Transcript: Mayor Bill de Blasio Holds Media Availability With Members of The U.S. Conference Of Mayors 'Cities Of Opportunity' Task Force

August 11, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I want to start by just offering my profound thanks, while we have everyone come forward and sign this important document, which is really going to be a framework for action by Mayor’s around the country. I want to thank everyone who’s been a part of this. This is an extraordinary effort that’s been going on now for months. Mayors and their staff working together so we can find a pathway for common cause to address the issues of inequality and so many of the issues facing our cities. And the conversation today was absolutely outstanding. What’s happening in the cities of this country to address inequality – to create economic opportunity – is absolutely outstanding and often times in the most difficult circumstances mayors are making things happen. And people from all around the country – as you heard the stories ­– everyone immediately recognize in each other kindred souls, finding solutions, and that’s what makes this so powerful.

This is an organic way of creating forward motion on a national urban agenda. This is mayors around the country gathered to support each other, to support innovation. And also to show from the ground up, what our federal government needs to do to support our cities. We’re showing by example where we need to go as a country.

The power of having this meeting at Gracie Mansion is it recalls some very very important history. It recalls the fact that Mayor LaGuardia – the first occupant at Gracie Mansion– was also one of the founders of the U.S Conference of Mayors. And it was at a time of tremendous economic strain, when the nation was imperiled economically and mayors gathered together to make a difference. In fact, the U.S Conference of Mayors was largely created as a response to the Great Depression. And Mayor LaGuardia – just shortly into his first term in 1934 –gathered the U.S Conference of Mayors here at Gracie Mansion for a three day conference on the unemployment crisis that gripped the nation.

That group of mayors offered President Roosevelt a bold set of recommendations and those recommendations largely came to life in the New Deal because the mayors organized together to achieve them and push their congressional representatives to achieve them. So we have something here that guides us. What the U.S Conference of Mayors has done throughout its history – the role that Gracie Mansion has played, the role mayors have played – in creating and enforcing a federal agenda that really made a difference. We’re going to take inspiration from that now and act upon it.

Mayor Kevin Johnson is upholding an extraordinary tradition as leader of the U.S Conference of Mayors. A tradition of being able to band together the forces of mayors from all over the country in common cause, representing tens of millions of people. It’s an extraordinary effort   and he has given me the great honor of serving as the chair of this task force and I’ve been thrilled to be joined in that by the Vice Chair – the Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh– who is a true kindred soul. Someone who fights against inequality in so many ways and is making a real difference, having just recently become Mayor of Boston and is already making a huge difference on issues like early childhood education.

So the leadership is here. People who are devoted, not only to making a change in their cities but finding a way to make it national, working together to support each other, to help each other to go as far as we can go and then take those models and make them national models and make them felt in our nation’s capital, in our state capitals. We know that the level of consensus here is extraordinary about addressing the challenges we face. And everyone here understands what this inequality crisis looks like.

As we went around the room today, people told the stories of what these last years – what it’s done to their city, what it’s done to everyday people. And they need to take a different path. The statistics about disparity are striking and I want to thank the U.S. Conference of Mayors because this report, was published in the last few days, makes even clearer what’s happening in this country. That, even as we start to experience a recovery from the Great Recession, the wage levels haven’t recovered. Income disparity hasn’t changed – in, fact we’re still going in the wrong direction. Our cities bear the brunt and it’s up to cities to lead the way. We came up with a commitment to action.

We came up with a clear and simple statement that allows for lots of local flexibility and creativity but says we’re all together acting on these fronts. And we want it to be felt in common. We want our achievements to be felt in a way they haven’t sufficiently in the national debate because these mayors have done things – when they had resources, or even when they didn’t. They innovated – they found ways to save money, they found new revenue, they found new partners.

One way or another, the men and women here found a way to keep addressing the crises of our times. And so the commitment to action combines, in simple concepts, what we’re already working on and says this needs to be a national template. If we do it right, we’re going to help each other address the inequality crisis better and faster. We’re also going to speed the day when there’s a true, deeply felt, urban agenda in Washington.

