By Kay Scrimger
July 16, 2007

Noting that he has participated in many Conference of Mayors’ meetings over the years, New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson praised the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 10-Point Plan in his address to the nation’s mayors during the Sunday, June 24, Plenary Session at the 75th Annual Conference, held in Los Angeles.

“Your Mayors 10-Point Plan, Strong Cities…Strong Families…for a Strong America, is excellent. I commit to you that, as President, I will carry out every one of your goals in this plan, and, furthermore, I will fund them,” he said.

“Point 6, for example, focusing on infrastructure, tax incentives and bonds,” he pointed out. “Traffic congestion is a major issue in almost every city and is a major detriment to the quality of life of our citizens.

“As President, I will work with you to obtain funding for transportation, not only for building highways but for energy-efficient transportation, light rail, bullet trains, smart growth, and better transportation policy,” he pledged.

Richardson congratulated the Conference on its commitment to climate protection and the hundreds of mayors who have expressed their firm intent to make their cities more energy efficient and environmentally responsible.

Richardson noted the collective failure of the Congress and the Administration to comprehensively address the issue of energy. Although the national government has failed us, he said, “mayors are taking action in this and other areas,” and “when mayors take action, they get it done.”

In discussing the Senate’s energy legislation, which was passed on the eve of the Los Angeles Annual Meeting, Richardson spoke to the bill’s limitations, but acknowledged its positive action on the Conference’s block grant initiative. “The Senate did a good thing — block grants for cities on energy and environment. That’s good.”

“We as a nation need to become green,” Richardson said. “I have proposed the most aggressive plan on energy of any Presidential candidate,” he said. “My plan calls for achieving the following goals by the year 2020 — reduce global warming pollution by 30 percent; lower demand for foreign oil by 50 percent, have energy-efficient automobiles in common use that can travel 50 miles per gallon, and generate 50 percent of our energy from renewable energy sources, such as solar power, wind, and biomass technology.”

“We need an energy revolution — an Apollo Program, a Marshall Plan — in which we think big and institute a comprehensive approach to energy.

Richardson also said, “If I am elected President, I would like to institute a citizens corps, a National Service, as an option for every American. This would not be mandated but would offer an opportunity for those who would like to contribute to the nation to go into a city, help clean up a forest, for example, or reach out to those in cities who live without hope, without training, and assist them.

He concluded by praising the U.S. Conference of Mayors for its leadership in forging the Ten-Point Plan: “Mayors, you are my heroes today. You have done well!”