By Carol Moody Becker and Debra DeHaney-Howard
June 27, 2005

As Chair of the Standing Committee on Membership, Burnsville (MN) Mayor Elizabeth Kautz opened the June 10 committee meeting by noting that, when mayors are recruiting new members for the Conference of Mayors, they should have ready examples of the Conference of Mayors benefits. Joining Kautz in the recruitment discussion was Conference Vice President Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill. O'Neill spoke about the importance how much the Conference of Mayors can help them during their tenure as mayor. She pledged to work with Kautz on membership recruitment and retention as President of the Conference.

With this in mind, the meeting featured a critical issue for mayors — post-9/11 security needs and maintaining urban design — and related it to an exceptional Conference of Mayors resource, The Mayors' Institute on City Design. In addition, Chicago's approach to post-9/11 security was presented as a specific example of combining security and esthetics. These discussions led committee members to come up with creative ideas on recruitment and retention of the Conference of Mayors members.

In her opening comments about city design in a post 9/11 world, Kautz quoted Charleston (SC) Mayor Joseph P. Riley, who, in 1986 was the Conference of Mayors President, created The Mayors' Institute on City Design, which assists mayors in reaching their potential — in Riley's words — "to be the chief urban designer" of their cities.

As Kautz pointed out, "Mayors are not only responsible for the day-to-day management of their cities, but they also need to be visionaries in regard to urban design." She urged committee members to publicize The Mayors' Institute on City Design as a valuable Conference of Mayors resource for their colleagues.

Joining the members of the committee was Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's former Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning and Design Lee Bey. Bey discussed the rationale for Chicago's design projects, pre and post 9/11. Bey, now Director of Media and Government Affairs for Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, LLP, opened his presentation with a quote from Daley in regard to 9/11: "This is going to change the way we design our cities — if we let it."

When the private sector asked the city for Jersey barriers following 9/11, Daley provided them for a while, but indicated that eventually business owners had to come up with something more esthetic. Throughout this process, at the mayor's direction, Bey conferred with the private sector about the type of security that Jersey barriers would provide since the 9/11 attack came from the air. In the end, many business owners decided not to take extra security precautions.

Bey said, "The city's axiom was that any changes made for security purposes had to enhance the look of Chicago." He further noted that no street was closed in the name of security, an especially positive outcome for maintaining the flow of the city. Bey went on to describe various Chicago design projects, including Ping Tom Park, Millennium Park, State Street, Chicago's Planters, and Block 37.

Kautz reported to the committee on the progress of recruiting and retaining members over the past year. Kautz commented on a report that detailed a slight drop in membership. According to Kautz, the non-renewals were, "All due to budget cuts. Despite this news, the Conference has managed to continue to attract new members and retain existing members," said Kautz. She concluded the meeting by challenging the mayors to each bring a non-member mayor to the 2006 Winter Meeting in Washington or to the 2006 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.