By Conference Staff
September 24, 2007

Infrastructure investment, climate protection, a $10 billion energy block grant, rising crime and gun violence, the economics of travel and tourism, CDBG, and mortgage foreclosures topped the agenda for the Fall Leadership Meeting in Trenton, New Jersey on September 14-15.

Responding to the tragedy of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Conference President Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer brought together 40 leadership mayors and some of the nation’s top governors to discuss the need for a new partnership on infrastructure investment, as well as other priorities such as enacting an energy block grant for cities, counties and states, and reducing crime.

Participating in the meeting were Governors Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania and Martin O’Malley of Maryland — both former mayors and USCM Board Members - as well as New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.

The mayors also discussed the progress made so far on the Mayors 10-Point Plan: Strong Cities, Strong Families, For a Strong America, and the strategy needed to secure final actions in Congress, as well as greater focus on the priorities by the ’08 Presidential candidates.

It was agreed during the meeting that USCM would either sponsor or participate in events in four key primary/caucus states in an effort to get all the presidential candidates to focus on the bi-partisan priorities of the nation’s mayors. USCM activities will be focused in Iowa, Nevada, South Carolina and New Hampshire.

In addition, USCM is contacting the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to schedule private meetings so that teams of leadership mayors can engage with each candidate on USCM priorities, as detailed in the Mayors 10-Point Plan.

The mayors and governors discussed the need to reactivate the “Rebuild America” coalition — which USCM helped found and lead, with then Philadelphia Mayor Rendell serving as Rebuild America’s last President.

“Obviously what happened in Minnesota has been a catalyst for our work between mayors and governors. It’s not just our bridges and our highways; it’s not just our transportation infrastructure that needs repair and investment. It’s the entire infrastructure of this country,” Governor Rendell said.

“Japan and Germany, countries that are a fifth of our size, spent over a trillion dollars repairing their infrastructure. That is about nine percent of their GDP. We spend about one percent” of the U.S. GDP on infrastructure, Rendell pointed out.

Speaking to the importance of this new discussion, Governor O’Malley said, “I used to bemoan when I was a member of this organization that there was not more dialogue between governors and mayors. Because when infrastructure fails no one asks whether it is the mayor’s responsibility or the governor’s responsibility. They ask is my wife, or my husband or my son or daughters safe on that bridge or in that block.”

The mayors were also joined by Brian Pallasch from the American Society of Civil Engineers, who discussed their 2005 Infrastructure Report Card which estimated that $1.6 billion was needed over five years to address the overall “D” grade of America’s infrastructure.

There was a consensus among the mayors and governors that new investment is needed, through sources such as gas tax increases, tax incentives, a new federal infrastructure bank, a capital federal budget, and public-private partnerships. As Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said, “we need to have a federal gas tax matched by similar new spending at that state and local level, because we will never get things done unless we do that.”

“Climate change is an issue that affects all of us, not only from an environmental perspective, but from an economic one as well. When you take care of energy and the environment, you not only save money but we can bring jobs for inner cities because we will have green products that produce more green jobs,” Palmer said.

Palmer called on Congress to pass energy legislation that contains one of USCM’s top priorities — an Energy Efficiency Block Grant, which, if enacted, will authorize $10 billion over five years to cities, counties, and states to implement energy efficiency programs in communities.

And during the meeting, Governor O’Malley stated his support for the block grant and pledged to work with USCM to get other governors to push for its passage.

Palmer also announced that Trenton will be launching its “green” initiative October 1st. He said, “This will be a multi-layered approach that will help the city push for sustainable development and involve the state, county, and private'sector in joint efforts with Trenton to bring “green collar” jobs as part of a responsible energy policy.”

“We need Federal action now. We need to have action in order for cities to be free to do the job we know we can do. Mayors will continue to push for an energy efficiency block grant so that we can continue the creative work that has been done in our cities and bring it up to a scale that can make a difference in the climate crisis that we face,” said Conference Advisory Board Chair Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Nickels highlighted a number of Seattle’s climate change initiatives and reported that the city is on track to meet its goal to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels. He also announced that the Conference of Mayors will be meeting in Seattle November 1-2 for a National Summit on Climate Protection. Reporting that this will be the first meeting of The Conference of Mayors U. S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement signatories, which there are now more than 670, Nickels said, “This Summit will give us a chance to share real-world solutions and learn from those who are making a difference in protecting our planet.”

Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran outlined the significant progress the Conference has made in advancing its top priority, the Energy Efficiency Block Grant initiative. Noting that the energy block grant initiative is included in both the House and Senate energy bills, “We have moved this legislation to what is usually the final hurdle — Conference Committee action,” said Cochran. He noted the uncertainty about when Congressional leaders will appoint Conference Committee members and spoke to some of the challenges before Congress on reaching final agreement on the bill.

Austin Mayor Will Wynn, Chair of the USCM Energy Committee, and Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez stressed that new federal resources could help so many cities achieve their emission reduction goals. Chavez pledged to continue to work with his state’s two Senators, who are the Chair and Ranking Minority Member of the Energy Committee.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, Chair of the Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee discussed the need to make travel and tourism a national priority for the United States. Citing the importance of the travel and tourism industry to the U.S. economy, Mayor Hannemann pointed out that travel and tourism is responsible for over 7.5 million jobs, $177 billion in payroll and over $109 billion in tax revenues.

