Washington, DC
June 1, 2007

International Shopping Centers Meeting - Wal-Mart

In Las Vegas, Conference President Doug Palmer joined Daphne Davis Moore, Public Affairs Director of Wal-Mart to announce our new U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Awards initiative sponsored by Wal-Mart. Mayor Palmer thanked Wal-Mart for sponsoring our first-ever climate protection awards for mayors. Wal-Mart has led the way in supporting climate protection for a number of years. Recently this mega-retailer has been cited by mayors and climate protection advocates in the US and around the world.

This announcement is most important to our newly established U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Center I proposed to our Key West Leadership Meeting in February. The Center was later unveiled to the public and our members by Conference President Palmer.

It was Mayor Palmer’s vision since the inception of our Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Center to fashion an awards program for USA mayors. We are pleased that through our Mayors Business Council relationship with Wal-Mart, we negotiated The Climate Protection Awards program to be sponsored by

Wal-Mart. Congratulations to Geri Powell, Managing Director of our Mayors Business Council for her work with Wal-Mart to produce this new awards program.

Mayors are reminded to apply for our USCM Climate Protection center award. Winners will be announced at a special Climate Protection luncheon in Los Angeles on Saturday, June. 23. To date we have 522 cities who have signed onto our U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection agreement. This is a vast number and we encourage all to get those applications we are sending your way back to us. You can’t win or be recognized unless you apply! Join with us. Send in your application now.

Once again, we thank Wal-Mart for sponsoring our first U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Awards program. And we salute Conference President Doug Palmer for his vision and drive to get this awards program in place in time for our fabulous 75th Annual Conference of Mayors only a few weeks away.

In Chicago last week, Chicago Mayor Rich Daley hosted our 5th Summit of USA and Chinese mayors. Six Chinese cities were represented in Chicago as mayors had roundtable discussions on environmental challenges and other issues facing USA and Chinese cities.

Mayor Daley was a splendid host as he feted all of us on the magnificent Millennium Park Stage for lunch. He told the story of how he had worked with the private sector/business community to establish this internationally renowned park that was the site of railroad property just a few years ago.

Special thanks to Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins and Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith for their meaningful presentations and dialogue, which made the meeting a huge success.

We will continue, according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by me, as your Executive Director, Mayor Daley and the China Association of Mayors and Chinese mayors, to go forward with many more USA/Chinese Mayoral Summits.

The eyes of the world will be on China next year when Beijing hosts the Olympic Games. And long before it was decided that the Olympic Games would be held there, we reached out to start this most important relationship between Mayors of China and the USA. As I said in my toast at the farewell dinner, “Kings and Queens come and go. Presidents and Prime Ministers do the same. Depots and Dictators are either in or out. But no matter what is above us, mayors remain. And together we must work together to make this a better world.” That is the spirit of this relationship between the mayors and cities of these two super powers, China and The United States of America. Thank you Mayor Daley for helping to strengthen this special relationship as we go forward to plan and announce our next Sino-USA Mayoral Summit.

Hello Boys! Where are you? Hillary is coming. Governor Richardson and former Mayor of Cleveland Dennis Kucinich are coming.

But where is Obama? Mayors want to hear of his vision for cities. Where is Mayor Giuliani? He is running as the heroic mayor that he was after 911 and we need his vision and thoughts of how we could all work together if he is in The White House. Senator McCain came to our New Orleans meeting in 1999 when he was running. He came to our meeting last year in Las Vegas. We want him again. We want all the candidates to come and address the mayors of this country. Mayors need to hear from all who want to be President.

Mayors without much federal assistance are fighting street crime and terrorist activities. Mayors are leading the way without federal help to enact climate protection initiatives to protect our precious Earth. Mayors are leading the way as public CEOs over mega-metro economies that drive the national economy, surpassing even states to grow this economy that continues to make the USA number one in the World.

There was a time when Presidential candidates would run away from us because of the so called “urban” issues. Today, they had better wake up and realize what a national force the mayors are. They need to recognize that the business community of America is now joined at the hip with one common goal, to make money for all of us, rich, middle income and poor. They need to recognize that if human behavior, as the Paris experts have told us, is to be changed to save our Earth from burning up, it’s up to the mayors to change the habits of millions of American consumers who will change once the mayors call for the change. People will listen to their mayors. Governors and Presidents are far removed.

So its time for this 2007 cast of candidates to wake up and realize what Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson already seem to know. Mayors are key to their success in the quest for the nomination of their party but also in the contest for the biggest prize of all .... the Presidential sweepstakes.

It’s not too late. Let every candidate know that there is a new generation of mayors with this great organization of The United States Conference of Mayors who are ready to work and support any candidate who will come to us with his or her vision.

Conference President Palmer has a 10-Point Plan. The Palmer 10-Point Plan is being widely accepted and endorsed. As we have reported to you in US Mayor and through other communications, we are working with Members of Congress to pass an energy and environmental block grant initiative. The creation of a new block grant program is the first of the 10 points contained in the Palmer 10-Point Plan.

We want to hear from all candidates for the Presidency. The message we want to send to all Presidential candidates from President Mayor Palmer and the nation’s mayors is that we need to know what you think, where you are, what you’re gonna do if you get in there. We want to hear that NOW. That’s why the Los Angeles 75th Annual Meeting of The United States Conference of Mayors - hosted by the dynamic Host Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and presided over by the agile and mobile leader and President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors Doug Palmer ... is the place all candidates for President should be. Its not too late. We ask all mayors, Democrats and Republicans, to urge all candidates to be in Los Angeles. It is most important for our future.

I look forward to seeing all of you as members and nonmembers to join with our President, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer for the great diamond anniversary ... The 75th Annual Meeting of The United States Conference of Mayors. Our host Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is literally rolling out the red carpet for all of you. And last but not least Mayor Palmer has invited all Past Presidents of The United States Conference of Mayors to come for a special salute.

So register now. Its going to be a fabulous meeting. I look forward to seeing you soon in Los Angeles.