When Fiorello LaGuardia gathered mayors in the 1930’s here at Gracie Mansion, the urban agenda was a given. And it continued that way through the 1940’s, the 1950’s, the 1960’s, and the 1970’s. And then that was no longer a part of our discourse and our city suffered for it. Because a federal disinvestment aligned with the fact that urban issues weren’t front and center the way the deserved to be. Well now, it’s not just the economic crisis that has brought this back into perspective. It’s the fact that cities are more important economically to the future of this country than ever before. We are where the economy is moving and growing – we are the focal point in the new knowledge based economy.

So, cities have to work and we’ve got to get the federal government back in the business of helping cities work.

I want you to hear from some of these leaders. I have to tell you, I’ve been through a lot in public life but I’ve was downright inspired today. I was moved hearing the stories of what each of these cities are doing. It’s absolutely outstanding and I want to start with the leader of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, who’s doing amazing things in Sacramento to begin with, but is doing so much more to bring cities to a point of greater strength all over the country. Mayor Kevin Johnson, President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson: Do you have the report?

Mayor: I do have the report. That’s my assist.

Mayor Johnson: Your mayor is trying to get his basketball terminology down.

Mayor: I kid, I kid.

Mayor Johnson: Good afternoon everyone, and we are truly inspired to be here today on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. And all the mayors behind me, and the organization, Tom Cochran. Let’s give Mayor de Blasio a round of applause for his great leadership and his staff and his team. Mayor de Blasio, as I said earlier, we’re very appreciative of you welcoming us into your home. I want to commend Vice Chair Walsh for his leadership as well, to focus on these strategies of income inequality to promote economic mobility and create jobs in America’s cities. I want to thank all the mayors who traveled around the country to be here with us today and last night. You held a beautiful reception, which was incredible. I want to thank our past president, Michael Nutter, as well for his leadership. We have now, since June, the theme of my presidency would be “Cities 3.0.” I think most of you have heard me say this before. Cities 1.0, they were built around forts, and rivers, and transportation routes. They served as centers for trade and commerce. That was known as the agricultural revolution. Cities 2.0 had factories and big industries, smokestacks and automobiles. The industrial revolution. Today, we are upon Cities 3.0, the digital revolution. It’s an era where cities are the hubs of innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology. You’re going to have more cellphones than landlines, you’re going to have more tablets than desktops, more smart devices than toothbrushes. It’s wireless, it’s paperless, it’s cashless. And that’s what we’re representing. Well, exciting as this new era is, there’s also a chasm that exists between the haves and the have-nots in this country. And while we know the national economy is recovering from the Great Recession. We also know there’s a lot going on it terms of a gap, and that gap is widening in terms of income inequality. Our latest metro economy report right here shows the jobs gained during the economic recovery. The pay has been an average of 23 percent less than jobs we lost during the recession. If you go back to 2001, 2002, it was 12 percent, and now we’re double that at 23 percent. And real numbers and annual wages before the downturn: 61,000 jobs, 61,000 dollars were gained. Now unfortunately we’re down to 47,000. Even more jarring: the wage gap represents $93 billion in lost wages for real American families. Less money in their pockets means less money for everyday living expenses. The top 20 percent of households, it used to capture 43 percent; now they’re capturing 51 percent of the nation’s income. At the bottom, the bottom used to capture 40.7 percent, that’s going down to 3 percent. That is not the country we want to be in. This reality for us as mayors is unacceptable. In Cities 3.0, you can’t leave anyone behind. In Cities 3.0, we recognize that providing opportunity for economic prosperity drives social transformation. The whole purpose of Cities 3.0 is to lift up residents, and build on a community and economy that works for everyone. We have a pro-growth agenda; we’re talking about infrastructure, sustainability, education, trade, but also this notion of cities of opportunities, and that’s what I’ve asked Mayor de Blasio: to be the captain of our team when it comes to this particular task force. This morning, we had an unbelievable dialogue. We had Mayor Castro here, who’s now Secretary of HUD, telling and sharing with us what’s important in terms of housing. We’re talking about transportation. But the three issues that we focused on today were income inequality, early childhood education, and this notion of broadband. And I’m here to say that while there’s a wage gap and an achievement gap and a digital divide, we do not as mayors want to stand by and allow the haves to get more and the have-nots to be left behind. We are committed to making sure that everyone participates in the American dream. Yes, Congress languishes in dysfunction, but Mayors continue to solve problems. We’ll work to break down barriers. This was the first step today. We’re going to continue to have this conversation going forward under Mayor de Blasio’s leadership. I want to thank you all very much for coming out. And I want to thank you, Mayor, again for your leadership.

