I just got back from the Conference of Mayors in Washington.
A few points I thought people would be interested in:
a. We met with Bush at the White House. (Sounds good but it was actually
about 100 Mayors in a big briefing room...so it wasn't exactly W. and I with
a cigar in the Oval Office.) Most of the time he talked about "homeland
security..." how the country is going to double its spending on this in the
next year.
I was very disappointed that even through this was a meeting of the
nation's mayors the president only mentioned housing very briefly...saying
he likes the idea of home ownership.
The good news, though, was I stood next to the Under Secretary of HUD
and several other HUD officials...They've been very helpful and we talked
about ways Minneapolis can continue to benefit from the empowerment zone
dollars that will be helping address core issues of poverty and economic
development in the center of Minneapolis.
b. I think we have a good partner in the new Mayor of Seattle. We had a
very good conversation about working together on transportation, housing and
airport issues. (They, too, have a serious airport noise issue.)
c. I traded info with several other mayors about ways they are addressing
serious financial issues. Cleveland's new Mayor and I compared notes about
how to restructure budgets. Detroit's was also helpful.
d. I was put on the Conference of Mayors Housing Task Force, and I'm
chairing a Housing subcommittee. This means I will also be helping them
draft their national housing proposals to be passed at their convention in
June. I talked to city council members when I got back this afternoon and
suggested we have a common national housing agenda...I'll bring that through
the conference of Mayors, they can through the League of Cities...and
Minneapolis can be driving the national housing agenda. (If you have
thoughts about items we should have, please pass them on...One I'm pushing
is to restore the tax incentives for housing investment that were taken away
in the 1980s.)
e. Went to a reception for at the home of Sen. John Kerry of Mass. He's
carrying housing legislation in the Senate and his staff asked me if people
here would be interested in hearing him talk about it. (He's probably
running for president so this would be a good way for Minnesotans interested
in this issue to find out how good he is on this....and to help force this
issue onto the national agenda in this year's race.)
One of the things I'm wresting with is how to use these national
organizations to get our points across and build bridges with other
mayors...without getting sucked into a national agenda that's
distracting...Part of the thing I'm trying to do is to pick one national
issue to really focus on...Right now that's housing.... I was asked to be
part of a League of Cities Task Force on Homeland Security but it seems that
too much national stuff on a variety of issues would be too
distracting....love people's opinions on what issues we should be raising.
Here are a couple of stories on the visit:
http://www.pioneerplanet.com/seven-days/tod/news/docs/235265.htm
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/1122560.html
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