Washington, DC
March 2, 2012

Only one percent of American businesses export their services and products. And of that one percent, over half of those American companies export to only one market. Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers live outside the USA. Billions of consumers want American products.

During the decade ahead of us, exports will account for 40 percent of real U.S. economic growth, a significant increase over the last decade when it was 27 percent. And in the next ten years, experts say export growth will average eight percent annually.

The fastest growing middle class countries wanting USA products are: Qatar, Vietnam, India, China, and Panama.

These are some of the facts mayors learned at the first-ever United States Conference of Mayors National Meeting on Ports and Exports in Jacksonville last week. Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown led a landmark session on Ports at the opening morning session composed of mayors, ports directors and export and import experts. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak led the discussion on exports during our opening day afternoon. The second day featured an international forum designed and implemented by Host Mayor Alvin Brown featuring our dynamic President, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Mayor Brown produced a forum on a Saturday morning where a 100 plus group of successful Jacksonville business men and women showed up to participate in a strong give and take question and answer session that was most interesting and beneficial to all present.

The ports discussion began the first day with Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster headlining the opening session with a most brilliant multi-colored power point presentation that grasped those present and provided to them takeaway information on the infrastructure needs of our nation.

Mayor Foster and Mayor Villaraigosa reminded us that it was just a few years ago that the Long Beach/Los Angeles port was the fourth largest in the world, but in a only a few short years the fast building and development in China have added new ports. By container traffic, the L.A. port now ranks 16th in the world and Long Beach 17th. Combined they rank as the fifth largest port in the world (2008 stats), outranked by the Asian ports of Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen.

Tallahassee Mayor John Marks spoke of a trip to China where he learned that a major port there was built from nothing in six years.

On the eastern part of the USA, Mayor Brown of Jacksonville reminded us of the newly widened Panama Canal happening in 2014. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley has been a strong voice calling for USA infrastructure development which involves dredging to depths of 50 feet. No response from our federal government means we lose business to Caribbean transhipment hubs.

Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown continues to hammer the jobs issue pointing out that the Jacksonville Port provides 65,000 jobs with an average annual wage of $44,0000.

The movement of goods to and from ports is a major issue. Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, upon taking office in 2006, chaired a Task Force on Sustainable Freight and Goods Movement. In Jacksonville last week, he continued to call for a national freight policy. Mayor Foster stresses the hard fact that the United States of America does not have a national freight policy and he says we need one if we are going to compete in today’s world with China and other nations.

We also learned so much from other cities, both inland and coastal of all sizes, that have been most successful exporting goods and producing jobs for their cities. Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola cites his unemployment rate; it’s lower than the state and national average. He says it is the exporting of goods from his river ports that has produced the jobs causing his city to dodge the great recession. North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays echoed the success stories of the two cities facing each other on the Arkansas River.

One of the most lucid and on point best practice stories was given by Samuel DeShazior, Deputy Planning Director for Akron, Ohio. Staff and members of the Conference and the nation are aware of Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic’s leadership in transforming Akron from a one industry rubber industry to new sectors such as polymer goods. He has dedicated his time and energy by leading missions to the Hanover, Germany trade shows. Mayor Plusquellic charged ahead when he was criticized by the naysayers. And Akron now stands at the top of many lists for cities bringing in new jobs and investments. He has been and still is a strong advocate for the nation’s mayors to move forward with their own city international business and investment initiatives.

West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon was eloquent in charging that we must move forward with or without our federal government and he provided us all with many action items that will be developed for mayors to consider and accept at our 80th Annual Meeting in Orlando in June.

Perhaps the greatest words of advice to all of us assembled in Jacksonville came from Mesa Mayor Scott Smith at the forum led by Mayors Brown and Villaraigosa the last day. Mayor Smith recalled that back in the late 1950s, the Russians launched Sputnik and at first we were scared and then we got “pissed off” and showed the Russians up and outdid them by going to the moon and thus capturing the imagination of all on our planet. Mayor Smith says it’s time for us to get pissed off again about the lack of our own nation’s infrastructure investments for our metro areas.

The call for a smart national nation building action plan is here. It was the longest war in our history and the greatest recession since the Great Depression. Our President, L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, our Vice President Mayor Michael Nutter, our Second Vice President Mayor Scott Smith, and Mayor Alvin Brown will work with the nation’s bipartisan mayors to present to the nation our own nation-building plan. And we will present to both President Obama and the Republican nominee a plan they will not be able to ignore.

I look forward to working with our officers, Mayors Villaraigosa, Nutter and Smith as we prepare and adopt a smart national nation building plan for our own country, for our own cities, and for our own people here in America as we assemble for our 80th Annual Conference of Mayors in Orlando, June 13-16. Put it on your calendar now. The Orlando Annual Meeting is one you must not miss.