waited there for more than 45 minutes.

“They would come up and tell him that the President wouldn’t be out for another hour, he didn’t move,” said Wild who found his spot a few feet away so he could snap a photo of Walker with the President and vice versa.

“I got chill bumps,” said Walker. “There was all kinds of noise and then you hear, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.’ It was surreal. Here’s the most powerful man in the world and I got to shake his hand.”

That’s not all Walker got to do. He also participated in a conference call to talk about Garden City with the White House, which was looking for stories to tie in with the President’s State of the Union Address. Garden City didn’t make the cut, but Walker was able to tell them about the city and the challenges it’s facing.

“The auto companies are on the rebound, however, we are still hurting,” Walker said in a follow-up e-mail. “I think President Obama’s speech theme should definitely cover jobs, foreclosures, and infrastructure. U.S. cities are the backbone of America, where the leather hits the pavement. We need to put America back to work with skilled jobs. As you know when people make money they spend money and the economy takes off in the right direction.”

Walker also got to share the stage with a group of mayors who stood around the podium as the mayor of Los Angeles delivered the opening speech. It aired on C'sPAN, and he also had the chance to introduce himself to the viewing audience.

“This gave me the opportunity to meet with mayors from all over the U.S. and learn some best practices,” he said. “I enjoyed it thoroughly. I spent a lot of time in the meetings, there was so much to pick and choose from, things you think will work for your city.”

“It was very interesting, very educational,” he said.

Walker is thankful Wild urged him to attend the conference, something he would like to do again.

“Westland has an fantastic mayor,” he said. “He’s straight up and very professional. Westland’s lucky to have him.”

smason@hometownlife.com

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