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Obama hails relationship with mayors

22 January 2016

by Tom Teodorczuk

Barack Obama, the US President, has hailed his administration’s relationship with cities at the United States Conference of Mayors 84th Winter Meeting as the White House announced the winners of the US$1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition.

Obama compared mayors favourably with other government officials and said their job transcended political categorisation. Speaking to 250 mayors at the White House gathered in DC for the USCM Winter Meeting, he said: “When I took office I made it a priority to build a strong partnership with mayors in this room and all across the country.

“Thanks to all of you, America has made extraordinary progress over the past seven years…we have seen our cities take leadership and we have seen transformations of communities across this country. When cities are strong, the states they’re in are strong and when cities are strong, America is strong. Mayors can’t wait for Congress.

“Mayors can’t get stuck in partisan gridlock. We’ve got Republican and Democratic mayors but frankly if you’re a mayor, nobody cares what your party is. They care about what you’re getting done. You don’t have time for a lot of bluster or baloney. Your constituents expect results.”

He added: “Unlike other government officials mayors understand that the services and the effectiveness of local governments and government generally is something we can’t take for granted.

“You’re not always getting a thank you. Instead you’re getting, ‘Why didn’t you get that done or if you got it done why didn’t you get it done earlier?’ The pace is relentless for mayors because people expect to see it [change] every single day.”

The White House sought to match his bipartisan sentiments by inviting Republican Mayor Ashley Swearengin of Fresno, to the White House Briefing Room to take questions from reporters.

Swearengin declared Fresno has benefited from the Obama Administration’s 12-agency Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative: “Fresno has been substantially supported and improved as a result of the work and our partnership with the Obama administration. To say otherwise would not be telling the truth.”

Obama said his administration’s key achievements for cities lay in combating climate change and creating high-tech jobs in urban areas and also cited 40 US cities adopting the minimum wage and 20 cities competing in the White House’s Healthy Community Challenge to get uninsured people signed up to health coverage.

He added his urban agenda priorities for the remaining year of his tenure as US President include reforming the criminal justice system, tackling escalating heroin usage in US cities and improving education.

Obama also paid tribute to the USCM, saying: “USCM understands the importance of a global economy and making sure that US businesses are creating US jobs and that we’re exporting.”

Earlier in the day Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, had addressed the 84th USCM Winter Meeting on the subject of veterans homelessness. She said: “Every kind of community in America can end veterans homelessness. Did we meet the goal to solve this problem by the end of last year? No, we didn’t. But do we regret having set that goal? Absolutely not.”

The First Lady singled out Eric Garcetti’s commitment to eradicating homelessness in Los Angeles for special praise. She said: “LA has the largest homeless population in this country, but that didn’t stop Mayor Garcetti from boldly committing himself and his city to this challenge. So far, they’ve found permanent housing for over 5,500 veterans.”

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Rockefeller Foundation announced the winners of the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) in the form of US$1 billion in grants to 13 state and local governments to help them protect against climate change.

New York City received US$176 million to help shield lower Manhattan from hurricanes and floods, three years after Hurricane Sandy, while Louisiana was granted US$93 million in funding to support its Louisiana Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments Program (LA SAFE). California was given US$70 million to pilot its Community and Watershed Resilience Program in Tuolumne County which was severely affected by the 2013 wildfires.

Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director of USCM, told Cities Today: “Mayors left the White House impressed with President Obama, especially with what he had to say about crime.”

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