March 29, 2004

Nashville is America's Friendliest City according to Travel & Leisure magazine and America Online Travel's "America's Favorite Cities" Poll 2004. The online survey of nearly half a million AOL members asked travelers what they like most about 25 U.S. cities. Participants voted on cities they lived in or had traveled to in a variety of categories. This is the second straight year Nashville has garnered this distinction, as noted by Mayor Bill Purcell.

Travelers also heralded Nashville's Christmas holiday season as the fourth best in the U.S., and recognized the city for its unique neighborhoods, ranking Nashville sixth in the "Interesting Neighborhoods" category.

Survey results are available on the magazine's website at www.travelandleisure.com and will be featured in Travel & Leisure magazine's April issue.

Purcell reports that Today's Travel & Leisure/AOL Travel's survey announcement provides further proof of what the city already knows ... Nashville is a great place to visit and call home.

Erie (PA) Mayor Richard E. Filippi March 18 welcomed and met with a Chinese Delegation and company executives from Knox Western as part of a business development opportunity with Knox Western.

The purpose of the visit was to discuss and review design work of a natural gas compression package according to a contract their company has with Knox Western and a China-based company.

According to Filippi, "The world is getting smaller and this is a prime example. We are finding opportunities where we can to enhance and help our local businesses grow and maintain their positions as leaders in their fields."

Knox Western is a leading manufacturer of natural gas compressors and packages with a worldwide distribution.

Mayor's Appearance on HBO Real Time with Bill Maher—US Conference of Mayors

Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick engaged in one of America's most "politically incorrect" forums—HBO's RealTime Live with Bill Maher on February 27. Kilpatrick, along with actor Sir Ian McKellan and former EPA Administrator Christi Todd Whitman, rounded out Maher's weekly panel discussing such topics as free speech, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ," and same-sex marriage.

In typical RealTime fashion, the panel enjoyed several laughs while offering interesting views on the week's most talked about political subjects. One of the more compelling segments of the show came during the discussion on same-sex marriage when Kilpatrick commented, "I don't believe that the government should be in a position of protectionism. I think that the government and the President should be talking about how we're going to get jobs going, how we're going to support and provide health care for Americans, how we're going to get cities back on the right track."

USA Today Highlights Role of Big-City Mayors

USA Today, in its March 24 edition, had a lengthy profile on changes in various city halls across the country. The article notes that the 90's featured big city mayors with national profiles, and was a time when mayors were being hailed for dramatic urban accomplishments. Says the article, "Mayors were hailed as saviors on the covers of national news magazines."

Today's mayors, it continues, "Face the unglamorous task of running cities when budgets are tight, unemployment is stubbornly high and crime rates are rising after near-record lows."

Profiles of four mayors are part of the article: Jane Campbell of Cleveland, Shirley Franklin of Atlanta, C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Bart Peterson of Indianapolis.

The article continues that current mayors may be off the national radar screen, and lists how the urban environment has changed since 2000.

Some of the causes mentioned for the lowered visibility of the new big-city mayors:

• Economic downturn, and the fact that local tax revenue is not growing as fast as the 90's and the fact that cities are losing jobs;
• 9/11. Mayors must spend more money on local homeland security efforts while trying to revive tourism and convention business;
• A new urgency for bread and butter issues on the local level;
• Less federal support; and
• Regionalism. When residents and jobs move to the suburbs, the need for regional cooperation "often takes the spotlight off the big-city mayor."

A featured mayor is Denver's new Mayor John Hickenlooper, 52 who is credited with visiting public schools even though Denver doesn't run them and is attacking a $70 million deficit by eliminating automatic pay raises for city workers and making them take five days off without pay.

Other Quotes in USA Today Article

"All these mayors are being so squeezed, they don't have time for anything except to make ends meet," says William Hudnut, former mayor of Indianapolis and senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute, a research and education group that promotes innovative development. "Their noses are so close to the grindstone that nobody can see their faces."

"Mayors aren't doing fun stuff anymore," says Ned Hill professor of economic development at Cleveland State University. "What they're doing is managing their books, managing their financial crises at a time when the federal government doesn't have an urban policy."

Laredo Mayor Betty Flores greets guests at the annual event hosted by her city March 17 in Washington, DC. Several hundred guests mingled with Laredo council members, and Texas "expatriates" living in the Washington area. The children shown are from a Laredo elementary school, visiting Washington as part of a singing tour across the country.