Washington, DC
April 21, 2011

Budget Slashing for Cities Continues

Like Sherman marching through Georgia, Washington's slashing and burning of key city investments continues. The last shutdown deal by President Obama and Congress amounts to a $647 million cut to our priority Community Development Block Grant program. In addition to the CDBG cuts agreed to by President Obama and Congress, High-Speed Rail is eliminated, Transit New Start Grants were cut by 20 percent, Homeland Security Grants were cut 18-24 percent, COPS and Byrne Justice Grants were cut 17 percent, Clean Water funding by 27 percent and Drinking Water funding was cut by 30 percent.

At a time when our cities are still being threatened, it is important to note that homeland security grants are now on Washington's chopping block. COPS and Byrne Justice grants were also added to priorities of The White House and Congress to cut.

Congress and the White House are now working on FY 2012 budget and appropriations approaching the debt ceiling debate and you can expect more cuts from The White House and The Congress.

These reductions for our cities and the American people continue in the discretionary portion of the federal budget totaling 12 percent.

As the slashing continues by Washington targeted to American cities, $150 billion a year is poured into the Afghanistan War. The money being sent and spent abroad goes unchecked. The small amount provided for infrastructure, security, community development here in the USA is slashed.

Soon, America might wake up as to what is happening on the domestic front. It is a dangerous political world and while we still have strong allies in Congress, nothing – I repeat, nothing – can be taken for granted. In the twinkling of an eye, in the middle of the night, CDBG could be zeroed out and lost and all we get might be a message of, "So sorry, we tried." Mayors must never let up and mayors at the same time must know that you must as President Reagan said, "Trust and verify." Some say they support CDBG with phrases like "full funding." When they Don't fight for you, when they are the first to put CDBG on the chopping block and seem ambivalent, you begin to wonder. But it's all about you, the mayors of the nation. President Kautz, along with our staff, have given you the facts. Again, we thank all of you who continue in the fight. We must not let up because there is so much to lose.

With the Great Recession, the lack of credit access to small business, a stimulus program that did not come directly to cities, mandates from EPA court ordered or legislated, high unemployment rates, states slashing city programs and Congress and The White House giving us cuts, the anger rages at the local level. Recall elections are up in our cities, more so than ever. In 2009 there were 23 mayoral recall events in 12 states and in 2010 there were 57 in 19 states. This year we have already had 18 and there will probably be more. People are angry over the economic crisis.

Mayors are being challenged for the first time in historic numbers for economic decisions they have been forced to make. It has nothing to do with corruption or graft. People are mad at The White House, The Congress, the state governments and they attack the person of authority closest to them, the mayor.

On April 12 at the National Press Club, I, along with three successful victors of recall efforts, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, and Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle, released our documentary, Recall Fever, and discussed with the national press the recall fever now sweeping our nation.

We are asking all mayors to examine the threshold of your local recall statutes and your social media involvement. As I have said, social media, the Internet has done great things. But still, we cannot be so open minded that our brains fall out. And if mayors Don't have bloggers on their behalf, they need to get one.

Our role with the recall fever is strictly to educate and inform and we hope our efforts will help your city avoid spending thousands on recall elections and will prevent the disruption of governing.

If you have not viewed our documentary, Recall Fever, please do so at this address: usmayors.org/recallfever.

I look forward to seeing many mayors coming to our first-ever National Mayors Summit on City Design in Chicago, April 27-29. The National Foundation for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation and The United States Conference of Mayors are pleased with the response of so many in the mayors and city design world.

We will also pay our respect and thanks to outgoing Mayor Richard Daley as he leaves office presenting him with the joint Conference of Mayors/American Architectural Foundation award to be given at our closing lunch on April 29.

See you in Chicago soon.