By Conference Staff
October 7, 2002

Under the leadership of Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, more than 40 mayors met in Santa Barbara on September 19-21 for the Fall Leadership Meeting. The primary focus of the discussion was the upcoming Mayors Lobby Day in Washington on September 26.

During extensive discussions in the Executive Committee and among the general leadership, it was agreed that the primary message of Mayors Lobby Day would be a call for direct homeland security funding to cities. The mayors agreed that in every meeting and media opportunity on Mayors Lobby Day, they would call on Congress to approve the $3.5 billion in first responders assistance proposed by President Bush, and insist that a majority of this funding go directly to cities and larger counties.

To help emphasize this point, it was also agreed that a larger delegation of police and fire chiefs should join the mayors on Lobby Day. As a result, over 40 police and fire chiefs were dispatched to Washington on September 26 along with over 50 mayors.

A majority of the first day in Santa Barbara was devoted to the two overarching areas for lobby day: Homeland Security and Economic Security. Mayors made reports on each issue under these headings, and discussed strategy and key messaging points.

As agreed to during a July Leadership Meeting in Boston, the Mayors Lobby Day agenda included housing, homeland security/crime funding, aviation security, job/skills training, Amtrak, and welfare reform.

The mayors had before them in Santa Barbara a draft brochure for Mayors Lobby Day which they worked off of and made changes. The brochure identifies several key priorities under each issue area. The final brochure that was used for Mayors Lobby Day can be seen in USMAYOR on page 6.

In addition to the work on Mayors Lobby Day, the Fall Leadership Meeting covered a number of other important areas as follows:

National Housing Agenda

Nicolas P. Retsinas, Director of the Joint Center For Housing Studies at Harvard University, led the mayors in a discussion on the merits of lobbying for a national housing production program. Retsinas discussed the approach that mayors should take in pursuit of such a program on lobby day. Retsinas said that it was probably a stretch to get a national housing production program passed before the Congress adjourns. But he said legislation such as that authored by Rep. Bernard Sanders (VT) was worthy of pushing on lobby day. Representative Sanders has proposed a National Housing Trust Fund which would provide funding to build rental housing for low-income people . A new national housing production program is needed, said Retsinas and is clearly shown in the most recent report of the National Low Income Housing Coalition called "Out of Reach". The report looks at how much income a family mSan Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr. briefed the mayors on the challenges many cities are facing in estimates of their allocations of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Mayor Brown said that some cities will have significant changes in their allocations that are likely to take place with the 2003 appropriations Quoting from a letter that HUD Assistant Secretary Roy A. Bernardi had sent to mayors across the nation, Mayor Brown said "these changes are being made because of new data from the 2000 Census on poverty, housing over-crowding, and the pre-1940 housing." Mayor Brown continued: "What has happened is that 17 cities and counties will lose more than 20 percent and 111 cities will lose between 10 and 20 percent of their current funding. What is also interesting is that 116 cities and counties will gain more than 20 percent and 121 cities and counties will gain between Conference staff also outlined key HUD appropriations that would be important in discussions on lobby day. These included in addition to CDBG, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the public housing operating and capital funds, homeless assistance, and the restoration of the Public Housing Drug Elimination program. Mayors also said that more Section 8 vouchers are needed and should be an issue for lobby day.

San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr. briefed the mayors on the challenges many cities are facing in estimates of their allocations of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Mayor Brown said that some cities will have significant changes in their allocations that are likely to take place with the 2003 appropriations Quoting from a letter that HUD Assistant Secretary Roy A. Bernardi had sent to mayors across the nation, Mayor Brown said "these changes are being made because of new data from the 2000 Census on poverty, housing over-crowding, and the pre-1940 housing." Mayor Brown continued: "What has happened is that 17 cities and counties will lose more than 20 percent and 111 cities will lose between 10 and 20 percent of their current funding. What is also interesting is that 116 cities and counties will gain more than 20 percent and 121 cities and counties will gain between Conference staff also outlined key HUD appropriations that would be important in discussions on lobby day. These included in addition to CDBG, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the public housing operating and capital funds, homeless assistance, and the restoration of the Public Housing Drug Elimination program. Mayors also said that more Section 8 vouchers are needed and should be an issue for lobby day.

