Washington, DC
September 30, 2005

Conference President Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill led a fact-finding mission to the New Orleans/Baton Rouge area and to the Gulf Coast cities of Alabama and Mississippi on September 15 and 16 for the purpose of assessing the needs of mayors hit by Katrina. Mayor O’Neill’s goal was to meet met with the mayors and look them in eye, talk with them, listen to them – mayor to mayor – as mayors do best, in order for her to report to her elected leadership, our Executive Committee and leadership as she convened them in Long Beach California on September 22.

In Baton Rouge in the office of Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, Mayor O’Neill was able to pull together New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and New Orleans President of the city council and city council members for the first time since Katrina laid her almost lethal punch to the great city of New Orleans. This historic meeting did not come easy since Katrina, due to the destruction of the communication system and a number of political factors, the mayor and the city council were not communicating and were not meeting.

With the help of my team I sent down there immediately after Katrina that meeting and through my communication with them, we were without question, the catalytic force that brought the mayor and the city council together to foster regular scheduled meetings and develop consensus for action steps to be implemented by the elected and bona fide government of the sovereign city of New Orleans.

Since my team, Conference staffers Elena Temple and Gordon Gant arrived in Baton Rouge where the government of New Orleans were scattered in exile, Mayor O’Neill and I thought it most important that Mayor Nagin and Council President Oliver Thomas and other city council meet somewhere on a regular basis. Otherwise, our fear was that the disarray would warrant a government takeover or by pass of the local government by the state or federal government. The problem is that Mayor Nagin bless his heart, was hard to find. There was great difficulty in reaching him by phone – even his own city council members were challenged. Two political leaders, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu and Council President Oliver Thomas were most helpful in working with President O’Neill and me as we brought together the mayor and city council members together.

In the private meetings, Mayor Nagin expressed profound thanks for the support of The United States Conference of Mayors. And President Oliver Thomas echoed the sentiment as did other council members.

Mayor O’Neill and I both observed it was an anxious meeting though. As the meeting progressed there was a more relaxed atmosphere as we all began to discuss what each of us could do to strengthen the hand of the elected government of New Orleans then located in Baton Rouge. Department heads had not been brought together and there was a strong recommendation that key city personnel should be called in for strategic decisions for the future of New Orleans.

As the meeting progressed, requests for assistance from our organization became more specific.

One of the main concerns expressed by Mayor Nagin to President O’Neill was the whereabouts of his constituency. We all recognized what the Conference of Mayors did early after HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson called me and asked us to help him locate housing stock. Mayor Nagin was thankful for the USCM-HUD housing assessment and ongoing placement. But Mayor Nagin also wants to know where his constituents are and wants our help in directly communicating with them. City council members want the same. They asked us to help with a census of New Orleans citizens scattered through the nation now located in temporary government housing, faith-based housing supported by churches, private homes, rental units and shelters.

It was an interesting request and some of us were surprised to have the elected leaders lead with that request when you consider the devastation and destruction of the great City of New Orleans. But as my son, John, who accompanied me on the trip later said, “Dad, they have lost their constituency. They have lost the people they served and they want them back – now.” City council members there have lost their entire constituency. The mayor and the city council President and members are seeking a way to directly communicate with them as they go forward to rebuild. Their fear is that they will lose large numbers of their constituency. They know New Orleans will rise up after the poisonous waters are removed and the ruins are replaced. In the meantime, they want a direct connection with the people they serve, no matter where they are. President O’Neill has directed us to help complete the census and also help establish a communication system to be used by elected leaders of New Orleans and the citizens of New Orleans now placed in cities and towns throughout our nation.

The second thing all were concerned about is that any state or federal funds coming to clean up and rebuild must be done on a needs-formula basis. Mayor Nagin was most forceful on this request. He wants to make sure that New Orleans and those cities in the Mississippi and Alabama gulf coast area all receive funds on a needs formula. And we are committed to work with Congress on this question as we move forward together.

Council President Oliver Thomas expressed private outrage in private meetings and later at our press conference over multimillion dollar contracts being let by the federal government to domestic and international corporations without any coordination whatsoever by the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. All feel that federal monies of this type must be coordinated with local authorities to help local people and local elected leaders for immediate employment and local guidance of what the New Orleans will be once she is rebuilt from the ruins of the Katrina floods.

