Washington, DC
February 20, 2009

Since our Winter Meeting, our efforts continued with two more delegations of mayors coming to Washington lobbying for our key priorities contained within the $787 billion stimulus plan, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The bill that cleared the House and Senate was quite different from the stimulus bill that was passed by the House and rejected by the Senate last September. These earlier stimulus packages did not contain monies for CDBG, STP Transportation Funds, Transit, High Speed Rail, Wastewater and Drinking Water grants, COPS, and Byrne grants, Brownfield grants, etc.

Following our Leadership Meeting in Florida, we went to work. We developed our MainStreet Stimulus program with our “Ready to Go” projects.

We pushed hard in testimony on October 29th given by Mayors Jerry Abramson before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Doug Palmer before the House Ways and Means Committee.

Throughout October, November and December we did update after update with our “ready to go” projects, releasing our updates around the time the federal government released their monthly unemployment statistics.

It was not until on the eve of our Winter Meeting, four days before the Inauguration that we saw components of the “new and improved” stimulus containing the priorities mayors had approved and were advocating. Mayors were pleased with the House passed bill but we didn’t stop there.

We have been back to D.C. twice since President Obama took the oath. The White House has been opened for us. A delegation of mayors went there on February 4, and later met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and met with their own Senators.

The following week the mayors came back to be here for the moment in history when the Senate and House decided on the final stimulus bill.

To many, including myself and mayors like Joe Riley, Doug Palmer and Don Plusquellic, the ones who have been in the business of mayoring for decades – it was indeed an emotional moment. So many of the things that we had fought for and lost in the past were finally won on that day.

This week on Tuesday, February 17, President Obama signed the ARRA bill. The landmark legislation calls on mayors of the nation to move forward, working with our new President, to help him and his Cabinet to meet his goal of creating 3 million jobs by December 31, 2010.

We are this week headed to meet with President Obama and five of his Cabinet Officers, the Secretaries of HUD, Energy, Transportation, Education and the Attorney General. These five Cabinet Officers will administer billions of dollars that will soon be sent to our cities.

There are different issues with each of the five:

1. The issue with the Education Department is to make sure the monies reach many of our cities to modernize the school houses and school rooms for the purpose of having a place for our children that is conducive to learning so they can compete for our future. Language in the legislation provides the monies may be used for education “and other purposes.” The phrase “other purposes” could be interpreted to include the State’s necessity to balance its budget.

2. The challenge before us with the Transportation Department is indeed a cultural and political one. State Highway Departments in many states rule the roost and dictate, along with rural legislatures, and prevent the modernization of the metro transportation systems that are needed today. President Obama’s vision as well as the Congressional inclusion of billions in the stimulus bill for metro funds, transit and high speed rail is the new way in our century. Mayors will be vigilant on this issue as we implement the transportation funds for balanced transportation systems in metro area where new systems are needed to replace outmoded systems. This is an opportunity for our nation to finally approach our future, recognizing that the interstate highway system, now 50 years old, must be supplemented with alternative modes of travel.

3. HUD, the agency created for us in 1965, in recent years has been somewhat dormant. While the CDBG program, long a stalwart of the mayors, the agency we call our own has under the ARRA legislation been given billions of new money that will require a close relationship, already begun, with our new Secretary, Shaun Donovan. Mayor Diaz and I, along with Gene Lowe met with him recently. Together we will work with our new Secretary to implement the HUD part of ARRA.

4. Urban/metro academicians’ professionals and the new Administration will soon learn that HUD is not the center of our universe as it was in the Clinton Administration. The Energy Department is our New Frontier in 2009. While others scoffed, it was The United States Conference of Mayors organization, with its new breed of mayors who pushed for our energy block grant. We conceived it, pushed it and won it even with Bush in the White House. Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Chaka Fattah helped us immensely. Today we have over 900 mayors signed on to our Mayors Climate Protection agreement. When Clinton left office, we were not primary players in the “green” political movement. Today, we are undeniably the leader of all the elected group of officials in our nation. We must work with Secretary Chu and Energy/Climate Czar Carol Browner to create green jobs as we know how to do. The great work we have begun puts us in a defining moment for our nation.

5. The Attorney General, Eric Holder, is no stranger to us. And the ARRA initiatives, COPS and Byrne grants are not strangers either. In the stimulus legislation mayors pushed for a public safety initiative and we won it. Unfortunately in this country crime is still alive and it is our responsibility with our outstanding police departments to keep all of us safe and secure. Additional police officers will help us with the recent spikes of burglary and theft. Today’s police departments need new forensic technological tools, and labs to help our first responders fight crime. We look forward to working with the Justice Department and to pick up where we were when Bill Clinton was in office before the COPs program was drastically reduced.

So here we are with a lot of work to do. Some of it will be easier than others when you consider some of the challenges I have mentioned. Red tape at the federal level and even more at the State level is a menace toward job creation and we must call it when we see and feel it. Federal agencies with old ways must recognize that this is the time for newer ways of doing things. Together we will work with our new President to reach his 3 million jobs he has set as his goal.

This week President Obama is welcoming Conference President Mayor Diaz and our leadership back to The White House in a genuine and meaningful manner. This Administration is proving that they are listening to mayors. And mayors will prove to him and his team that mayors will deliver and through this bond of trust and understanding, we can get him to the promised land with 3 million jobs he has set as his goal. Through this experience we will emerge as a new nation so that we will indeed prove what others have dubbed, the Century of Cities. We are most thankful for President Obama’s leadership and Speaker Pelosi and Majority Reid and all Congressional leaders who have produced and put their money on us to help get the nation out of this economic mess. Mayors are energized within the United States Conference of Mayors more so than ever in our 76 year history.

All across America mayors are gearing up in cities, large and small, to provide jobs and opportunities to help move our nation toward economic recovery. The implementation stage begins now. There’s work to be done and the Mayors will do it.