July 2, 2012

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter accepted the Conference of Mayors Presidential gavel at the conclusion of the 80th Annual Meeting. He delivered an inspirational speech focusing on mayors' ability to work in a bipartisan manner to get things done as well as the collective power of mayors to drive economic growth. Nutter celebrated cities as centers of innovation and encouraged mayors to continue to work in partnership to address local challenges.

Following is the full speech as delivered by Nutter:

First, I'd like to thank Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his leadership. He has been an advocate for America's cities in Washington and internationally. I would like to thank him for his tremendous leadership as the President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors.

In Los Angeles, he has been a champion of innovative efforts such as the half-cent transportation tax, which is strongly supported by voters, and during his presidency of this organization, he has been at the forefront of crucial debates that will shape the future of this country.

I would also like to congratulate Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa who will be the new Vice President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. I know we can accomplish a lot together, and I am looking forward to working with you to tackle the issues facing our nation's cities. I'd like to congratulate our new second Vice President Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

This has been an exciting conference, and I'd also like to thank our host, Mayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando, for his hospitality. I know everyone had a fantastic time at Sea World and Hard Rock Live last night and at the events throughout the week. Your city is wonderful, and thank you for being such a gracious host.

Thank you to Tom Cochran and his staff at The U.S. Conference of Mayors for going out of your way to make this transition seamless. You bring mayors together to help us accomplish great things. Thank you for your guidance and enduring vision for The U.S. Conference of Mayors and our cities.

This is a diverse organization, and it is the strength of our organization. I want to make sure that we utilize our diversity for maximum impact and maximum service. That diversity is by party, race and gender, and I particularly want to emphasize my commitment to praising the role and profile of our women mayors at The U.S. Conference of Mayors. I'll have more to say on that issue in the future, but I wanted you all to know that I'm paying attention.

To the many sponsors of this week's conference, thank you for your continued support of the mission and vision of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. We want more businesses to join and partner with us to take on the many national challenges we face. We want to encourage more businesses and business groups to join our business alliance and partner with USCM for our mutual benefit.

I'd like to thank the many speakers we've listened to and learned from over the past several days. Their insights and ideas will help us to better inform our constituents about our policies back in our cities. Finally, I'd like to thank all of you, the great mayors of the United States of America. Thank you for taking the time to come to Orlando and to be part of this important organization. It's not easy to leave your city for a week. Your city still needs to run and the blackberry never stops buzzing. The issues and crises don't stop, and decisions still have to be made.

But, The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a unique opportunity to learn from each other and to return home with new ideas, new connections, new relationships, new programs for your cities, which are leading the way for growth and innovation in our country. We come together to confront some of the most important issues facing America today: jobs, economic development, energy independence, innovation and violence reduction. My commitment to you is that I want each trip, each conference call, each press conference you participate in with The U.S. Conference of Mayors to be a value added, an indispensable contribution to how you successfully govern and do your jobs at home.

Thank you for taking the time to be here because this doesn't work without you.

Lastly, how did we get to this day? How did we arrive at this moment? I could never have imagined as a boy growing up in West Philly that I would be with all of you today in this capacity. This is the highest honor for any mayor. I will be your servant and leader, but I do plan to lead.

I am honored and humbled to be named the 70th President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and I am confident—if we work together—that we can accomplish great things over the next year. Cities matter. Mayors matter. And USCM matters.

Mayors are leaders, doers. We get things done, and we are moving America's cities forward. That can be a jarring idea in today's America when some of our national leaders can't seem to agree on anything. Mayors don't have the luxury of endless debate and gridlock. We respond, every day, to the needs of our cities. We pick up the trash. We balance our balance budgets. Have police officers patrol the streets. Put out fires. Fix potholes.

Mayors get the job done every day. Our constituents would and should accept no less. I don't know about you, but I only have to step outside city hall for an instant tracking poll on how good of a job I'm doing that day. Philadelphia's are certainly not shy in sharing their opinions. I'm sure it's the same in your cities too.

