Mayors and some of the nation's top CEOs met with President George W. Bush last week to begin work on a new partnership to promote cities during the Bush administration's first term.

The White House meeting was a culmination of the first Summit for Investment in the New American City led by Boise Mayor and Conference of Mayors President H. Brent Coles. Held in Washington, D.C. April 4-5, the Summit was sponsored by the Conference of Mayors and its newly created Council for Investment in the New American City. The Council consists of a group of mayors and the nation's top CEOs who have banded together to promote a new American urban renaissance.

In his remarks, the President called for a five point platform for the continued renewal of cities: better education, broader home ownership, faster economic growth, easier environmental cleanup, and stronger communities and charities.

In introducing President Bush to the 30 mayors in the Rose Garden, Coles told the President: "The mayors of America stand ready to assist you in any way to move forward the issues of this nation."

Sending a strong signal that cities were important to his administration, the President graciously welcomed the mayors and honored cities as the harbingers of America's opportunities, dreams and cultural diversity.

"Our cities are the testing ground for the American Dream," the President told the mayors and CEOs. "They're places where young people go to begin their careers. They're places where new immigrants arrive to look for work and a better life. They're places where people of every background seek to fulfill the promise of our country," Bush said.

This presidential language about cities was markedly different from the language of past decades where "urban blight", "mass exodus", and "homicide" were used to characterize the American urban experience. The President seemed far removed from these past images as he painted a far more buoyant picture of the current state of the American city.

"When we look at our cities, we see our highest aspirations, our incredible diversity, our greatest achievements and our most pressing challenges." " Across America, in cities large and small, a generation of bold and reforming mayors have restored safety to streets and restored prosperity to our nation' downtowns. And for that, our country is grateful," he told the mayors.

The meeting was a watershed event for the nation's mayors and CEOs who chose to hold their first meeting with a new president together, sending a strong message that cities and business were shaping a new coalition to promote the continued comeback of American cities.

The President's platform for continued renewal of American cities reflected the public/private nature of that coalition. The president called for brownfields legislation to attract private investment to cleanup and develop some 450,000 polluted industrial sites, many of which are found in cities. He called for new programs to help boost higher home ownership rates for lower income families and minorities, many of whom are urban residents.

He told the mayors he would propose a higher budget increase for the Department of Education than any other department, tripling funds for preschool and school reading programs in year one. "Education reform costs money, and this administration is willing to spend it," he said.

The President also linked the quality of schools to attracting middle class families back to urban neighborhoods, a connection mayors have been touting locally for several years now. The President confirmed what mayors have been saying locally "Parents leave cities when they mistrust public schools. Parents stay when they have confidence in the public school system."

The mayors were one of the first groups of local officials to meet with the President within the first 100 days of his administration. He deferentially acknowledged several of them, saying they had one of the toughest jobs in America, and clearly acknowledging that cities were in the process of renewal.

Following his address to the mayors, the President lingered in the Rose Garden informally chatting with mayors and CEOs and calling the beautiful spring day the nicest since he has been in the White House.