[Applause]

Mayor: As I mentioned, I am blessed with a great vice chair for this task force. Marty Walsh is truly someone who looks at the conditions of people of Boston and feels it very personally and is not going to accept the status quo. He’s shown that on a host of issues. He’s particularly shown passion to make sure early childhood education will only move forward in Boston, never move backward. And he is a man who means what he says. Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh: Thank you Mayor de Blasio. And it’s great to be here today. I want to thank President Johnson for appointing me to this task force. This is an important issue for our country. I was just listening to the president talk and the mayor speak about – for the last five presidential elections, the whole campaign has been around the top one percent of the rest of the country. And there’s been nothing solved. And President Johnson has charged us of making sure that we put a road map out there. A road map so that truly we can help people in this country and stop, and make sure to close that gap of inequality and inequity. There were a lot of conversations today at the table – we had a conversation about wages, we had a conversation about sick time – family sick time, we had a conversation about early childhood education, we had a conversation about broadband, we’re going to have conversations later on about housing and transportation. But the most important thing that was said at the table or wasn’t said at the table was this isn’t a Democrat thing, this isn’t a Republican thing, this is the right thing to do and this is a bipartisan effort that we need to continue to move forward. We need to make sure we close that gap. When I became mayor of the City of Boston, when I got sworn in on January 6th, I spoke about this income gap, I spoke about inequality, inequity. Every single day in the City of Boston I see it. The roadmap that we’re laying down here with all the mayors behind me and all the mayors that couldn’t make it, is going to be – we’re going to finally, if we follow this roadmap, we will actually close that divide. We won’t be talking about the haves and have-nots. We’ll be talking about Americans who are able to make it – families who are able to make some money, earn some money, they will afford where they live, they will have good access to healthcare, good access to education, good access to housing, good access to transportation. So I want to thank you all for being here today and it’s such an honor to be standing here today with so many of my great colleagues behind me. Thank you very much.

[Applause]

Mayor: The next speaker I’ve had the pleasure of working with for many years. Rahm Emanuel has a lot of legend about him and I have to tell you from having worked closely with him, the legend is true. He gets an extraordinary amount done, no matter what is thrown at him. He’s taken on the challenge in these last three plus years of being the mayor of America’s third largest city, Chicago. And he didn’t come into office at an easy time in Chicago, but as is typical of Rahm, he turned things around with a focus and an energy that became irresistible and he’s making change happen – what he’s doing with early childhood education, what he’s doing to address wages, is extraordinary and was one of the inspirational parts of today’s meetings, to hear the Chicago story. Ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

[Applause]

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Thank you. Bill, Kevin, Murray and all the mayors, thank you for this. This is a huge, significant time, a significant opportunity for cities as a place and a location of economic opportunity. But we all know that to make sure that they stay those economic opportunities for job creation and for families, you have to make sure that what started years ago as a wedge, doesn’t allow that to become a permanent gap in our cities. And just a few years ago was simply just a wedge, a disparity, has now grown into a growing gap, and we want to make sure that every family that chooses work, raises children, not in poverty, but as part of the middle class. I focused on our task force, and what we’ve done in the city to raise the minimum wage from where it is today to $13 over the next four years, and then index it so it never loses its economic value. Because if a parent chooses work, work should pay and no child should ever be raised in poverty. And the link that exists between not just from raising the minimum wage, but all the other policies we do primarily where today in an era – you earn what you learn and why education is so essential. We don’t wait on that earning part until the later years, we start at three and four because children today drop out of college in third grade. Which means, at three and four we must get to them. And today’s focus, not just on universal early childhood, but quality universal is so essential – learning from each other. And as it comes back all home, participating in our minimum wage task force – a mother said, in our city we used to have half our kids would get only two hours of kindergarten. Because it was two hours of kindergarten, she couldn't work. Last year, every child received a seven hour, full day of kindergarten. And because it was a seven-hour a day, the child was no longer shortchanged, and the mother was no longer shortchanged. She could go to work, and participate in work, and be a role model – in her own words – because I want my child to grow up in a home where work is valued. There was a connection, it wasn't siloed – minimum wage over here, early child over there, broadband – it is all about taking our cities, which are experiencing an economic boom, or economic growth, but making sure that the middle class doors, that our families came to when they came to our cities, remain open for future generations, which is why what we do in early childhood education, or making sure that what we're doing on our community colleges and our city colleges, remain a ticket to the middle class, and the jobs, and the values, and the stability in our neighborhoods that come with it. And the link between these policies – that yes, Washington, and sometimes our state capitols, are caught in a position of being in neutral – our cities cannot afford to be in neutral. The people that make up our cities cannot afford us to be in neutral. And linking a set of policies that move more and more people to participate in the economic opportunity, so to take what was a gap, and eliminate it to where it's a wedge, and no longer allow that divide, where people have a sense that that city, a great city that's on the move, solving it's problems – a future that they can see and envision right in front of their own eyes, that they envision them and their children to be part of that future. And the value of work, making work pay, and the education that goes with it, is essential to making sure that our cities continue to remain the cities of opportunities for generations to come, and that means starting at the age of three, and four, so by third and fourth grade, they're on their way to achieving a college education, and making sure that they have the opportunities of a middle class life, like all of us who are standing here, and all of you that are sitting there – we have the same thing that we would want for every child in the city of Chicago, or any one of our cities – a parent that loves, and a system that educates, because that is the ticket to a great future, a great city, and a great country. Thank you for having this conference.