Despite a sluggish economy and devastating recession, America's cities have continued to grow, innovate and inspire. America's metropolitan areas are responsible for nearly 90 percent of the nation's GDP and 85 percent of jobs. Metropolitan areas are driving job growth. And there's one simple reason: cities are where the talent is.

When company executives are looking to relocate or expand, they, increasingly, ask themselves where they can find talent. The answer is America's talent incubators—our cities.

Just a few weeks ago, I opened a new downtown Philadelphia 'Gateway Office' for Bentley Technology Partners—headquartered in the suburbs—who came to tell us they were having trouble attracting young talent to move out of Philadelphia and into the suburbs. They needed a presence in Philadelphia. The very same day I cut the ribbon on Bentley's new office in Center City, our economic development team received a call from another technology firm—again from the suburbs—looking to do exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason—cities are where the talent is.

We have the universities, colleges, and cutting-edge businesses that train the next generation and inspire new ideas. We are the place where young Americans and families want to live, work and raise their families. We attract imaginative and thoughtful entrepreneurs who are creating the concepts that will change the world.

Cities are moving our country forward. It is the men and women in this room who have dedicated their lives to public service, it is America's mayors who are getting things done.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced its Mayor's Challenge, a nationwide competition challenging mayors to submit bold, innovative ideas that can be replicated in other cities across the country. The winning city's program will receive $5 million dollars for implementation and four runners up will receive $1 million each. I would like to thank Mayor Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies for their confidence in the ingenuity of America's cities.

Today, I have the honor of announcing a new opportunity for mayors across the United States. Cities of Service, with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, is launching the Cities of Service Impact Volunteering Fund, a grant for cities that are leveraging the incredible power of service.

Civic engagement is one of America's greatest strengths. Volunteers across the country are committed to cleaner, greener, more educated cities. They donate their time and expertise to mentor young people, clean up lots, and provide workforce training. We need to tap into this extraordinary resource—and I know many cities are doing just that.

In Philadelphia, the Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Services has started programs such as Graduation Coaches Campaign—which trains adults to serve as mentors to help the young people graduate from high school and go on to college. So far, the city has trained 3,200 Graduation Coaches including Lisa and me.

Atlanta, under the leadership of Mayor Kasim Reed, has started the LOVE YOUR BLOCK initiative. They're partnering with 27 community groups to complete citizen-led beautification projects. More than 400 volunteers have collected 17,000 pounds of litter, removed 1,500 square feet of graffiti and revitalized neighborhoods.

These are just two examples of what cities can achieve when they employ the profound power of service. I would like to encourage each of you—large cities, small cities, every city—to look at civic engagement as a municipal function just as essential as police, fire and sanitation services.

The Impact Volunteering Fund is a two-year, two-million-dollar grant fund that will be distributed to members of the Cities of Service coalition that are committed to volunteering. Cities with locally-funded Chief Service Officers can apply for $50,000 or $100,000 dollar grants to implement high-impact service initiatives. If your city does not have a Chief Service Officer, you can still apply for a $25,000 grant to support a single'service initiative including a $5,000 dollar incentive bonus if your city achieves its one-year benchmarks.

Mayor Bloomberg was the first mayor to implement a high-impact service fund and founded the Cities of Service coalition. His funding has allowed many of us to hire Chief Service Officers, and his continued support will fuel this work going forward.

This funding is an opportunity to harness your most precious resource—your own folks—to achieve your vision for your city. 21st Century governance requires that we employ every strategy, every opportunity to create jobs, build opportunity, and move our cities forward. We're working with non-profit partners, like Code for America, creating new ways to engage our constituents or the Comcast Corporation providing low-cost internet access to low-income families through the Internet Essentials program. We are working in partnership with advocacy organizations such as National League of Cities to address, together, those issues most critical to our metropolitan areas. We no longer have the luxury of relying on the old ways of doing things. We have less money and fewer people to provide services at a time when the demand for those very services is only growing. And guess what? Unfortunately, that's not going to change. We're not going back. This is our new normal in America.

However, I am not deterred. I do not think there has been a more invigorating, important time to lead a city in America. The times in which we govern force us to work harder, to be more creative, and to innovate. And it's happening in cities all across America.

