April 28, 2003

Joined by Chicago's top business leaders at the city's Navy Pier April 9, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley holds a press conference to announce that Chicago will be the host of the Tall Ships Chicago 2003 Festival. Tall Ships Chicago 2003 will be the largest festival ever on the Great Lakes, bringing nearly 30 tall ships from all over the world to Chicago.

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson released a report on the successes of his administration's first 100 days, which have focused on working to merge city and county governments. "In the first 100 days, we laid the foundation — a new government for a new community," Abramson said. "If the first 100 days were about making great strides, I hope the next 100 days will be about making a great community." The mayor's accomplishments include saving $1 million by consolidating departments, hiring a new police chief, creating a neighborhood commercial team, and enhancing the Metropolitan Development Authority.

"The severity of this budget crunch is unprecedented," said Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, as he presented his city budget plan this month. Expecting a $100 million cut in state aid, Menino's budget cuts city spending by $73 million, including the elimination of 1700 city workers through early retirement, buyouts, and layoffs. Commenting on the budget, Menino said, "This is a time you make a lot of tough decisions, a time you have to spend a lot of political capital. It hurts me. I know most of the people I-m laying off. These are not numbers to me."

In his second State of the City address, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn touted the strides the city has made in addressing crime and pledged to add nearly 700 new police officers. Addressing the need to fund first responders, the mayor said additional funding will bring new equipment for police, firefighters and EMS workers. "We could no longer wait for federal funding to arrive and committed our own precious resources," said Mayor Hahn. Los Angeles is one of seven cities receiving some additional federal funding for homeland security funding. Mayor Hahn said that assistance is a good first step but "is not enough to meet all of our needs...and we will continue our pressure on Washington to provide more resources for homeland security."