[Applause]

Mayor: So, our fourth largest city in America, Houston, has had extraordinary success during the mayoralty of Annise Parker. She is someone who has been regarded as able to bring all the stakeholders of her city together in common cause, and what it's meant is great economic progress. She's also focused on making sure that that progress reaches everyone. Houston is doing groundbreaking work on promoting minority- and women-owned businesses, to make sure that when prosperity comes, it really does lift all boats. And she's someone who has really shown us, and has important examples to offer us today, of what a city can do to help its own people. I want to present the Mayor of Houston, Annise Parker.

[Applause]

 

Houston Mayor Annise Parker: Thank you, and I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Cities are about people, and about possibility. And mayors are a unique breed of political animal. Mayors are, by their nature, pragmatic, focused dreamers. You have to be able to articulate the vision for your city. You have to be able to bring everyone together to do the hard work of making things happen, but mayors are pragmatic. We have to get up every day to make sure that our cities run. We can't spend a lot of time talking about grand theories – the toilets have to flush, the water has to flow, the traffic lights have to work, and the trash has to be picked up. The difference in mayors who come together in the U.S. Conference of Mayors, from other levels of government, is that we came today to share ideas, to talk about best practices – but we're going to leave this place and implement. We came with a portfolio of good ideas that were already putting into action in our own cities. We're going to leave with a pocketbook of new ideas to implement. We talked about some things that are important in all of our cities. We'll come back together and expand on that list. No one solution is going to serve all of us. And in this statement that we just signed, not each one of us will implement everything on that list. But I guarantee that we will make progress in each of those areas, and I guarantee that we will make progress in the other areas that we've already defined for further action, such as housing and transportation. Mayors are about solutions for our people. We are here today – not just to talk, not just to make speeches – we are here today to make sure that we learn from each other, and go back to our home cities, and put these new ideas into action. Cities are already succeeding all across America, and I would remind you that in any poll of trusted elected officials, local elected officials lead – mayors get it done every day. And in these three areas – in early childhood education, in income inequality, and in access to the internet – we will continue to lead the way. Thank you.

Mayor: Good job, mayor. Well done. We have one more speaker and he’s a dear friend. Before I call him up, I just want to say, at the end of the speeches, I’m going to have the honor of signing on to this document along with so many of my colleagues – a real symbol of our joint commitment. And then we will take your questions on this topic, on the topic of this meeting and this gathering, what it means. We’ll keep questions to this topic today.