The design questions are very much on the minds too of all city council members. The world recognizes that New Orleans is one of the most unique cities on earth. They simply don’t want to wake up after the rebuild and have another “DisneyWorld” type of city. No doubt, our Mayors Institute of City Design will be there to help them. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, the founder and great leader of our design efforts is committed to help them as we go forward and we pledge our support to the goal that the design and rebuild should be as Council President Thomas repeated over and over – “It should be a rebuild that is bottom up and not top down.” We will do everything possible to support the elected city leaders in this regard. It is their city. It is their culture. We must listen to them and support them.

Conference President O’Neill and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, the leader of our Mayors Institute of City Design will announce soon a number of initiatives that will follow the request made by the city of New Orleans and mayors of the Gulf Coast area.

After Katrina, I went to Mobile. Mobile Mayor Mike Dow asked me to come after he offered to Mayor O’Neill and our leadership his city of Mobile to be the USCM base.

In Mobile, Mayor Dow had already been communicating to the best of his ability with the Gulf Coast and inland cities Katrina had destroyed. After several days there I flew to Dallas to Meet President O’Neill and our assessment team and we flew to Baton Rouge and all drove through the devastation from Baton Rouge, the New Orleans area and along the coast to meet with Mayor Dow of Mobile.

After a planning dinner in Mobile the night before, in the early morning of the next day Mayor O’Neill, Mayor Dow and Mobile County Commissioner Sam Jones and I boarded a big orange Coast Guard chopper and were able to see sixty miles of utter devastation. We landed in Gulfport to join our team where Mayor Dow had assembled the following mayors at the Gulf Port city hall: Mayor Brent Warr, Gulfport (MS), Biloxi (MS) Mayor A.J. Holloway, and mayors or representatives from smaller communities devastated by the storm including Bayou La Batre (AL), Dauphin Island (AL), Ridgeland (MS), Pascagoula (MS), Ocean Springs (MS), Bay St. Louis (MS), Waveland (MS), Pass Christian (MS), Gautier (MS), and Long Beach (MS).

The scene as this meeting was, somewhat different than the meeting we had had earlier with New Orleans officials. While there is high water in New Orleans, the terrain in Mississippi looks like a scorched earth in some areas, a bombed area completely demolished. Lots of city lots and residential lots are bald. Nothing left. No trees, no plants, no broken up piano, no old photographs or kitchen appliances. Nothing left – bare. And its not just the coast, it goes up into the belly of Mississippi for miles where there is destruction.

In the Gulf Port city hall, around a long table, Conference President O’Neill and Mobile Mayor Dow asked each mayor to speak and express their main concerns. The question of no tax base was raised by Mayor A. J. Holloway of Biloxi. He says that 70 percent of his tax base is gone and he must have some form of fiscal assistance now to keep the basic services of his city – fire, water, health, police, and waste management operational as Biloxi recovers. All mayors voiced his concern. They need funds for basic services now.

So many mayors expressed the need for rather basic things like cleaning supplies and others started talking immediately about their eco-tourism that needs restoration and the design question came up just as it did in New Orleans. There is a trust that the two southern states will be restored, but there is a concern that the culture and history of the region can only be saved if local governments and local groups are involved before any future decisions are made.

So many of the Gulf mayors affected are newly elected. But mayors with experience both old and new, had horror stories after horror stories about FEMA . I thought I had heard them all and I continue to hear a new one every day – even now.

Overshadowing all discussions with the Gulf mayors is housing too. Trailers are being sent but trailers could be bought in Mobile. Some need trailers outside their home lots to live in as they return to rebuild.

The shock of the devastation was still with mayors present but all recognized that in addition to basic supplies, they will need specialty teams of experts to rebuild the infrastructure that has been demolished.

We are working through Mayor Jerry Abramson of Louisville Metro since UPS is headquartered in his city to establish an airlift of supplies of materials to the Gulf region. Mobile Mayor Dow has established a base for us there and implementation is underway once a further assessment is conducted by Mayor Michael Dow and Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith. Mayor Smith was most eloquent at our Long Beach Leadership Meeting as he reported that his wife led a team of doctors to establish a temporary clinic in a demolished church to serve 300 patients a day. His understanding and appreciation for the design and culture of his region is remarkable and he will be working with Mayor Joe Riley on design initiatives as we go forward.

By the time we got to Long Beach on September 22, Rita had hit Louisiana and Texas and as U.S. Mayor goes to press we are assessing the needs of Rita.

In Long Beach at our Leadership Meeting, Mayor O’Neill reported to our leadership assembled on her mission to meet with New Orleans officials and the mayors of Mississippi and Alabama.

