By Evangelina Garcia
July 4, 2011

At the conclusion of the annual meeting, a bipartisan group of 14 mayors were invited to the White House to meet with President Obama and senior Administration officials to talk about the state of the economy in cities. President Obama, who was joined by Vice President Biden, Chief of Staff Bill Daley, and Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, stressed his continued commitment to work closely with mayors to spur job creation.

Mayors attending included: Conference of Mayors President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Conference of Mayors Vice President Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter; Conference of Mayors Second Vice President Mesa Mayor Scott Smith; Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz; Detroit Mayor David Bing; Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett; Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer; Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx; Kansas City (MO) Mayor Sly James; Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson; Oakland Mayor Jean Quan; Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed; Charleston (SC) Mayor Joe Riley; and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Villaraigosa mentioned during the meeting that mayors are urging Congress to address job creation and support for education and workforce training programs. He also told President Obama, “We appreciate the solid working relationship that mayors have with this White House and urge your Administration to continue fighting for investments in our nation’s infrastructure.”

During the high-level meeting, other mayors highlighted the importance of other critical policy areas and priorities for cities including regulatory reform, summer jobs programs, regional cooperation and high'speed rail investments.