Michael Nutter runs America’s fifth largest city, Philadelphia. It’s an extraordinary place and it’s a place that has its challenges, like we all face. Michael Nutter’s been very resolute about addressing those challenges. He’s taken on the issue of wages, ensured the companies that do business with the city of Philadelphia will pay more to their workers. He’s taken on so many of the disparities that his city is facing. And now, on the national stage, he’s agreed to serve as co-chair of the Conference of Mayor’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative. Following up on what President Obama has started, helping young men of color to have the kind of futures they deserve is something he cares about passionately and he’s acting on. I’d like to introduce the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those words have helped to guide our great nation and our cities all across America for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, you can’t truly have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness if you have a life in poverty, your children aren’t educated, and you have no access to the rest of the world. So 50 years ago, many of us were fighting for access to a lunch counter, to a job, to a neighborhood. Today, that access really is about the internet, and how you can experience not only your own community, but the rest of the world. And the interesting thing about what happened today, and I again commend our host mayor and the chair of this Cities of Opportunity task force, Mayor de Blasio, the leadership of our president, Kevin Johnson, putting all of this together. So the people behind me and many others who could not attend, they’re doers. Mayors get stuff done. Mayor Parker talked about, there are talkers and there are doers. We talk among each other, we share ideas, and out of this particular meeting, I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually put together a compendium of all of the ideas, the things that mayors are doing, just to address these particular issues, but so many many more. So, to those of you on the press, if you want to see action, if you want to watch people doing something, come to our cities, talk to mayors. We get stuff done. You can’t just talk about moving snow. You can’t just talk about picking up trash. You can’t just talk about filling potholes. We are judged every day by our constituents on what we do, and what we accomplish. And day turns into night, and then tomorrow, the same thing starts up all over again. And so there are straightforward issues and ideas; they are challenges in our nation. But the mayors, and the cities, are on the rise again. We’re all storming back fearlessly, taking on the great challenges. Again we see the gridlock in Washington D.C., which is tragic. Cities will lead the way in the United States of America, and we’re seeing the same thing around the world. And so I look forward to this work, I look forward to our putting together all of these ideas and sharing. That’s what we do. We’re not competitors. We share information. We help each other do what the mayors want to do in their respective cities. And then we get stuff done. I’m looking forward to the work. Thank you Mayor.

[Applause]

Mayor: All right. On-topic. Who’s got something? Yes.

Question: [inaudible] cooperation between cities, between mayors. We heard Mayor Nutter say we’re not [inaudible].

Mayor: On topic. I think you’re veering off topic. Next question, on topic. Who’s got it? Okay.

Question: [inaudible] Democratic National Convention. So I was hoping and Mayor Nutter could speak to that competition and how that’s –

Mayor: We’re going to stay on topic. It was a good try, Grace, but we’re going to stay on topic. I commend you. [inaudible]. That’s right. There you go. [laughter]. Thank you, brother. But to the other part of the question, which is, are we in common cause, I’ll tell you why we are absolutely in common cause. And any of my colleagues who wants to join, feel free. Because the things we’re trying to achieve require each other’s support. First and foremost, as you heard today, people are sharing ideas right now of how to make their cities better. And people are learning from each other’s experience and gaining traction on the things we want to do because someone else started down the road. I want to say humbly, we were able to do something powerful on pre-k because some of these cities went first. We were able to do something on paid sick leave because some of these cities went first – the same on a host of issues. So, we all are conscious of the fact that when you’re changing the approach, the trailblazers loom large. And there’s no specific road map. A city gets there – we want to, in this task force, make sure when a city gets there and figures out something that works that it gets faster to the other cities and that we support each other in making it real. And then, the bigger mission – to take that progress and that example to Washington.

Now, there is no illusion in this group on how difficult it will be to change the Washington dynamic. This will be years of work. But it has to happen, because we can’t continue to do what we have to do for our people without assistance from Washington and, by the way, from our state capitols too. So, rather than curse the darkness and say, well, there hasn’t been an effective national urban agenda for years, we’re going to light the single candle and say, let it be us who start it. Anyone want to add? All right, next question.

Question: Along the lines of paid sick leave and pre-k, are there other programs that were discussed at the meeting so far today that [inaudible]?

Mayor: I’m going let that to my colleagues. I heard a lot that inspired me, but anyone want to use an example of something you heard that inspired you?

