Washington, DC
March 7, 2008

KEY WEST

Philadelphia Congressman Chaka Fattah came to our Leadership Meeting in Key West with a strong and encouraging message of commitment to fund our $2 billion Energy Block Grant this year. He is the new Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Urban Caucus and he also serves on the House Appropriations Committee. He charged all mayors to assist in the effort and he brought the ward that Speaker Pelosi is also committed to fund our $2 billion Energy Block Grant initiative passed by Congress and signed into law last year.

Following our Key West Meeting on February 29, we joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Trenton, N.J. where she, along with our President, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer, emphasized the need for more local climate protection initiative and job training for the new green jobs that will come as we move forward with new green industries and green careers.

Speaker Pelosi also expressed to President Palmer her continued support for funding our top priority, our $2 billion energy block grant legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last year.

The “Reentry” question continues to be a major concern for our cities. 750,000 persons reenter our cities after serving time in prison. Today more than one in 100 adults in the nation is in jail or prison.

We lead the world with more than 2.3 million behind bars. China, with a much larger population, is a distant second. In, New York, in conjunction with New York University, the City of New York, Public Private Ventures, the United States Conference of Mayors brought renewed focus on the critical question.

Conference President Palmer and other mayors brought best practices to this summit. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also shared with all outstanding best practices on the reentry issue in New York City.

Mayor Bloomberg’s keynote address to us at our Reentry Summit was the day after he had published an editorial in The N.Y. Times stating that he has decided not to run for President. In the editorial he indicated he will continue to be a voice in pushing forth strong recommendations to Senators Obama, Clinton and McCain. He has leveraging power and we welcome his support and the personal contribution he continues to give not just for New Yorkers, but for all citizens in our cities large, and small throughout America.

Mayor Bloomberg is brilliant in the way he talks about common sense solutions about the challenges mayors face every day. Conference President Doug Palmer introduced him last week, thanking him for his leadership in pushing our agenda forward. And we all urge Mayor Bloomberg to continue to do the same. We have eight months to go in this 2008 Presidential election! We must use every forum, and every political voice we have to tell the truth about what this country needs our next President to do to keep our metro-economies strong. Mayors are leading the way on a number of issues. We can point to solutions we are implementing that go beyond our own jurisdictions and are having a positive economic impact to the metro regions and to the nation.

We are pleased to report we are making progress in the Congress. This past week Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow was successful in her request to the Senate Budget Committee for funding energy block grants for cities, counties and states. This request and action is most helpful as we continue to push for the full $2 billion authorized by Congress last year.

We are pleased that the National League of Cities has placed full funding for the Energy Block Grant at the top of its list for legislative action this year. As US Mayor goes to press thousands of NLC delegates are arriving in Washington to take the message to Capitol Hill. Together, with continued hard work and the support of both Democratic and Republican leadership, we will succeed.

The response we are getting from cities across America is strong and we will continue our efforts until the funding is secured. Thanks for your continued support. With your help we can win this one and provide flexible and creative energy block grants for our cities and our people.