We spent a considerable time in Long Beach discussing relief efforts and we had a slide show and multi-media presentation of our mission to show our mayors the devastation as well as the private, public and press statements in the Katrina-hit areas.

The discussion and action steps in Long Beach centered on the flawed federal-local delivery and support system that we now have. Much discussion centered on the concern that we have expressed since 9/11 with the creation of HHS and our protests all the way through that there must be a quick-response mechanism that does not go through the Governor’s office. It must be a quick military-type response system connected directly to the federal authorities for immediate action. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, who has taken his city up against some big ones, argues that mayors and cities must have a federal military-type response team ready for recovery action. The bridge can be rebuilt later, says Mayor Riley, but people must be saved now.

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley urged that there is a need for sessions in regions in the United States for mayors to learn from the short falls of Katrina readiness to ensure now more than ever mayors are connected with the national government in order to get immediate support for first responders in our cities if needed to meet the challenges of national disasters and terrorist attacks.

Conference President O’Neill and leaders assembled in Long Beach recognize that we must come together to help fight for and design a new FEMA. We have been relentless in our concern about the flawed state-oriented system. It was a mistake for Congress and the White House to design a system that forces us to deal with a Governor when our people are dying or drowning. Lives were lost due to this. We must work together to continue to advocate that the first responders in our cities must have immediate assistance, instantaneous assistance, when a terrorist or natural disaster hits us. You can’t wait for the Governor to decide if he or she should call the President to activate a national guard. The mayor needs an instant response to a paramilitary operation. The military is trained to do this. We have invested billions to save and protect people around the world. We need the same thing for our cities. And the military would love to do it. So let’s get real about what we need and come together and fight for a new system before more lives are lost through another hurricane or terrorist attack where lives will be lost in our American cities.

The mayors of the United States have always been a frustrated group of elected officials when they believe that action should be taken by our national government. Today’s mayors are more action oriented than others because the television brings the challenge right before their eyes.

A group of mayors were frustrated in the l930s when they needed help during the Great Depression. So they got fed up and all went to meet in Detroit to form The United States Conference of Mayors and later met with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to join with him in federal initiatives to get us out of the Great Depression. At other times during the social upheavals of our nation, mayors got restless and they acted. Through the riots of the 60s and through the turbulence of the Viet Nam war, mayors rallied to provide and rebuild with the federal government to restore peace and prosperity. And when President Kennedy was assassinated, we rallied to establish the Civil Rights legislation, working with President Johnson to ensure that basic civil rights were adopted in our nation for all.

When New York City was flat on its back in the mid 1970s, going bankrupt, it was a mayor of New Orleans, Moon Landrieu, as President of The United States Conference of Mayors, who rallied this nation to save New York City and put the Big Apple back on its feet again, to glisten and gleam for all as she is today.

If we helped New York City, we must do the same for New Orleans. The children of that great American, Moon Landrieu, sat at his feet to learn about what great cities mean to America and the world. That obsession is within his daughter, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, and his son, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu. They are two young leaders who understand what it means to save New Orleans and indeed their vision goes beyond that to make certain that the cities of America are up front on the national agenda in order to make this nation economically and culturally strong for our people. Both young Landrieus know that we must, as a nation, examine what happened with Katrina in 2005 and recognize that it is in the best interest to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf cities and move toward a “get real” realistic partnership that must be developed and maintained between the federal government and the cities of America.

Together, let us hope that Katrina will finally bring us together, “ for stronger cities and a stronger America” which incidentally was Conference President O’Neill’s theme of her inaugural address given to us when she took the gravel only a few months ago in Chicago.

Today, we must use this terrible devastation, this absolute failure of government that cost lives and pain and suffering – to learn what is wrong and work to restore a meaningful partnership with our federal government, so that all together working on the challenges mayors face each day, doing everything they can to bring the working men and women to economic opportunities free from poverty and the fear of poverty. As we know, we are in this for the long haul and all political buttons must be reset as we go forward.

Conference President Beverly O’Neill told our mayors that yes, we must go forward to assure our mayors that the business of the Conference protecting our well established funding streams from the Department of Transportation and our Community Development Block Grant program.

President O’Neill is also committed from what she knows of the history of our organization that she will stand with all mayors to make certain that the funds going to New Orleans and the Gulf cities must be coordinated with cities hard-hit. And we will be involved on a number of fronts to fulfill the promise she made to the mayors that she engaged in listening sessions and public statements during her historic mission she led to meet with her mayors who need us and Washington our federal government with its full and mighty force – now more than ever.