Conference staff also outlined key HUD appropriations that would be important in discussions on lobby day. These included in addition to CDBG, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the public housing operating and capital funds, homeless assistance, and the restoration of the Public Housing Drug Elimination program. Mayors also said that more Section 8 vouchers are needed and should be an issue for lobby day.

Johannesburg Summit/International Conference of Mayors

Conference of Mayors Vice President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James Garner reported on his participation in the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle also attended the Summit. Garner reported on his meetings with Secretary of State Colin Powell regarding the International Conference of Mayors and with EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman on the issue of brownfields redevelopment and clean air. Mayor Garner was the only local government representative on the official US delegation to the summit.

Garner told the Mayors about the Local Government Session, organized by the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), which drew 750 local government leaders from around the world to discuss best practices on such topics as transportation planning, public health, water safety, and greenhouse gas reduction. Garner has invited those mayors that attended the Johannesburg meeting to the Denver International Conference of Mayors meeting. They expressed a desire to continue the best practices discussion that started in Johannesburg.

Both Mayor Garner and Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb spoke of the importance of the 2nd International Conference of Mayors to be held in Denver, and the need for international issues to be a part of the entire 71st Annual Meeting.

Economic Growth and Investment in Cities

DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow told mayors that the Urban Economic Policy Committee would be working very closely with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in developing an economic investment package of federally supported programs and tax incentives to promote economic growth in local communities. As chair of the Council for Investment in the New American City, Mayor Kilpatrick will be teaming up with the leadership of the Urban Economic Policy Committee to put together the package, which could be presented to mayors as a recommendation for Conference policy at the Winter meeting in January.

Mayor Sparrow said a number of Conference priorities would most likely be considered for inclusion in the package, including: a brownfield development program to complement the brownfield clean-up initiative; a program to promote travel and tourism in our cities; an increase in funding for skills training and career development; and possibly reviving the old urban economic development action grants.

A number of tax incentives are also likely to be considered, including: a new tax incentive to encourage housing production; high'speed rail tax credit bonds to generate the capital necessary to expand local rail systems; school construction tax credit bonds to generate the capital needed to renovate and build new schools; expanding the new markets tax credit program to assist distressed neighborhoods; and exempting water and waste water projects from the state volume caps on bonds to generate the capital needed to rebuild local communities- deteriorating water infrastructure.

Mayor Kilpatrick is planning a meeting in November around the Council for Investment in the New American City that will bring together mayors and representatives from the private sector to begin putting this package together.

TEA-21 Reauthorization

Transportation and Communications Chair Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth L. Barr covered the issue of the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) during Saturday's working session. Highlighting that metropolitan economies function as engines of economic growth, job and income creation, and new industry for their region and the nation, Mayor Barr called on a reauthorization of the law to preserve and grow the transit program from $7.5 billion to $14 billion and the highway program from $34 billion to $41 billion over the 6 years of the next reauthorization.

Noting that the future of transportation for the 21st century is a future where our metropolitan areas continue to serve as the nucleus of our nation's transportation infrastructure of railways, waterways, airways, highways and roadways, Mayor Barr reviewed the U.S. Conference of Mayor's adopted reauthorization legislative positions focusing on the suballocation of surface transportation funds to metropolitan areas for repair and maintenance of existing urban highways while giving equal weight to expanding public transit systems, congestion mitigation, safety programs, intermodal projects, land use, and streamlined federal and state transportation regulations. The Conference of Mayors TEA-21 reauthorization legislative agenda can be seen on page 27.

In closing, Mayor Barr noted that as a nation, we must take a hard look at how to solve transportation threats to the performance of metropolitan economies, including increasing urban congestion, dangerously poor air quality, the aging urban infrastructure of bridges, highways and roadways and insufficient funding for public transit and rail.

