March 31, 2003

Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory joined U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez, Congressmen Mel Watt and Robin Hayes, and a coalition of public and private organizations last week to call attention to the importance of strengthening America's communities by closing the homeownership gap for minority families. They spoke at the ground breaking of a new affordable town home project in the predominantly minority neighborhood of Lincoln Heights in Charlotte.

"Charlotte has long been known as a City that promotes partnerships," said Mayor McCrory. "Being able to work with many public and private partners to support the President's homeownership goals while also addressing the City's affordable housing goals demonstrates the power of partnerships."

As a result of the announcement, Northwest Corridor CDC will construct two separate town home projects. The finished homes will sell for less than $110,000. The project boosts minority homeownership opportunities by offering homebuyer education, affordable new construction, down payment assistance, and flexible mortgage products. According to a 2002 HUD report, while nearly three-fourths of white households are homeowners, less than half of minority households own their own homes.

Last week, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley readied his city for the filming of a firefighter drama, "Ladder 49" which is expected to bring a cash infusion to the local economy.

Mayor O'Malley welcomed the key actor, John Travolta, as an article in the March 17 edition of Washington Times appeared, crediting the mayor for spearheading the effort to bring the filming action to his city.

The film, scheduled to come out next year, will bring about 300 direct jobs and more than 1,000 indirect jobs to the city, says producer Casey Silver. The Maryland Film Office estimates that movies inject more than $48 million into Baltimore's economy last year.

San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. has unveiled a new brand of bottled water which draws from the city's Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park. In an article in the March 26 New York Times, Mayor Brown said he came up with the idea after watching restaurant goers in San Francisco order imported (and expensive) bottled water.

Mayor Brown bought the first half-liter bottle for $1.25, appearing before a bank of television cameras.

The bottled water will be sold only at city-owned outlets, like the city's convention center and the zoo. Profits will be spent on improving the Hetch Hetchy system — located 160 miles east of San Francisco.

On March 24, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick hosted a Homeland Security Town Hall Meeting with city residents to address their concerns about the threat of terrorism. Mayor Kilpatrick, along with police, fire and other public safety officials, met with the public to display new emergency preparedness gear and answer questions regarding the city's capabilities to prevent and respond to potential threats. Citizens were comforted by the fact that Detroit has been preparing for more than a year to improve their ability to respond to any potential catastrophic event. Cities across America have been bearing the burden of additional homeland security spending, including overtime cost for police, and firefighters, as well as expensive new equipment needed to prepare for any possible biological or chemical attack. "We definitely need funding," Kilpatrick told citizens and reporters.

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, the first Puerto Rican mayor of a large American city, is profiled in the March 2003 issue of Hispanic magazine, a national publication. The article led with the fact that Perez was warmly welcomed at a reception by 28 Puerto Rican mayors during the Annual Winter Meeting of the Conference of Mayors in January in Washington.

Perez, a Democrat and political newcomer, presides over a new "strong mayor" government following a November 5, 2002 charter resolution. This replaced the existing council-manager form of government and cleared the way for the new mayor to focus on improvements in the public school system, and pushing a $750 million building improvement fund.

Perez, 44, was born in Corozal, Puerto Rico, and migrated with his family to the mainland when he was nine.

A graduate of Trinity College, he as also been a VISTA volunteer, working as a neighborhood organizer. He is up for re-election (to a four-year term) in November.

Strong Mayor Form of Government Prevails in Redmond (WA)

From a Redmond City Hall March 25 News Release

A special election to change Redmond's (WA) form of government from Strong Mayor/Council to Council/Manager was defeated by the voters on March 11, 2003. In an unexpectedly high turnout (31 percent) for a single-issue ballot, 70 percent of Redmond residents who voted said no to changing their government, affirming confidence in a separately elected Mayor to lead their city into the future.

Redmond has had a strong mayor form of government since its inception in 1912. The mayor became a fulltime paid position in 1979. Since then Redmond has had three different women executives at the helm. Rosemarie Ives, the current mayor, is in the last year of her third four-year term. "We're very fortunate to have a great city that's in great shape — we-ve got a vision; we-ve got a very competent and responsible management team; we-ve got a good funding base and we-ve got a community that cares about its future," stated Ives after the election results were counted.

The special election was called for by the city council after a citizen committee appointed to study the governance issue in Redmond recommended a hybrid form of government, both a directly elected mayor and a city manager. The ballot measure given to voters varied from the committee recommendation in that it eliminated the directed elected mayor position and opted for a Council/Manager form of government only.

Financial support varied greatly between the pro and con organizations for the ballot measure. Citizens for Redmond's Future, the group supporting the measure, received a large amount of its funding from three organizations: the ICMA (Washington, D.C. based International City Managers Association — $8000), the Alliance for Eastside Business ($5000), and the Affordable Housing Council (political arm of the Master Builders Association — in-kind contribution of $8000). The opposing organization, Redmond Residents for Responsive Government, gained the majority of its funding from $25 and $50 contributions from individual Redmond residents.

Though the issue seemed to divide the city between developers and residents, Ives spoke for many when she stated that it was now time to set aside personal beliefs and continue devoting energy to what is most important — providing for the future needs of Redmond.