Mayor Emanuel: Inspired? Yeah. [inaudible]. Look, let me just try to put your two questions together. What we do on minimum wage and what we’re doing on early childhood education will have a Chicago accent. What Houston does on minimum wage and early childhood education or broadband will have a Houston accent. [inaudible] what Bill just said, every one of us looked at each other, follow examples of things that [inaudible]. And I do want to just say one thing – we are working – we have a public transportation system, an aggressive reentry for ex-offenders. Mike noted the idea of eliminating the word ex-offenders and putting out that they’re returning citizens. Removing that stigma where, if you are going to give people a second chance, what does that mean? And taking the stigma of ex-offender out as a returning citizen and then what are the policies that go not only with the name change but that area if somebody’s willing to work having come from there. There are other ideas that have been talked about while this was away on what I would say is we all face – kids who face the summer slide. They basically go back four or five months in the summer from learning. And each of us have a variation of how in the summer to fill that educational gap and, again, Mayor Parker then talked about, what about a year-round education rather than a summer educational program. We have Rahm’s Readers at our libraries. We make sure every kid in the [inaudible] district system has a half-hour reading who is part of camp. But all of us had different ideas and variations on how to deal with similar challenge – summer slide. There were like seven different ideas from different people about how to handle that.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Again, I’m going to exercise the rules. Don’t let me bring Rahm up to enforce order because he will do it.

Question: [inaudible]. Okay. I’ve got a pinch hitter. I’m tagging out here. All right. Mayor Parker.

Mayor Parker: [inaudible] debate, let me tell you. Yes, cities do compete, but we have to provide the salad, the appetizer, the entrée, and the dessert – and that competition may be the cherry on the dessert. But what we’re doing here today is talking about how to put the salad on the table, how to put the meat and potatoes on the table, and how to make sure that all of our cities thrive. And the piece where we compete is a little tiny piece that has nothing to do with what we have to do day in and day out to make sure that our citizens get what they need.

[Commotion]

Mayor Emanuel: The goal isn’t about whether our cities compete. It’s whether the people of our cities can compete for the future. That is the challenge that is right here. And so while you may think Philadelphia is doing this or New York competing for this convention, that’s not really the competition. The competition is whether you can look in the eye of a three-year-old today and just look to yourself also when you go to sleep and say, have you given everything you need to so that child can compete and win in the future of the 21st century. [inaudible] it’s no longer the suburbs of either Houston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Sacramento that that child will compete against, but the children of our cities will not be competing against the kids of Berlin, Beijing and Shanghai. And so it’s not a cities competition. It’s to make sure that our students and our young ones are completely educated so they can compete and win in the 21st century. And that’s the real competition. That’s why this meeting was so essential.

Mayor: Let me remind our friends from the media, we will have a press conference tomorrow while the DNC Site Selection Committee is here so you can ask all your fun conventions questions tomorrow. But let me get you back to what’s happening here. Everyone’s articulating the meaning. This hasn’t happened in years, that there be a real critical mass around an urban agenda. And I think it’s not surprising that, for a lot of folks it’s been so long since it existed, it may be hard to see the import of the moment. But for a lot of us, we actually remember when there was an urban agenda, and we remember it used to pull energy and resources towards cities, and it has to be reestablished. And we’re going to do it by leading by example. So many people surrounding me here have achieved things that are bluntly not being talked about enough around this country. But they’re exemplary and they’re really addressing the inequality crisis profoundly, and we want to bring these examples to the national audience. We want to help every city to do these things faster and better, but also lead by example to bluntly push Washington to the kind of debate it should have had a long time ago about what has to be done to support our cities since cities are now more than ever the key to our economy

Question: Mayor de Blasio, [inaudible] is your priority on breaking this inequality gap more of a bottom-up or a top-down? Increasing the minimum wage, providing pre-k, or taxing the more affluent to pay for some of those services?

Mayor: Look, I think everyone here has their own approach by definition and their own local circumstances. What I’ve said very clearly is we have to achieve these things. And my own example is instructive – I had an original concept of a tax plan that I thought was the best and most consistent way to achieve full-day pre-k for every child in New York City. We ended up with an alternative that achieves essentially the same thing, with funding from our state capitol. I think as Mayor Parker said, we’re all pragmatists, we need to get to the goal for our people. So it is about the tangible material impact on the ground. It’s about early childhood education reaching more children and at a high-quality level for more hours. It’s about addressing income levels and bringing up wages and benefits. The question of how you get there is a local question, but the aspiration, the belief that we have to do things like that, is what unites us. Do you want to add?

