By Ed Somers
July 12, 2004

Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic was inaugurated as the 62nd President of The United States Conference of Mayors in a special session on June 28 in Boston.

Speaking to outgoing President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner, Plusquellic said, "You gained the respect of mayors from around the country. And as one who won the respect of the White House as well - you made our conversations with the President of the United States much easier about issues such as Homeland Security."

Plusquellic added that he is looking forward to working with new Vice President Beverly O'Neill of Long Beach and Advisory Board Chair Michael A. Guido of Dearborn.

Reflecting on what he has learned from other mayors over 18 years, Plusuellic said, "I was tutored in the fine art of running a city. That happened here, at meetings of the United States Conference of Mayors, and I encourage other mayors to stay involved."

Then discussing changes that have taken place, he said, "Many people rightfully refer to mayors as CEO's, and we are... the mayor is the new leader in the defense of our homeland, and the mayor has had to become the principal agent of change in maintaining much of America's economic security."

"Today's release of the Metro Economies Report published by the Conference... shows that our nation is not one giant economy. It is really 500 different metropolitan economies that are directly impacted by the choices that mayors and their city councils make each and every day," Plusquellic said.

"I see a year in which we must make the case that we-re the ones out there to facilitate the making of business. We really are doing America's business," the mayor said.

He added, "In this regard, I am borrowing from a theme first struck by Marc Morial almost three years ago. And that is we are a nation of competitive cities."

"In many ways, mayors have spent the last decade re-building and re-inventing their cities to get ready for the next century. We need to do more. It's not that we are competing with each other, but with cities in Korea, China, and many places in the world," Plusquellic said.

"And this re-investment is working.... We can bring our cities back, if we work together, and that's why I want to move this organization to do everything humanly possible to make sure, over the next five months in particular, that the candidates for national office are engaged with us and talking about our issues this Fall!"

The mayor discussed his plan to work with his top officers and past presidents to refine the Conference's 5-point plan released in January 2004. The new draft will then be worked on and unveiled by the entire Conference leadership during a special meeting in Chicago on August 10-11, and then presented to Democratic and Republican candidates for national office.

"My recent experience on the Task Force on State and Local Homeland Security Funding leads me to believe that there is another area I want to emphasize: collaboration with other governmental units," Plusquellic said.

Speaking about state and local partners in the "Big 7" organizations, Plusquellic said, "Let's not emphasize the few points where we disagree, but let's emphasize the areas of common ground where we agree and put forth an agenda that needs to be addressed today."

"I also believe we need to reach out to business... with those businesses who share our principles like homebuilders, realtors, and mortgage bankers. We need to continue to build our Business Council," he added. "We need to reach out to non-profit organizations like the ICIC and the Council on Competitiveness who have something to offer in the discussion on how cities retain and create jobs for young people."

Focusing on Washington, the mayor discussed recent discussions with Congressional and White House officials where he sought their input. The mayor said he heard two consistent themes that match Conference policies: homeownership and brownfields.

"And in response to an appointment from the Speaker of the House, Congressman Mike Turner from Dayton - a former mayor - wants to work with us in making development of brownfields a priority, and we-re going to do that over the next 4-5 months," he said.

In concluding, Plusquellic observed, "We-ve had a difficult time in our society, we-re split right down the middle and sometimes our debate becomes intense, personal, vindictive, and destructive. And our Conference is a reflection of our entire society."

"What this organization needs is to go back to our original commitment to make absolutely certain that we do things in a bi-partisan way, to do what is best for the country." As examples, the mayor cited "Victor Ashe - a Republican - as President of the Conference of Mayors helped us preserve the Community Development program by confronting GOP stalwarts in Congress who threatened to extinguish it. And Jerry Abramson - a Democrat - was as responsible as any other individual for taking the Clinton White House to task over unfunded mandates."

"I need each and every one of you — to provide that leadership in your own respective party with your own party leaders. If you can help me do that, we will have a successful year, and the citizens of our cities will benefit," Plusquellic said.