By Ed Somers
July 25, 2005

In her first major address since assuming the Presidency of the Conference of Mayors, Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill told thousands of county officials gathered in Honolulu for their annual convention, “We are all in this together.”

O’Neill’s comments focused on two major themes. On the issue of homeland security, the mayor said, “I fervently hope that the tragic attacks in London serve as a reminder that we must not settle for ‘good enough.’ We must re-commit ourselves to doing all that we can to make sure our city and county citizens can get on that bus, step into that train, go to work, cheer at that sporting event, and just go about their daily lives knowing that everything that can be done is being done to make them safe from terror.”

“Sometimes our federal leaders seem to take the view that the issue of homeland security is too large to impact, too complicated to consider, or too costly to fully address,” she added. O’Neill expressed great disappointment that the Senate failed to restore the $50 million it cut from transit security despite the London bombings and new terror alert in the United States.

Her second theme built on the message of cities and counties sharing a common interest.

“I truly believe that the nation’s local-elected leaders – coming from counties, suburbs, exurbs and urban areas – have the power to unite our nation and build communities that take us into the future with hope and opportunity,” the mayor said.

Providing specifics, the mayor referenced the fact that 32 million times every weekday, city and county residents get on commuter trains, transfer to subways or buses, go to work, and seek entertainment in our larger cities, and center-city residents are increasingly commuting out to more suburban cities and counties for their jobs. “I cannot over-emphasize the critical importance of public transportation to our local economies and the long-term vitality of our cities and counties,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill also focused on the problem of violent gangs that “are spreading to all parts of our nation, and communities large and small.”

She tied this issue to the ongoing problem with illegal drugs such as meth, which is a major concern for counties, saying, “We must strengthen our nation’s resolve to fight the scourge of all illegal drugs, and to prevent young people from turning to gangs and violence.”

And on the issue of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the mayor said, “I think that when staff at OMB came up with the idea of eliminating the program, they saw it as just another big city, anti-poverty program. But we showed how CDBG impacts communities of all sizes, and in all parts of the nation.”

O’Neill specifically thanked outgoing NACo President Angelo Kyle and past Conference President Don Plusquellic for their leadership on saving CDBG, and pledged to work closely with new NACo President Bill Hansell of Umatilla County (OR).

NACo honored Plusquellic with an award for his leadership on CDBG, which was accepted on his behalf by Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran.

In concluding her remarks the mayor said, “We must continue to innovate at the local level, and then push our state and federal governments to support our innovation. We must focus on the big, difficult issues like education, energy, transportation and taxes that will impact our communities for decades to come. And we must continue to think bigger than just our particular jurisdictions, and recognize that we are not really competing among ourselves, but with economic forces around the world.”