April 2, 2007

Sugar Land (TX) Mayor David G. Wallace was featured in the March edition of Fort Bend Lifestyles and Homes Magazine, with a circulation of over 100,000 homes, promoting the Conference of Mayors’ 10-Point Plan.

In a lengthy article, Wallace, who is a Trustee and Co-Chair of the Homeland Security Task Force, outlined every agenda priority, saying, “The Plan, if fully embraced and supported by Congress and the Administration, will benefit everyone in our Fort Bend County community, as well as in communities across the nation.”

Wallace was also featured in the same magazine promoting Sugar Land’s Internet safety program, called “Keep Kids E-Safe,” which has been showcased as a best practice by the Conference of Mayors.

Houston Mayor Bill White has been named one of two recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award March 15. White’s award was based on his work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Houston welcomed hundreds of thousands of people who fled the Gulf Coast after the hurricane in 2005. The city matched evacuees with housing, jobs and education, and the mayor mobilized more than 100,000 residents to help.

Caroline Kennedy, president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, credited White’s quick actions evacuating thousands of families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita most certainly helped to save lives.

The other recipient is Doris Voitier, head of schools in St. Bernard Parish (LA). When Katrina struck, Voitier took out loans, secured portable classrooms and rented trailers for displaced teachers to reopen schools.

The awards will be presented May 21 in Boston.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson was the subject of a front page New York Times profile on March 22. The headline: “In Utah, an Opponent of the ‘Culture of Obedience.’”

The profile describes Anderson as a liberal mayor in a conservative state and mentions Anderson’s support on such issues as endorsing impeachment of President Bush, strong opposition to the Iraq war, support for climate/environmental protection, and gay and lesbian rights. Anderson, 55, is described as a “lapsed Mormon” and said recently he would not seek a third term, saying he wanted to devote the rest of his life to grassroots organizations involving human rights and global warming.

The March 26 Wall Street Journal has an article outlining Austin Mayor Will Wynn’s efforts to take the lead on a variety of measures to combat pollution and global warming. Wynn, chair of the Conference of Mayors Energy Committee, is seeking energy for Texas’ capital city from wind and plug-in cars. His car, a new version of the electric car called the Plug-In, runs almost entirely on electricity and has a big rechargeable battery. Wynn’s new twist: he sees the parked cars plugged into a network operated by the city’s utility, which would then use the batteries as a big storage system from which to draw power during peak demand times.

Another major national story on mayoral efforts to take over public school systems! This one, on the front page of the March 21 USA Today, documents various moves by mayors to improve public schools. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, among them, is convinced that his city’s overflowing classrooms and sagging test scores lead him to emulate similar moves by Boston, New York City and several other cities to redirect school governance. Quotes the article: “City mayors increasingly see poor-performing schools as a hindrance to economic development and see themselves as super-managers who can fix them.”