Washington, DC
March 25, 2005

Conference President Don Plusquellic over the past few weeks has done a masterful job for all Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) supporters to help build the alliance that gave us a great victory on the Senate floor during the budget debate as to whether or not CDBG is eliminated.

Key to our victory, in this first of many battles as we go forward on the CDBG issue, is Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. Senator Coleman, our friend and former Mayor of St. Paul, told us at our Winter Meeting last January that he would fight to save CDBG. During the National League of Cities Spring Meeting this month, Senator Coleman came to address the delegates and before his remarks he met with Mayor Plusquellic to announce he was working with the Senate Majority Leader to stop the move to transfer CDBG to HUD and virtually killing the CDBG Program that has done so much to help cities for over 30 years.

Norm Coleman championed this issue just as he promised to us last January. His amendment to retain funding for CDBG at HUD passed by a strong vote of 68-31. Also, we appreciate the support we received from Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes, a true friend of cities who supported CDBG inside the Senate Budget Committee on the Senate Floor.

Thanks to another CDBG champion, Congressman Mike Turner, former Mayor of Dayton, we appeared before his Committee as he chaired a special hearing on the CDBG issue, March 1. One of our new stars in this fight is West Virginia City Councilman Jim Hunt, Vice President of NLC. Mr. Hunt has spent much of his life dedicated to housing in his region. He can "talk the talk" about the value of CDBG and housing before any group because he has "walked the walk" for many years experiencing the progress he others have made with CDBG and housing.

We could not have had this victory without the support of The National League of Cities and The National Association of Counties. NACo President Lake County, Illinois Commissioner Angelo Kyle, NLC President D.C. Mayor Tony Williams and USCM President Don Plusquellic stood united at both of the NACo and NLC Spring Meetings here in Washington. On March 15 we supported NLC's Lobby Day and the week before the thousands of NACo delegates hit the Capital Hill brandishing "Save CDBG" buttons to demand full funding for CDBG at HUD. "Full Fund It and Don't Move It" was the message carried forward by NLC, NACo and USCM.

We have the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment (NAHRO), lead by former Laredo Mayor Saul Ramirez who serves as Executive Director, business groups as well as the other CDBG/Housing affiliates of USCM, NLC and NACo in our coalition working this issue as we go forward.

Grass Roots Activity

Throughout the nation Mayors and other local elected officials have held press conferences and rallies involving thousands of persons that are at work using CDBG funds to keep our cities and counties strong.

In Miami Mayor Manny Diaz has held a CDBG event every week. On March 23, a rally was held with 5,000 people protesting the CDBG elimination. Other events have been held and will continue as mayors use local media and citizens to help us tell the story.

Next month we take our case to join with the New Jersey Conference of Mayors to continue our lobbying efforts. Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer, President of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors will join with Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell as we continue to focus on every region in the country.

Next Step

We cannot rest on our win in the House and Senate Budget Committees. From day one, when this bad idea surfaced, we decided to keep our eyes on the Budget Committees and Appropriations Committees. The Appropriations Committees are our next target and all mayors and local officials need to understand that the wins we have in the Budget Committees are only victorious battles and we are not out of the woods yet. We must continue to be just as fierce with the Appropriations Committee Members. If we are as active with the Appropriations Committee Members as we were with the Budget Committee Members, we can win and save CDBG, but we must not let up. Over the next few weeks, please pay close attention to our notices and action alerts. As Members come to their home districts it is important that you contact them and use your offices to invite Members to join with you and your staffs and citizens to show Members of Congress what will be lost if they vote to cut or eliminate the CDBG program. Together, with your continued support, we can win this fight and thus continue to use our CDBG resources to strengthen our cities and counties.

On behalf of our President Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, we thank all mayors who, through the first part of 2005, stood up to keep CDBG alive. And again, we thank Mayor Plusquellic for his leadership in keeping our coalition focused and strong to stop the move to kill CDBG.

We are not there yet but we must win this one. As Mayor Plusquellic has said, this is the last of the many innovative initiatives that we put on the books working with President Nixon in his first term. If we don't continue to be vigilant, we will lose this one just like we did with General Revenue Sharing in the Carter and Reagan Administrations. While it is historic and symbolic, the proof is in results. Mayors must continue to show the media and the Congress how and what CDBG funds do to strengthen our cities and counties and the people we serve.

I urge all of you to continue to be vigilant, alert and active as we enter the next phase of activity — the Appropriations Committee process. Together — we can win to keep CDBG fully funded and to keep it at HUD where it belongs.

Contact your Members and get them out to show them what will happen to their constituents if they don't get the federal funds back to their constituents. Its time for your Senators and those Members on both sides of the aisle to understand, the loss of money to their constituents will be on them. We need some old fashion grass roots activity here and we know you know how to do it. Its time to talk straight — and be political in that wonderful bipartisan way that all of you know how to do. You are doing a great job. Keep it up. Don't stop until we put this bad idea to eliminate CDBG to bed — so that we can continue to use this flagship initiative to make our counties and cities strong for the people we serve in urban, suburban and rural America.