Telecommunications and Cable

Dearborn Mayor Michael A, Guido, Vice Chair for Telecommunications of the Transportation and Communications Committee detailed a grim picture for the mayors during the Saturday working session on the threats to local government management of public rights-of- ways from Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Noting, the value of public rights-of-ways managed by local governments to be at least $6 trillion and may be worth as much as $7.1 trillion, Mayor Guido reported, "yet the industry expects local government to just give them free access while local government maintains, at a cost on local budgets, the public rights-of-way that houses the industry's infrastructure."

Of great concern, Mayor Guido reviewed Senator John McCain's legislation that was introduced just prior to the summer recess that would prevent localities from doing anything to interfere with the provisions of any consumer broadband service by limiting local government's rights-of-way compensation. Unlike other measures that have been introduced, Mayor Guido noted that Senator McCain's bill explicitly limits rights-of-way compensation. Mayor Guido explained to the mayors "that it is imperative for local government to oppose such a measure that does not reflect the real costs associated with managing the public rights-of-way."

Mayor Guido also assessed the Cable Modem issue noting "in one swoop, the FCC took money away from us that we counted on to maintain streets, police, sanitation, parks, and recreation budgets around the country." Challenging the FCC ruling that cable modem service is an interstate information service preventing collection of millions of dollars in franchise fees on this service, Mayor Guido highlighted the U.S. Conference of Mayors legal actions, including the joining of the national organizations together (National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, and National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors) forming an alliance to challenge the FCC ruling and the hiring of legal counsel to argue local government's interest before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the FCC.

Water Infrastructure

Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, Chair of the Urban Water Council, urged the mayors not to forget the importance of water and wastewater infrastructure as this Congressional session wrapped up and preparations begin for the incoming Congress. Palmer talked about the estimated $1 trillion cost to repair, modify, and comply with the environmental requirements for water and wastewater infrastructure.

Palmer also reported on the successful water meeting in Waco, Texas, which focused on the issue of animal byproducts in fresh water supplies, which continues to be a problem for many communities. Palmer said that there is a growing interest among many cities to deal directly with this problem at the source through a comprehensive watershed protection program. He urged any Mayors interested in hosting a watershed meeting to contact the Urban Water Council.

Membership Strategy

Burnsville (MN) Mayor and Membership Standing Committee Chair Elizabeth Kautz outlined an aggressive membership plan that will focus primarily on recruitment and retention efforts. Mayor Kautz stated that maintaining and significantly expanding the Conference of Mayors membership is a high priority for the committee.

In an effort to continue to have a strong and united voice in Washington, Mayor Kautz emphasized the need to continue those very successful membership programs that were instrumental in growing the membership over the past several years to record levels. In addition to building upon those programs, Mayor Kautz announced the creation of a Mayoral Ambassador program whereby mayors from across the nation will serve as state-level liaisons for recruitment and retention activities in their respective states.

Mayors Business Council

The new Chair of the Mayors and the Business Community Task Force, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, spoke of his intention to help grow the Mayors Business Council, and desire to include other mayors in this important effort. Mayor Nagin said that he wants to help ensure that the business community helps the Conference move forward its national agenda, as well as financially supporting the Conference's efforts. Representing the Mayors Business Council in Santa Barbara was co-chair Howlie Davis of CH2MHill.

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy briefed the mayors on a proposed new partnership between The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, MO. The overall purpose of the partnership will be to develop and pilot new strategies for increasing entrepreneurial activity in America's cities.

Malloy said that the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report issued annually by Babson College, the London Business School and the Kauffman Foundation confirms the relationship between entrepreneurial activity and economic growth.

The report indicates that all nations exhibiting high levels of entrepreneurial activity, defined as the percentage of population involved in starting a new enterprise, grew their economies at rates above the international average.

The new partnership will explore whether the same relationship applies to local and regional economies in the United States.

The partnership will explore how entrepreneurship can become an integral part of new economic development strategies, using such cutting edge research as Carnegie Mellon Professor Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class."

Florida's work suggests that cities that focus on technology, tolerance and talent will be more competitive in the emerging world economy.

The partnership is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of this year and will include basic research and field work through demonstration sites.

Malloy said, "This new partnership between the Foundation and the Conference provides both organizations an opportunity to explore fresh and creative thinking in the economic development field."