Mayor Nutter: [inaudible] Mayor de Blasio is absolutely correct. But second, for this discussion, for the on-topic discussion – maybe you missed the Standard & Poors report last week – the fairly well-known, economic growth, those ratings for everyone standing on this podium and more. Economists across the United States of America are telling us that income inequality – not some fringe issue that just a few people want to talk about, but a real issue – is actually holding back the economy of the United States of America. It’s a real issue, and we need to stay focused on it.  And so mayors – yes, we can do some things. State capitals can do some other things. And certainly the federal government, the house, and the senate, and the president can do a bunch of things. But we don’t have time to wait. So we’re going to do the things that we can do. So it is about how to raise the minimum wage, even if it’s locally, but should in fact be statewide and ultimately the federal government that should take on that challenge. I live in a city and a state that doesn’t even have a student-weighted funding format – before we even get to universal pre-k. One of only three states of the United States of America that doesn’t have a student-weighted funding formula, but that holds us back. And again, access to the internet – I mean, you know, if you want to buy some stuff or get some things that’s fantastic. What we’re really talking about is how are children going to do their homework? How are you going to find a job? 80 percent of the jobs in the United States of America you have to find on the internet. You can’t take the GED test in paper anymore. It’s only on the computer. And so these are serious issues at the grassroots level. So, bottom left, top down, left, right, sideways, underneath, any which way we can, these are the kinds of things that mayors are doing all across the United States of America. If you want to see stuff getting done, if you want to watch action, watch what’s going on across the cities of America and talk to these mayors.

Mayor: One or two more, but let me just say this point here. You know, in the – there was the earlier question, what was inspirational, what were examples – I saw people just furiously writing as they heard each of their colleagues talk about what they’d done. I had a moment when I was inspired listening to Rahm talk about what pre-k has done in Chicago to get kids ready for kindergarten. Because the speed with which his early childhood efforts are affecting the children of Chicago is breathtaking. And we all need to hear that from each other, because it's a reminder of why we have to start down the road on these changes, that some of them – yes, some of them take a while to construct. Others can have an impact literally in the first year. That example from Chicago, I think for a lot of us, was a reminder – early childhood education is something you don't wait – every year you wait, you lose another generation of kids, but more importantly, when you start, it starts to actually have that multiplier effect for a child pretty much immediately.

Two more.

Question: [inaudible] What do you think you can do to get Washington to change their mind [inaudible]?

Mayor: So, I'll do my answer. I bet everyone would have their own historical interpretation. I think it was the Reagan revolution of the 80s, and amplified later by Newt Gingrich. I think it was a series of leadership changes that brought about a set of policies that were not focused on cities. And I think it was to the peril of our cities. But I think the more essential part of your question is, how do we make clear what it would mean to make that change, and how do we get there? The changing economy is our calling card, because the economy now requires the education system to be so much stronger. And our cities are obviously the gathering places for talent from all over our areas that are creating the kind of companies, and sustaining the companies that will make us truly competitive going forward. So, the equation is pretty straightforward, suddenly. We've got to get our education system to be stronger, to have the kind of economies we need – that has huge ramifications for the country. We can't let an inequality crisis overcome us, because if it isn't addressed it will undermine the stability of the country. So, then how do you move Washington? Well, I just say count. Count up the millions and millions represented by all these people, and look at the states they come from. And some of their senators and some of their congress members are not voting in the interest of these cities, they're not trying to address these issues. There has to be more consequence for that. And part of what I think is so powerful is the notion of mayors joining together and saying, here's some bottom lines to us, and showing what we've got on the ground, and then we've kind of already made the case – it's not an abstract discussion in Washington. We already have the evidence. And that's what changes the debate, when the people start to say – we like that vision. That's when elected officials have to follow in Washington.

Mayor Johnson: I just want to build on what Mayor de Blasio said, and Mayor Landrieu – I'm going to get you to come up in a second. You're asking about the politics involved, and it's real. And we have something – we all believe, that we're open source leaders, which means we don't care whether the best ideas come from democrats or republicans – we just want the right ideas. We're pragmatic. We have to serve relationships at the local and state level as well. I wanted Mayor Landrieu to come up a little bit, and just talk about, kind of, our approach. And then sometimes there's consequences when things don't happen, but we don't have the luxury of waiting on the sidelines. Mayor Landrieu.