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel has unveiled an ambitious, comprehensive "Building a New Chicago" plan, which will be one of the largest infrastructure investments in his city's history—and he's doing it without help from Washington or Springfield. This seven billion dollar, three-year infrastructure program expects to create ten of thousands of jobs and will not include a tax increase. Now, that's innovation.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is working to make Baltimore a safer city by using new technologies that help the police department to respond to and learn from gun violence in high crime areas more quickly and efficiently.

Mayor Ashley Swearengin is creating jobs and revitalizing downtown Fresno by attracting new talent, new companies, and new sectors to her city. She is building their innovation economy by creating a vibrant, walkable downtown where people want to live and work.

Mayor Chris Bollwage of the city of Elizabeth, NJ is launching a Go Green initiative, which will make the city more efficient, accessible and sustainable for its residents and the next generation.

Mayor Tom Mennino has created the Office of New Urban Mechanics, which is the city of Boston's innovation incubator to create tools directly addressing the needs of residents and businesses.

Mayor Scott Smith, in response to a tight budget and the growing need for libraries in Mesa, opened an express library, which saved the city millions of dollars and still provided essential library services to the community.

Mayor Kevin is keeping us keenly focused on modernizing, reforming and transforming education systems and getting mayors involved on the frontline battles to better educate our children.

And Mayor Bloomberg has proposed to outlaw large serving size sodas. This initiative could transform public health. I understand firsthand the influence Big Soda has on this debate, and I applaud him for putting the health and well-being of New Yorkers first.

Finally, in Philadelphia, we are investing in cities and providing essential services to our constituents in some new ways as well. For example, cities across the country are faced with the complex challenge of providing a safe, affordable water supply and adhering to Federal clean water regulations.

In Philly, we recently launched Green City, Clean Waters—our 25 year, $2 billion plan to protect our watershed by remaking the city's stormwater infrastructure through green, sustainable solutions. This plan has led to our city signing a historic "cooperation agreement" with the EPA that could change the relationship between cities and the EPA in the future.

Instead of ripping up streets across the city and installing larger pipes and holding tanks—which would have been prohibitively expensive and not actually address the long-term problems—we're rethinking the way that we use our water resources. We're installing rain gardens, stormwater trenches and green roofs throughout Philadelphia. Stormwater management may seem…wonky. However, this plan makes Philadelphia greener, transforms the urban landscape, and improves the quality of life for our citizens. These changes will help us to attract new residents who want to live and work in a vibrant, 21st Century city, and companies will follow them to access their talent.

There are hundreds of innovative, creative ideas like these being enacted throughout the nation. It is because of you, America's mayors, get things done. Because it doesn't look like we're getting help from anywhere else!

And while we set goals for innovation and new agendas, there are old issues, old troubles that continue to plague many American cities. Issues that will require us to challenge our assumptions, speak uncomfortable truths and shun political correctness.

One such issue is the scourge of violence, which is wiping out a generation of young, African-American men.

Each year in the United States, thousands of people are killed on city streets. But since we lose seemingly one person at a time, we can forget how commonplace it is.

Let me talk about the devastating impact that occurs in one segment of the community. In 2011, 75 percent of Philadelphia's homicide victims were African American males—that's 230 people.

If 230 people were killed by tainted spinach in Philadelphia, the USDA would issue a national recall immediately.

If 230 people were killed in an airplane crash, there would be Congressional hearings on air travel.

If 230 people were killed a fire, there would be a national investigation and review of fire safety.

However, 230 African American men are killed in one city, and nothing. Nothing but silence.

This is not just Philadelphia, many of mayors in this room face this same epidemic of violence in their cities as well.

If our country's response to domestic terrorism was on the scale of our response to international terrorism, we could overcome this devastating violence, health disparities and educational gaps in a generation. There must be a national conversation on the impact of this violence on our families, our communities and our country. We know that violence breeds upon itself, and the longer we wait to act, the more intractable these problems become.

