U.S. Conference of Mayors Met in Madison

Nadine Stoner

[Reprinted from GroundSwell, 2002]

Between 250 and 300 mayors met at the Monona Terrace and Community Center in Madison, Wis. June 14-18, 2002 with the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Welcomed by Madison Mayor Sue Bauman, they listened to U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez, U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson (former Wisconsin Governor), Federal Emergency Management Agency head Joe Allbaugh, and others. Milwaukee, Wis. (a founding member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors) dropped their Conference membership in the mid 1990s because of their $12,000 a year dues, based on a city's population. However, Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist attended June 17 to participate in a panel on Amtrak, as he serves on the Amtrak Reform Council. Conference membership is limited to cities of 30,000 population or more.

The mayors had been met at the Dane (County) Regional Airport with protest signs by Madison Alderman Brenda Konkel and the Poverty Action Network. "We need more fair and affordable housing in Madison," the signs said.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, the Conference president, has made housing a priority. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown chairs the Mayors Community Development Housing Committee, but concedes that the housing crisis in not even on the national radar screen. HUD Secretary Martinez told mayors, "Housing issues are predominantly local issues. ... The solution to meeting the nation's afordable housing needs will not come out of Washington."

The mayors considered support for a proposed national homeownership tax credit, aimed at making buying a home more afordable for those with low and moderate incomes. A presentation also included a comprehensive national housing policy that addresses homeownership, rental and public housing, and housing for the disabled and homeless.

"Because of 9-11 (Sept. 11, 2001), all of our priorities have shifted dramatically," Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer said, adding that the federal government still must not abandon the important work of restoring neighborhoods and cities. "Low cost housing has clearly emerged as a major priority for people living in cities," said Stacey Davis, president of the Fannie Mae Foundation, the nation's largest foundation devoted to low-cost housing and community development issues.

Columbus, Ohio Mayor Michael Coleman reported on a 5-year "Cities First" partnership between the Conference and Nehemiah Corp. of California. Cities First has provided $275 million in down payment gifts and helped 100,000 families, in pursuing a goal of rebuilding cities nationwide.

Executives from at least eight major corporations who are members of the The Mayors' Business Council (a group of about 70 corporations that pay $10,000 apiece for membership and special access) addressed the Mayors June 15. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue called for a "holy alliance for the mutual benefit of all concerned," since metropolitan areas accounted for 98 percent of job growth last year. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Chairman of the Council for Investment in the New American City, agreed that the growth of metro economies was strong.

Madison police closed three blocks near the Community Center to keep the 250 or so protesters separated from the mayors. The Rev. Al Sharpton, invited by Cities for People!, a coalition of 25 activist groups, kicked off a weekend of peaceful protests, by addressing 250 protesters in front the Madison City-County Building on Martin Luther King Blvd., where groups were allowed to protest. Only one side entrance to the City County Building was open. The Wisconsin State Capital, two blocks away, was closed.

Cities for People! held an alternative, all day forum of speakers, discussions and workshops at the Madison Labor Temple. An evening panel featured Minneapolis, MN Mayor R.T. Ryback; Santa Monica, CA Mayor Mike Feinstein; and 1998 Wisconsin Democratic Governor candidate Ed Garvey. The Cities for People coalition includes the Affordable Housing Action Alliance, the Green Party, the National Organization for Women Madison Chapter, Progressive Dane (County), the Student Labor Action Coalition, and Latinos United for Change and Advancement.

The Cities for People! coalition is separate from but was in communication with the Creative People's Resistance which arranged many of the protest activities in Madison, including a 2-hour long march. One registed University student group, U.W. Greens, had booked a room at the U.W. Humanities building and planned to share it with the Creative People's Resistance, but ended being unable to because booked events must be primarily for university faculty, staff and students.

On June 17, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted more than 60 resolutions that will serve as the foundation for lobbying before Congress and the White House. Highlights include a comprehensive housing policy for the nation, passage of a $3.5 million block grant for homeland security, extending the federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants, attacking brownfields (polluted urban spaces), rail transportation, and establishing a Presidential Advisory Council on travel and tourism. The Mayors also approved a resolution opposing the transportation of high level nuclear waste to a national repository in Nevada's Yucca Mountain unless federal officials can guarantee the safety of all cities along proposed routes.

The mayors' national agenda includes federal support for 1.5 million new units of public housing in a decade, a National Housing Trust Fund, and an end to predatory lending. Mayors plan to gather in Washington, DC to lobby Congress in September.

Knowing that the Conference of Mayors would be meeting this year in Madison, Wis., the Board of Common Ground-USA for the past two years has discussed how we might get our message across.

Expense was prohibitive. If we rented a booth for $1,500 we would first have to pay a $1,000 membership as a non- profit organization. Then there would be another $1,000 cost for literature to distribute. Also discussed was purchasing an ad in the 8-1/2"x11" convention magazine. A one-time 1/8th page (size of two business cards) ad would cost $820. Several ads would be needed over a period of years before our group was recognized. Discussion had taken place with the Center for the Study of Economics about trying to get Harrisburg, Penn. Mayor Stephen Reed on a panel, but Mayor Reed informed us his city is not a member of the Conference of Mayors, though he would be glad to participate in a panel if invited.

Common Ground-USA members can invidually, though, contact your mayor. In March of 2001, Common Ground-USA members were sent a Letter Lobby kit on the "Council for Investment in the New American City." Included in the Letter Lobby kit was an "Open Letter to the Mayors of the Cities and Towns in the United States," by Ed Dodson. You can send a copy of that letter to your mayor. It is posted on Common Ground-USA's web site, www.progress.org/cg under "What's New."