However as Hannemann pointed out, travel policies instituted since 9/11 have hurt travel and tourism, especially among foreign visitors. For example, the U.S. share of world tourism has suffered a 35% decline over the recent years. Much of this is due to restrictive and unwelcoming visa and entry processes. “There needs to be a better balance between security and hospitality,” stated Hannemann.

The mayor proposed that the Conference of Mayors 10-point plan “Strong Cities, Strong Families for a Strong America” be amended to include travel promotion. He proposed language that was accepted by the Conference’s leadership, which states, “The nation’s mayors call for travel and tourism to be a national priority. We must enhance national security, while at the same time, increasing international travel to the U.S. through visa reforms, entry improvements and promotion.”

Chuck Merin, President of the Travel Business Roundtable, reiterated the travel and tourism industry support for the mayors’ position. He announced that the Travel Business Roundtable had declared the year 2008 as the “Year of the Mayor” as the industry recognizes the important role mayors and cities play in promoting travel and tourism. Mr. Merin also announced the Travel Business Roundtable’s support of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.

“Crime continues to be a problem in this country. We have been ahead of the curve trying to bring this problem to the national attention. It hasn’t gotten there yet, but I can tell you that it continues to happen in our streets, like what happened in Miami, where a police officer lost his life and three others got injured because they were shot by automatic assault weapons,” Conference Vice President Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz said in the Trenton press conference.

Diaz added, “This organization has been on record and it will continue to be on record to bring back the ban on assault weapons. Incredibly they are all over this country, they are in the streets of our cities, they are cheaper today than buying a PlayStation.”

USCM has strong policy supporting a restoration of the assault weapon ban, and is working with Congress to restore funding for key law enforcement partnership programs like the COPS program and Byrne JAG block grant.

Both the Senate and House have passed Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation and HUD bills that would fund the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Cardell Cooper, Executive Director of the National Community Development Association, told the mayors that because of strong bi-partisan support for the Senate bill, approved by a 88-7 vote, there “probably is less chance of a threatened presidential veto.” Conference staff reported to the mayors that the Senate provides last year’s level of $3.71 billion for CDBG formula funding, while the House increases funding for the program to $3.9 billion. A Conference of Mayors letter to the House and Senate Conference on HUD appropriations calling for CDBG to be funded at $3.9 billion was circulated during the leadership meeting and sent to all mayors for signatures.

Staff also reported on the progress of other housing issues in the Mayors 10-Point Plan. In general, the House of Representatives has made significant moves on both the Affordable Housing Fund and HOPE VI, the severely distressed public housing program. An Affordable Housing Fund was passed by the House earlier this year, and the House is poised to pass the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund in September. A HOPE VI reauthorization bill has also been introduced in the House. The Senate has neither a National Housing Trust Fund bill nor HOPE VI legislation under consideration.

Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, Chair of the Council for the New American City, briefed the mayors on plans to hold high level discussions with the mortgage lending industry on strategies to address the current foreclosure crisis that is gripping financial markets and city neighborhoods.

The mortgage delinquency rate rose to 5.12 percent in the second quarter of 2007, up 28 basis points from the first quarter and 73 basis points from a year earlier. The foreclosure inventory rate rose from 1.28 percent to 1.40 percent of all loans. The subprime foreclosure rate rose from 5.10 percent to 5.52 percent in the second quarter.

“We had a very pointed and spirited debate with mortgage lenders in our Los Angeles annual meeting,” Kilpatrick said, “and we need to continue those frank discussions.” “Industry has to address a host of issues ranging from proper management and maintenance of foreclosed properties to rescue or workout strategies that help families stay in their homes,” he said.

Throughout the end of this year and 2008 many adjustable rate mortgages written in 2005 and 2006 will reset their interest rates to much higher levels. Experts in the field expect many homeowners will be unable to afford the higher rates or unable to refinance their homes because of their depreciation in value.

The leadership agreed that the issue needed urgent response and that the Council should hold a special meeting this Fall to develop strategies to address the mounting foreclosure crisis.

The mayors were updated on the current progress to reauthorize the children’s health insurance program known as SCHIP. The program, which currently provides health insurance to six million children in working families, is facing a September 30th reauthorization deadline. Both the House (HR 3162) and Senate (HR 976) have passed their SCHIP bills, each calling for increased funding, $35 billion and $50 billion respectfully and more enrollment flexibility. Disagreement still remains over funding levels and the inclusion and/or exclusion of Medicare reforms in the final conference bill. To date, no congressional conferees have been selected. For more details see the Washington Outlook section of this edition of USMAYOR.

It was agreed during the meeting that the issue of infrastructure investment would be a major focus of the upcoming 76th Winter Meeting, to be held in Washington, DC on January 23-25, 2008. In addition, there will be a focus on supporting a travel and tourism agenda which creates jobs and economic growth in the United States while at the same time ensuring homeland security.