This is our problem; it's America's problem, because we created it through disinvestment, indifference and neglect. It is in cities where America must confront this challenge. This isn't just a black problem. It affects us all. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote from his Birmingham jail cell, we are all "tied together in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

I would like to thank Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the more than 20 mayors from across the country who are joining me—through the Cities United initiative—to tackle, head on, black on black violence in our nation. I'd also like to especially thank The U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, Casey Family Programs, Open Society Institute, Knight Foundation and countless others for their commitment to addressing this challenge.

If we do not have the will to act, then who?

If cities does not lead the effort to confront our own obstacles, then what?

If not now, then when?

Through Cities United, we are going to take this issue on. To raise awareness, look at the root causes, and ultimately, to work with anyone who will come to the table with real solutions to this violence. Although this conversation will be started and driven by cities, we must bring in more partners. Violence affects our country's economic competitiveness, health, educational attainment, incarceration rates and so many aspects of our society that it must be addressed nationally.

We need to leverage the power of advocacy and partnership to push this to the forefront of the American conversation. And I need your help. This is our responsibility, our promise to our citizens, our hope for our cities.

So, today in June 2012, we are looking toward the future of American cities and of our nation. There are many challenges ahead, but I also see great potential. We are currently in an election year, which means there will be more partisan bickering.

In July, we will come together in Philadelphia during the annual Leadership Meeting to plan, and in November, we will have our moment.

A chance that we need to seize between the election and the inauguration of our next president.

This brief window of time—once the partisan atmosphere has cooled—is when Washington can get work done. As The U.S. Conference of Mayors, we need to be at the forefront of that work, advocating for what our cities need, letting Washington know that we mean business, and they cannot ignore the 80 percent of America that we represent.

Cities need to continue to create jobs, support small businesses, and drive the economy. We cannot compete in the global economy if we are not training our workforce, and education is critical to our economic competitiveness today and tomorrow. As the U.S. continues to transform into a knowledge-driven economy, we need an educated workforce that can take these jobs. A high school drop-out earns a million dollars less over a lifetime than a college graduate. And I promise you, we know that gap will only get bigger in the years to come.

In Philadelphia, I've often said that education is our public safety strategy. Education is our health strategy. Education is our poverty reduction strategy. Education is our economic development strategy. Education is central to everything we are working to accomplish. It's true in Philly, and it's true in every city in America.

Congress and the White House must understand that educating our young people is how we build a strong America with cutting-edge industries whose products are in demand the world over. Cities need support to grow our economies.

The tagline, Made In America, means quality everywhere. America is known for high-quality, specialized advanced manufacturing. Consumers will seek out "Made In America;" it's one of our country's greatest assets. Congress needs to support the manufacturing sector, which is a crucial industry for cities across the nation and creates good, family'sustaining jobs for Americans.

Cities need Congress to pass a Transportation Bill that is long-term. Stopgap funding measures and kicking the can down the road just won't work. Our country's transportation infrastructure was once the envy of the world. It needs to be again. Today, we confront crumbling bridges, slow railways and inadequate street repair. We can create shovel-ready jobs today if we invest in our infrastructure. Congress needs to rally around measures that have received broad bipartisan support in the past and pass a long-term transportation blue print for the country.

When we move America's cities forward, we know there are enthusiastic, dedicated mayors working together toward a common goal.

Mayors are getting the job done. But we are doing so in a globalized economy with new rules.

We cannot follow the old playbook. Cities must work together, in partnership, to address the extraordinary challenges we are facing. And they're not simple challenges with easy solutions. But then again, there's not a mayor in this room who thought this job was going to be easy.

We all know that you're in the wrong business if that's your goal.

I am confident that America's cities have a bright future ahead. People are moving into cities and they are the centers of growth in our country.

Cities are where people want to live and work.

Cities are where new ideas are being created.

Cities are the hubs of culture, art and networks.

Cities are where the innovation is taking place.

Cities are the future of America.

When you come to The U.S. Conference of Mayors, I want you to see and experience that future and appreciate the incredible potential we have when we unite. There is a lot of work ahead, but this is our chance, our opportunity, our time.

The cities of America will be heard and our mayors will lead us to a bright future.

Thank you.