Mayor Landrieu: Thank you, Mayor Johnson, and Mayor de Blasio. Thank you so much for having us, and to all the other mayors that are with us today. You asked a question – when did it start, why did it happen. It may have started back in the 70s, it may have started in the 80s, but what's clear now, to all of the mayors, every day that we wake up – things that are happening, and not happening, in the cities, and people's lives being affected, whether it's jobs, or whether it's crime, or violence, and mayors – as you've heard, from all the mayors – have to get things done. We don't have the luxury of waiting. And so one of things, as Mayor de Blasio said, that we're trying to do now – is cities are becoming the laboratories of innovation and change, and we hope that members of congress see the work that we're doing, and see the product of what we're producing, and say – listen, I want some of that too. How did you guys get that done? And so what the mayors here are telling you, is that we're not ideologically bent. It can be left, it can be right, it can be up, it can be down – we need to find a way. Mayor de Blasio has said – we need to set the aspiration. If it's early childhood education, if it has to do with broadband – all of those are ways for people, American citizens, to have greater opportunity. Greater opportunity for what? Greater opportunity for growth. There's nothing more common – or, of a common purpose, that the people of the United States of America could have, that everybody in the United States of America ought to have upward mobility, and the mayors are saying, we are going to find a way to actually show you how to get that done. And that's what our vision is for the rest of the country, and we hope that congress will then look down, and say, listen, those guys are doing some great stuff. We want to be their partner. Everybody here knows that the way to success in the future is a partnership, horizonically and vertically. The federal, state, local government; faith-based communities, not-for-profits, the business community; public leaders and private leaders – actually moving forward, so that we can make sure that everybody has an opportunity to learn, to grow, to earn a living – and as Mayor Emanuel said – to make sure that everybody that chooses to go to work will then have a guarantee that they nor their children will live in poverty. And Mayor de Blasio has basically called us with a common purpose, and said we are going to raise our voices. We are going to lift everybody up. We're going to speak to the issue, so that it's clear to everybody in this country that there is a better pathway, and that finding a country that is just stuck, is not the country that we bought into. It's not the country who we are. It's not the country that we have to be, and that on the streets of America, the mayors are finding a way.

Mayor: Thank you. Beautiful. All right, we're going to do one more question. Mayor Soglin had a quick thing to add, then we'll do one final question.

Mayor Soglin: Thank you, mayor. When we go back 30 years, we lost our way. Mistakenly we thought that tax breaks, to export jobs overseas, was the way to build this country's economy. The history of this nation, going back to the civil war, is investment in public systems like transportation, communication, and education. We're going to achieve that at the local level, and when we prove we can do it, and we have proved we can do it, we're going to unleash the American people, and they are going to insist that our state legislatures, and the congress, join with us in getting this right.

Mayor: Amen. Last question.

Question: I know that you're going to be talking about housing in the afternoon [inaudible] I see a political housing everywhere, and yet it's not affordable, and even as the cities get more popular, it's harder and harder for people to rent. Are you guys still going to advocate home ownership as a way up, or you know [inaudible]?

Mayor: Right, let me – let me broaden the question just a little, because I think the housing is one of the things we're going to start to work on in the coming months, but I think I can say it this simply. I bet I can speak for everyone. We've been trying to address affordable housing with one hand tied behind our back. [inaudible] talk about the changes that happened in Washington. Until a few decades ago, everyone up here could depend on a robust housing policy in Washington. Support for public housing, support for section 8 vouchers, that was actually calibrated to the level of need on the ground. And we saw Washington as our partner – our natural partner in addressing the affordable housing needs. By the way, look at the history, look at the GI Bill, look at the [inaudible], look at all the history of Washington having really been foundational to the efforts to get people decent housing. And then that reversed intensely. But we still have to house people. You know, our public housing developments don't go away when Washington disinvests, and our people who need a decent place to live still depend on us. So, I would say, the answer to the question is, it's going to be a central part of our agenda as we build the agenda out. But this is one area where I think we have the strongest case to make that we haven't had a partner – it's hurt our people, it's hurt the affordability of our cities, it's hurt the dynamicness of our cities, and this is one where we're going to say to Washington – if you want our cities to be the economic engines, you have to be part of the solution on affordable housing. Thank you, everyone.