By Tom Cochran, Kay Scrimger and Geri Powell
April 10, 2006

U.S. Conference of Mayors President Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill led the third Conference mission to Poland March 17–24, with delegates meeting with President Lech Kazczynski, United States Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe, Warsaw Mayor Miroslaw Kowalski, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland.

During the mission to the cities of Warsaw and Krakow, the mayoral delegation placed memorial wreaths at Auschwitz and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising Monument.

Other members of the O’Neill Mission were Conference Past President Charleston (SC) Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace and Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran.

American Airlines, through the assistance of John Carpenter, Vice President of Corporate Affairs and member of the Mayors Business Council, provided transportation for the delegation.

Ashe, a Conference of Mayors past president, who served as mayor of Knoxville for twelve years, briefed the delegation on the politics, economy, culture, demographics, and international position of Poland, including U.S.-Polish relations.

From 1990, when the first democratic elections were held in Poland since the 1930’s, until 2002, city councils in Poland elected the mayor. In 2002, the first direct elections for mayor took place. Upcoming elections this year will mark the second time direct elections of mayors will occur.

Ashe also pointed out that U.S.-Polish relations are basically strong. Poland’s President, accompanied by Ashe, came to the United States in February 2006 and met with President George W. Bush February 9.

Ashe participated in all meetings of the delegation in Warsaw and provided important insights and support. In addition, he ensured that the U.S. Embassy staff in Warsaw and the U.S. Consulate in Krakow lent support to the Mission.

The mayors were most appreciative of Ashe's successful effort in arranging a meeting with the newly elected President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, who was elected to the Presidency in 2005. It was just last year that the Conference of Mayors delegation and Ashe met with Kaczynski when he was mayor of Warsaw.

O'Neill opened the substantive meeting with Kaczynski thanking him for his leadership, innovations, and overall vision in being a strong catalyst in making Warsaw a leading European city on many fronts. O'Neill also praised the President's efforts and vision on establishing the National museum dedicated to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1944.

The U.S. mayors, Ashe and Kaczynski also discussed the visa policy challenges relating to Polish citizens wanting to visit the USA.

The U.S. mayoral delegation, led by Conference President Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill, met March 20 in Warsaw with Ashe and leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland (AmCham) to discuss key issues impacting cities and the business community in Poland and the United States.

The meeting, presided over by Ashe and O’Neill, was opened by Ashe, who emphasized his commitment to US investment in Poland by providing highlights of his recent mission to Long Beach and other cities to seek investors and grow the number of companies in Poland.

O’Neill followed the Ambassador’s comments with a strong statement about business and cities working together saying, “I know public private partnerships work. Such partnerships helped make changes in our city.”

AmCham Board Chairman Roman Rewald responded with an overview of AmCham priorities, background on infrastructure needs in Poland, and a snapshot of challenges and obstacles to the establishment of public private partnerships as a viable approach to the infrastructure needs in Poland.

Emphasizing that the construction of roads should have the private sector involved, Rewald stated, “Roads are the most important infrastructure priority.”

A lively discussion followed with Sugar Land Mayor Wallace highlighting numerous approaches to working with the private sector, including outsourcing, BOT’s, and tax incentives.

According to AmCham Board member Richard Lada of Motorola, the government disagrees and believes foreign capital is not good for Poland but “there is a need for foreign investment in Poland because there is a need for more capital in Poland “

Charlotte Mayor McCrory pointed out the importance of an open and transparent process to address skepticism about public private contracts and said “almost everything we do in our city is in cooperation with business.”

Further discussion about the success of public private partnerships in the United States, was followed by Charleston Mayor Riley’s offer to share his city’s best practices for container management at his port, which is the fourth largest container port in the U.S and has doubled its’ trade with Poland since 1999.

Nashville Mayor Purcell, whose city ranks number one for relocation of corporate headquarters, echoed the importance of business to his city and emphasized his strong focus as mayor on the business side of his responsibilities

Stressing the importance of the business community in U.S. cities and within the Conference of Mayors, Conference Executive Director Cochran referred to the decrease in federal funding to cities and stated strongly that, “The U.S. federal government needs to invest in cities.”

Rewald said the mantra of AmCham is “pioneering change” and summed up the discussion, saying, ”A key message to the President of Poland is that Poland needs to make an effort and to take the necessary steps, such as tax incentives, to attract business - something hard in the short term but that pays off on the long term.”

Members of AmCham included AmCham Chairman and Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Roman Rewald, Vice-Chairman and Vice President of Motorola, Richard Lada, and Board members Marek Sowa (VP UPC), Robert Konski (VP and Country Manager, Euronet), Judith Gliniecki (Junior Partner Rymar I Wspolnicy), Aleksander Granowski (VP WS Atkins),George Osypowicz (Donau Trading), David Ponsar (US Commercial Service). AmCham Executive Director Dorota Dabroska, who was instrumental in working with the Conference of Mayors in organizing the meeting, also participated in the discussion.

The mayors of the 2006 delegation and Cochran discussed many issues with Warsaw Mayor Kochalski, who said, “Even given the many years since its founding, Warsaw is a young city measured by the massive investment in its first subway line, its annual budget spending, and plans for implementation of its 2020 strategy.”

Joining the mayor was Miska Borowski, Chief Architect of Warsaw, who described Warsaw’s critical needs for infrastructure investment. “We need to ensure additional housing,” he said, “plus the building of two bridges in the next two years.”

Borowski described the attitude toward architecture saying, “It is considered a dessert and not considered integral. In the West countries over decades have planned and built, and their laws have changed over decades moving more and more toward the restrictive. In contrast, since Poland entered the European Union, suddenly we must build very quickly because of the demands on our country and its infrastructure needs, and at the same time must comply with European rules.”

O’Neill stated, “In Warsaw, we can see challenges but also a great renaissance is taking place.”

Riley described the Mayors Institute of City Design, a joint program of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the University of Virginia School of Architecture, Charlottesville. More than 600 U.S. mayors have attended these institutes, which focus on city planning and urban design.

Borowski emphasized the “Polish Constitution does not defend people from ugliness. This is a problem we must solve in another way. Developers are very strong here. We hope the new government will listen more closely to our concepts for good design.”

Riley responded, saying, “If there is any way we can help with urban design and in making sure that what is planned for Warsaw is a great public decision, we will be glad to do so.”

Kochalski asked how the U.S. mayors define public/private partnerships, determine the costs for the public, and norms and standards in the U.S. for relationships between business and the public sector. Commenting, he said “I believe the ethical standards we have in Warsaw now are of the highest level, but we need some guidance on how to organize so that we are credible to the people. We must build up trust among the people.”

Purcell pointed out that Warsaw’s restoration after its near complete destruction in World War II – more than 80 percent of its built environment destroyed and most of its population killed or driven from the city – is an important lesson to the rest of the world.

“I can’t think of any better place that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast can look to for experience and lessons in ingenuity, hope, and resilience of the human spirit,” Purcell said. “Warsaw’s message gives the world so much hope,” he added.

The 2006 Mission is the third Conference delegation to Poland. In October 1990, the Conference first took a group of mayors to Poland to hold three mayor leadership institutes with the first democratically elected mayors in Poland since the mid thirties. Cochran served as an election observer for the 1990 local elections held in Poland.

Held in Warsaw, Krakow, and Rzeszow, these sessions brought four mayors, then Conference President York (PA) Mayor William Althaus, Modesto Mayor Carol Whiteside, East Orange Mayor Cardell Cooper, Newton Mayor Ted Mann and Cochran together with more than 150 Polish mayors to discuss a variety of urban issues as well as challenges for new mayors.

In September 2004, the Conference of Mayors returned to Poland, with then Conference President Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic, Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido and Cochran to meet with then Mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kacyznski, business leaders through the American Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw, and Ashe.